Slow Fashion vs Fast Fashion: A Guide for Brands and Consumers

There’s recently been discourse online in fashion-focused communities about the distinction between ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ fashion. What do these terms mean, and who can lay claim to being a truly ‘slow’ fashion brand? In this second instalment of our Fashion Focus series, we’re going to explain.

Fashion becomes ‘fast’ when there’s both rapid production and rapid consumption of styles. Fast fashion clothing is usually trend-based, and excess inventory is often moved by using sales and markdowns. It’s ‘fast’ both because:

1. the brand works on extremely short timeframes to create, produce and sell items that capitalise on a current trend, and
2. because the consumer ends up discarding the piece very quickly when the trend cycle inevitably moves on.

Thanks to this ever-spinning cycle, the number of times a garment gets worn has decreased by 36% worldwide in the last 20 years, contributing to a crisis of textiles in landfill. Simultaneously, the cost of producing clothes has been driven down by the rise in off-shore manufacturing and accompanying cheaper labour, meaning brands can elect to produce much more for much less outlay. Clothes are no longer made to complement a wardrobe cross-seasonally. Garment construction is usually poor, and the item won’t hold up to the washing and re-wearing required for regular use. The grind of constantly turning over new styles leads to other creative dilemmas such as the theft of designs from smaller fashion businesses, and the use of less environmentally-friendly fabrics.

Slow fashion refers to garments that are crafted meaningfully, with quality and timelessness in mind. Brands that focus on slow fashion turn their attention to the process and the resources required to make clothing, and what is going to happen to their products when they inevitably reach the end of their usable life as clothes. Slow fashion as a philosophy also encompasses a consciousness of fair wages and labour practices in a brand’s supply chain.

Fashion that’s ‘slow’ encourages buyers to slow down their consumption habits – investing by spending more money on fewer garments that will last longer, across seasons, and often be better for the planet. Slow fashion brands’ collections generally contain fewer overall styles and be released only a few times a year to encourage mindful spending. Choice of materials is also important, with a preference for lower-impact fabrics like cotton or linen. Preorders are often utilised by slow fashion brands to ensure they are only making as many garments as they have demand for, rather than ending up with an excess of stock that winds up being heavily discounted or even discarded.