Fast Fashion: Let's slow it down
A special report surrounding the effects Fast Fashion is having on today's society
The rise of sustainable fashion
Fast Fashion is all around us, but recently there has been a surge in vintage, sustainable clothing. Could this be the step that we need to make in order to protect our planet?
By Rachel Johnston
The rise of sustainable fashion is apparent, especially in the past year or two. The younger generation is now finding it trendy to have a 'vintage, 90 look', which comes hand in hand with searching for clothes that are already in circulation.
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Trends come around every 20 years, so it is only natural for young people to begin wearing pieces that were once popular. However, the only way to find the items that are now so desirable is by shopping second-hand or raiding your parent’s wardrobes.
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​In this generation, known as Gen Z, teenagers can be found scrolling through Tik Tok, Instagram, and Twitter daily. Within these apps, teens can see what is ‘in’ at the moment whilst taking inspiration from others. The video-sharing app TikTok can also be held responsible for new fashion trends.
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​In many videos, you can find people taking you through their 'thrifting hauls' and how they style their parent's old clothes, with many linking their ‘Depop shops’ in their bio. It is quite apparent how this is having a positive influence on viewers.
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Depop, Esooko and Vinted are three platforms that allow users to resell their old clothes or to find rare vintage pieces. Esooko even plans to give a 2% out of 8% selling fee to an environmental initiative of your choice.
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Each application is similar with a different twist, but they all share one aim. To reduce clothing waste.​
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Katy Boyle is a 25-year-old verified Depop Seller. She explains: "I’m not on TikTok but I know a lot of Depop shops have really blown up from it, people upload their orders and outfits which can help push certain trends and items which I’m assuming the 90s and 00s crazes have come from."
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I’ve also seen so many shops selling incredible 70s and 80s pieces, it’s definitely not just great for more recent vintage items!"
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Even Vogue has caught onto the trend, writing a blog post on how TikTok ‘changed fashion in 2020’. Their reasons are that models can now be cast from the app and high-end designers are sharing their creative processes through the 60-second videos.
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Sustainability is also a big deal in the eyes of TikTok users. The hashtags #upcycling and #sustainability have over 195 billion views combined, whilst #thrift and #vintage have over 8 billion views.
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Katy continues:
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“Depop has definitely seen a rise in popularity, but the lockdown has increased its use exponentially. Trends aside, there are just generally more people interested in avoiding fast fashion, and buying more sustainably second-hand meaning reselling platforms are a lot more popular.
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“Over lockdown, I can imagine that lots of people had deep cleans of their homes and wardrobes so there has been an increase of sellers on the app, especially with charity shops shut. I know Esooko is very up and coming but they don’t have an app yet, but I think once that’s been released they will definitely be a big contender for Depop.”
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Sellers can make a living off the app, with Katy beginning to make a solid income for personal expenses whilst she was still at University.
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"To become a verified seller you need to be making a total of £2,000 a month or selling at least 50 items with an average cost of £15 a month, for 4 consecutive months."
According to Statista, ​the Depop user count increased by 157% from March 2020 to July 2020. In March 2020, the selling platform had 990,755 users, whilst July 2020 boasted 2,547,166 users. Showing how the beginning of the pandemic influenced the number of users.
​Carolyn Rubido, 27, is a celebrity stylist based in Miami, Florida. Rubido has a love for anything vintage, and this can be found incorporated into her work as a stylist.
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​She says: “I would consider myself a stylist but also a little bit of a historian, I always try to learn more and more. If I can be more aware of what the culture was at the time and why do they dress this way.
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“I was styling a model named Nelanie Turli and it was so interesting because we were picking out the mood board, and I was like I have that, I’ve thrifted that. Before going to big stores and getting popular clothes, prioritise incorporating high-quality thrift.
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“Anything you thrift, it is like you're giving the planet a little bit more life.”
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“I encourage people to thrift because I feel like right now, we are in a time where everything is so chaotic and we're realising a little bit more than the planet is trying to tell us like ‘hey help me, I need it’.”
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“We're becoming more educated in that sense, about how shopping can affect the environment or how throwing away clothes can affect the environment, good and bad.
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Carolyn continues to explain how thrifting clothes can make even the smallest difference.
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“Anything you thrift, it is like you're giving the planet a little bit more life.
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"It is just an overall chain effect on your decision with shopping, and that is why I encourage people to thrift. There is so much landfill and there's no need for that because you find something that you like and somebody else might not want it anymore, so I think that’s important to keep that in mind when you shop.”
​"Vintage clothing and sustainable fashion were seen as a candid and elitist thing"
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Thrifting can come in all different forms, one being a Kilo Sale.
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​A Kilo Sale is a concept for selling vintage and retro clothing by the kilo, instead of at your conventional price.
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​In many Kilo Sales, you will only find graded vintage items, making them a huge opportunity for people to get unique pieces at a low price. Especially when a kilo can get you around four to five lightweight items.
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​Preloved Kilo was founded in 2016 after the owner bought a few too many items on his vintage buying travels. So with a tiny warehouse full of vintage, he began setting up pop-up stalls at festivals and vintage fairs around the UK.​
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​Managing Director Steve Lynam says: "With the Kilo Sale, we aim to get as many items to people at an affordable price as possible and to make sustainable fashion more accessible to everyone. Since the beginning, we have probably saved around 1000 tonnes going to landfill.”
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​​“Vintage clothing and sustainable fashion were seen as a candid and elitist thing where it's kind of underground, not many people know about it and it's bringing it to the forefront.
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​“We don't buy from a wholesaler or anything, we are the wholesaler. But every single item is handpicked by our buyers. It ensures that the quality is the best we can for sustainable items.”
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We want to get as much clothing already in circulation, into as many people's hands. This is not fast fashion. It's reusing. And that's the main aim, to make good clothes affordable for everybody.”
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Even though more work needs to be put into the fashion industry for it to be called ‘sustainable’, it is moving in the right direction.
Becoming more sustainable does not just start with the big companies, but the consumers too. Changing your mindset is imperative when it comes to breaking out of old habits and routines.
Kilo sale signage in Leeds City Centre
Source: Rachel Johnston
Source: Rachel Johnston