Your Style Statement Comes At A Cost

It is a great feeling to walk out of the house wearing the latest in fashion, but the environment shouldn’t be paying for your Instagram likes

- Ujjwal K Chowdhury

Recently, on 25th April, 2019, The Guardian of UK reported, ‘With Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Kim Kardashian spotted in vintage wear, and its increasing availability on the high street, it could be the answer to sustainable shopping.’ Please note, vintage wear is second-hand clothing. The world is taking note of the humungous negative ecological, social and economic costs of ‘fast fashion’ and moving towards what different people have called as sustainable or eco or slow or ethical fashion. I would like to call it as the rise of ‘happy fashion’, and we now need to make it the new style statement.

At the outset, I hate to break it to you, but there is no such thing as being 100 percent sustainable with fashion. The first reason being washing clothes already takes a toll on the environment through the use of water, electricity, and most laundry detergent is not ecofriendly. There are, however, many different ways of approaching the topic that one can learn from, to become more sustainable and decide where one stands.

What is Fast Fashion?

Fashion is, per definition, a phenomenon related to time: a popular style in a certain time and context. This also affects the perception of what is and should be made more ‘sustainable’ - if fashion should be ‘fast’ or ‘slow’, if it should be more exclusive or inclusive.