This Sunday marks the third anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh which killed 1,133 and injured 2,500 garment workers, most of whom were women. But the deadliest garment factory disaster ever was just the peak of the iceberg. Many fast-fashion as well as luxury companies have a long history of sweatshop labour, dangerous working conditions, ethical and environmental issues raised in their supply chains accompanied by distraction marketing methods, empty promises and outright lies.
The fact is that many of the high street brands are sending out on the streets approximately 50 collections per year in order to deliver us the latest, the most fashionable items before anyone else does. Go for a walk through main shopping streets in Ljubljana, London, New York or Shanghai on any day of the week and you will see masses of people enticed by cheap price tags and the adrenaline rush of bagging a bargain. We all love a great deal, right?
The problem is that we have internalized the feeling that our work can be rewarded by buying more and more stuff and on the way gained unrealistic expectation of what fashion should cost and how much of it we deserve to bring home every month.
Harmony between comfort, practicality and style is the main concept behind Studio August’s design process. Particular importance is attached to careful choice of natural materials and attention to all steps of the manufacturing process. Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified fabric mills and sustainable fabric fairs are the cornerstone of Studio August’s fabric sourcing.
Let’s write it down, once and for all: the great looking dress you desire or the shirt you bought last week simply cannot cost as much as the meal in fast-food restaurant without taking a great toll on workers and the environment.
Janja Videc operates socially responsible, local and sustainable. Avoiding the seasonal changes, brand is based on a monochromatic color scale, well thought tailoring and geometrically shaped patterns and is consequently wearable in many different ways, anytime of the year.
It’s true, brands must take individual responsibility for all the ethical and environmental issues raised in their supply chains, but only the collaborative effort of consumers will transform the industry. When the representatives of the Fashion Revolution, organisation that challenges the fashion industry to provide greater transparency, safer work places, fair pay and adresses its environmental issues, were asked how much has changed in the last three years, the findings weren’t really encouranging: “brands are still acting with impunity, they’re doing a lot of cosmetic work but none of the groundwork. When we spoke to garment workers at the Rana Plaza memorial last year, they said there was no difference to their working conditions.”
So what we can do? The easisest way to become more sustainable consumer is to resist buying things with impossibly low pricetags and avoid the buy-and-toss behaviour. Those clothes you bought impulsly might have been cheap to you, but once you add to them their real cost someone else had to pay, you see that cheap in fashion simply doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, small independent brands with sustainable production models are becoming more and more available. They ignore the insane fashion cycle, create pieces that can be worn all year round or produce smaller collections per season. Beside a lot of them use recycled fibres and opting for sustainable options, like hemp, Tencel etc., unlike mainstream fashion that mostly uses elastics, nylon and polyester that contain plastic. And we all know that when thrown away, plastic does not compost – it sits in soil and floats in oceans forever. The small independent brands usually produce their clothing close to their stores, in their local environment and avoid the staggering CO2 emissions caused by shipping garments over the globe. So with every purchase you make you support craftsmanship in the region and enable your local designers to grow.
What we pull out of our wardrobes every morning tells a story about who we are today and where we are heading. And never before have our choices had such a huge impact and carried the stories of so many people involved in the process as today. So… as editors-in-chief of Dansk magazine Uffe Buchard and Kim Grenaa put it in their latest editorial: “Be less greedy! Use common sense! Think!” Simple rules, right?
Wrap Yourself Up in Cozy Layers Shed your dark winter pieces in favor of lighter, brighter essentials in buttery soft wool, crispy cotton and shiny metals. Layering of warm basics in neutral colours does not only add insulation but it is also a perfect opportunity to mix rather than match textures and silhouettes. Opt for [...]
Prepare to make the most of longer, warmer days with timeless pieces that shine especially when the sun comes out. We have brought together classic shapes and neutral tones by young independent designers August and Janja Videc that will allow you to combine them in infinite ways depending on the context. Jewellery by bepart and [...]
As the summer fades into the colder days of autumn, take a moment to reconsider the essential elements of your Monday-to-Friday wardrobe. We’ve brought together a variety of exquisitely crafted pieces by our independent designers and brands that not only can pull together a polished look at the office but will also work just as [...]
