As Fashion Revolution Week 2019 comes to a close, I want to share a short summary of what I believe to be a simple solution to the complex problems we face in one of the world’s largest and yet most problematic industries.
There’s yet to be an Oxford-Collins dictionary definition of the term conscious fashion, and who knows, perhaps Mindless Mag will help to define it.
All I will say for now is that it’s not just about sustainable supply chains, ethical treatment of workers, a reduction in pollution or wastage and it’s now about slower consumption.
It’s about applying critical awareness to every aspect of fashion.
Madness à la mode
If the collective rise in consciousness continues, we’ll see endless microscopic changes that will completely revolutionise the way we dress.
We’ll see designers designing products with their full lifecycle in mind – Adidas wouldn’t be the only ones coming out with a fully recyclable sports shoe.
Factories will be running at optimum efficiency and every brand will be using genius solutions like Triarchy’s indigo-eating bacteria which cleans water using a natural bacteria, meaning it can be re-used over and over again.
Sourcing teams will conjure up better ways to direct products from supplier to consumer without having to airfreight last minute or ship goods thousands of miles to their warehouse and thousands of miles back out to customers.
Businesses will invent clever ways to chase the bottom line while powering fashion for good and marketing teams will swap subtle manipulation for honesty.
And as for us, the consumers, our madness à la mode would stop.
We’d question everything; it would give us new perceptions and reinforce old ones, spark judgements and offer a new sense of morality. And when faced with a challenge to do the right thing, answers would simply arise from within.
We’d be flooded with gratitude and appreciation for even the smallest of things and we’d realise there are definitely not just seven wonders in this world.
Ignorance would fade and we’d see things clearly. Our things would start to become heavy assets we can no longer bear the weight of and we’d let go. Our wants would be replaced only by needs. We’d get to where we need to be.
We’d be conscious fashion consumers.