Slow Fashion – Another Way? – Value in Slow (Pt II)

(This is part II in our series on living slow. Catch up on part I)

Slow Fashion – another way?  Slow Movements began with Slow Food as a reaction to fast food in 1986 Italy and has been growing ever since. Slow Food became so popular that it spawned a series of other ‘slow movements’ – slow cities, slow education, slow parenting, slow design and more – that are less to do with being slow than they are to do with reevaluating how fast we’ve become. The Slow Movement:

“…is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace. It’s about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It’s about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting.”
-Carl Honore, In Praise of Slow

Like Slow Food did decades ago, a Slow Fashion movement has also begun, this time as a reaction to Fast Fashion (H&M, Zara, Forever 21, Top Shop) and their 2 week turnaround of clothes. Slow Food took off because it tasted better, but also hit a chord with people tired of fast food, and it enriched the public by raising awareness both about production – eg, farmers and their choices with respect to the environment, and consumption – eg, choices in what we demand, such as support for mass food production or small responsible farming and seasonal produce. It demonstrated to people how our individual choices do make a difference.