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the environmental issues and thinking our involvement is so small that our decisions and habits don’t really matter. But they do. As zero waste chef Anne Marie Bonneau said: “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” [...]
Editorial note: And who made your clothes?
This Sunday marks the third anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh which killed 1,133 and injured 2,500 garment workers, most of whom were women. But the deadliest garment factory disaster ever was just the peak of the iceberg. Many fast-fashion as well as luxury companies have a long history of sweatshop labour, dangerous working conditions, ethical and environmental issues raised in their supply chains accompanied by distraction marketing methods, empty promises and outright lies.
The fact is that many of the high street brands are sending out on the streets approximately 50 collections per year in order to deliver us the latest, the most fashionable items before anyone else does. Go for a walk through main shopping streets in Ljubljana, London, New York or Shanghai on any day of the week and you will see masses of people enticed by cheap price tags and the adrenaline rush of bagging a bargain. We all love a great deal, right?
The problem is that we have internalized the feeling that our work can be rewarded by buying more and more stuff and on the way gained unrealistic expectation of what fashion should cost and how much of it we deserve to bring home every month.
Harmony between comfort, practicality and style is the main concept behind Studio August’s design process. Particular importance is attached to careful choice of natural materials and attention to all steps of the manufacturing process. Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified fabric mills and sustainable fabric fairs are the cornerstone of Studio August’s fabric sourcing.
Let’s write it down, once and for all: the great looking dress you desire or the shirt you bought last week simply cannot cost as much as the meal in fast-food restaurant without taking a great toll on workers and the environment.
Janja Videc operates socially responsible, local and sustainable. Avoiding the seasonal changes, brand is based on a monochromatic color scale, well thought tailoring and geometrically shaped patterns and is consequently wearable in many different ways, anytime of the year.
It’s true, brands must take individual responsibility for all the ethical and environmental issues raised in their supply chains, but only the collaborative effort of consumers will transform the industry. When the representatives of the Fashion Revolution, organisation that challenges the fashion industry to provide greater transparency, safer work places, fair pay and adresses its environmental issues, were asked how much has changed in the last three years, the findings weren’t really encouranging: “brands are still acting with impunity, they’re doing a lot of cosmetic work but none of the groundwork. When we spoke to garment workers at the Rana Plaza memorial last year, they said there was no difference to their working conditions.”
So what we can do? The easisest way to become more sustainable consumer is to resist buying things with impossibly low pricetags and avoid the buy-and-toss behaviour. Those clothes you bought impulsly might have been cheap to you, but once you add to them their real cost someone else had to pay, you see that cheap in fashion simply doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, small independent brands with sustainable production models are becoming more and more available. They ignore the insane fashion cycle, create pieces that can be worn all year round or produce smaller collections per season. Beside a lot of them use recycled fibres and opting for sustainable options, like hemp, Tencel etc., unlike mainstream fashion that mostly uses elastics, nylon and polyester that contain plastic. And we all know that when thrown away, plastic does not compost – it sits in soil and floats in oceans forever. The small independent brands usually produce their clothing close to their stores, in their local environment and avoid the staggering CO2 emissions caused by shipping garments over the globe. So with every purchase you make you support craftsmanship in the region and enable your local designers to grow.
What we pull out of our wardrobes every morning tells a story about who we are today and where we are heading. And never before have our choices had such a huge impact and carried the stories of so many people involved in the process as today. So… as editors-in-chief of Dansk magazine Uffe Buchard and Kim Grenaa put it in their latest editorial: “Be less greedy! Use common sense! Think!” Simple rules, right?
Written by Sandra Gubenšek
There is more:
/ 10 steps to becoming more mindful fashion consumer
/ Quiet but Powerful: Minimalism in Fashion
Share this:
Related Posts
Cold Weather Comforts: Refined Layers in Warm Neutrals
Share this:
Summer Ready: Fresh Wardrobe Essentials
Share this:
Autumn Ready: Modern Workwear Essentials
Share this:
10 easy steps towards more sustainable lifestyle
Share this: