Tag Archives: slow fashion

Sustainable Fashion

6 reasons why you should buy reused garments

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1. It is more ecological to buy used clothes than new ones. This is not a new information for you, but often we forget this, when we need to find rapidly some piece of clothing. Then it is tempting to go to the nearest high street store. It is true, that buying clothes on secondhand markets demands more time and planning. There is no short cut on this, but when you find a piece of clothing that you are actually going to wear long time, you have made the goal: you are lengthen the lifecycle of that item. Not only you save your skin from the chemicals that are used in new clothes, but also you save the planet. Did you know that one-kilogram of textiles produces 23 kilogram of greenhouse gas (read this article).

2.There is a guarantee in a second hand item. When you find it and it is in a good condition, you have guarantee that this item will be weareable for long time. Also, when it fits you when you try it on, you are sure that there will not be unpleased surprises when you wash it.

3.Second hand item can be fashionable. Forget those images of hippy-style and retro clothes, today you can find stylish and timeless clothes. I am sure you can find at least something from secondhand markets. You only have to know what and where you look for it!

4.Your style is more personnel, when you buy used clothes. Don’t buy those trendy items that everyone else is buying from high street stores, be more creative, be more you!

5.Second hand clothes are treasures. You have used your time and energy to find it, so you more likely going to take care of it better than you normally do when you buy clothes from high street stores.

6.You will save money. Yes, this is so true. Used item costs normally a half of the price than the new ones. So when we are talking about in numbers, you really save money.

Finally, you can think that every one wins when you buy clothes from the second hand shops. You save money and most of all: you save the planet. If you find clothes from charity shops, you do good for the society and help those who need help. In a big picture you are also participating in a conversation on second hand culture. You are saying yes and you are supporting it. You are saying, that it is always better and more sustainable way to buy second hand clothing than new ones.

Anyhow, even when you find clothes from second hand markets, it is good to keep in mind this: buy less and buy only quality.

* Except sunglasses all the clothes and accessories are found from second hand markets.

Read more:

Aloita vuodenvaihteen vaatedetox näillä helpoilla askelilla!

Tiedostava kuluttaja ostohysterian partaalla – ja näin siinä kävi!

Towards sustainable clothing

Sustainable Fashion

The story of the green pants

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“You’re wearing green pants, they are very green”, my mum said, when she saw these pants.

I found them at a recycling center in northern Finland, liked the color and decided that I needed some brightly colored pants in this dark period of time. Well the pants didn’t look like this at the beginning. I got in my DIY mood and shortened the length to be a more culottes-like style. Easy operation, good result, I would say.

I mostly like to dress up in fewer colors nowadays, but now and then this crazy-childish-me wants to have some fun and pick all different sortts of stuff from my wardrobe and mix them up.

Here in the pictures you can find all these things: checks (vintage Vuokko shirt), 80’s style earrings, sparkling shoes, those green, green pants and a leopard belt – not bad, huh? As I am listing all these I feel like a little girl dressing up her doll. And I thought: did I really wear all this at once? Yep.

But I have to say: never underestimate the power of colors. I surely needed some color therapy. That day I was feeling tired. We all were. It was late on Saturday afternoon and we hadn’t even left the house. But then I got up form the couch and dressed up, and then in half an hour we were out having a little adventure around Paris. The day ended well: we walked to a second-hand clothes event, had a glass of champagne at a cozy brasserie in Ménimoltant, and then ended up having dinner in an Indian restaurant on the way home. This is one reason why I love to live in Paris: when you go out, you never know where you will end up. I love the spontaneity that you have in this city. And like I wrote before, this city always knows how to seduce you.

So this was a little story of some green pants that went out around Paris, and also to remind you, how you can lengthen the life cycle of a garment. Sometimes it just needs a little cutting and a DIY touch.

Sustainable Fashion

What slow fashion?

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Of course you have heard talk about slow fashion. This is what we should be doing, right? But what is it all about?

Last weekend I read a couple of interesting articles on slow fashion. Those articles inspired me to write this blog text about the phenomenon. Also, it kind of got me to do a little DIY project, too.

In short, the term slow fashion means lengthening the life cycle of a clothing. In the production and design process this means choosing quality materials and maintening a zero waste principle when cutting patterns. As for us consumers, our task is to sustain the clothes that we own, repair and modify them, and in the end recycle them properly.

Slow fashion is not directly to be understood as an opposite to fast fashion, because the idea of slow fashion is not to give up dressing fashionably. It is not about that boring talk about classic clothes and the idea of a basic wardrobe that you need to own. For most of us this isn’t working. We do want to look stylish and fashionable. Slow fashion is not intended to ignore these facts. Above all we shouldn’t underestimate the power of clothing: it can be considered as our social skin between our body and sociocultural environment. Anyway, what has made the concept of slow fashion a bit boring is this: it has been associated with hippie green clothing and odd DIY projects, which I am not personally interested in. I do read fashion magazines and I do get excited about trying their style tips, because I just love dressing up. And for my job I write fashion articles and give style tips, so I am more a part of the fashion industry rather than looking it from the outside. Today I just intend to find other solutions and more and more I try to give old clothes a fashionable life, if you want to put it that way.

And this is where we come to the core of slow fashion; it is more about positive attitude towards dressing up, changing attitudes and of course lengthening the life of clothes. This we can all do, right? If we use only 10 % of the contents of our wardrobe, we have a 90 % chance to find something “new” in our closet. This is innovative thinking that I am talking about.

My black velvet dress that you see in the picture is a good example of slow fashion action. I found the dress in a local flea market. The velvet dress was a size XL, but with a little modification I made it to fit me. As you might have seen, this autumn is all about velvet, and I have been thinking of making a velvet dress for myself for a while. Of course I could have bought a new one. It would have been easy, but I wanted to find another solution: use an old dress and give it a new life. At the same time I created a story behind this dress, which I am sharing with you now. This 1€ dress is definitely more valuable than if I had bought the same style dress in a high street store.

The French term bricolage is technically what I have been doing. It is one way to do slow fashion. When mixing up old and new, you are an innovative consumer, innosumer, who doesn’t want to follow the speedy fashion industry, but who wants to modify clothes and find new solutions to be fashionable and stylish.

To be more creative, more inventiveness and using more practical thinking – those are the values that I want to represent with my social skin. Of course my little bricolage is a simple and easy step, but it is a start towards slow and more meaningful fashion.

References:

Koskennurmi-Sivonen, Ritva & Laamanen Tanja-Kaarina 2014: Muodin hidastaminen. Teoksessa Kättä pidempää – Otteita käsityön tutkimuksesta ja käsitteellistämisestä. Toim. Seija Karppinen, Anna Kouhia & Erja Syrjäläinen. Helsingin yliopisto.

Niinimäki, Kirsi 2007: Eettisen kuluttajuuden tulevaisuudenkuva. Artikkeli julkaistu Futura-lehdessä, 4/2007.

Siegle, Lucy 2011: To Die For. Is Fashion Wearing Out the World. London: Fourth Estate.

Read more:

 Wardrobe analyze  – and how to extend the life of clothes

6 reasons why you should buy second hand clothing

The story of green pants