CIRCULAR FASHION: THE NEXT BIG THING

Despite the growing interests in fashion circularly and sustainably, the fast fashion industry still takes the upper hand both on the major stores and our wardrobes. It has always been done in the last two decades and more.

Theoretically, it sounds like a great idea because you can buy trendy fashion a few weeks after the style pops on the runway. However, the actual cost of fast fashion is beyond buying a new T-shirt, about 5 €.

Recently, the awareness of the environmental effects of the fashion industry has been rising, and people are getting involved. Some of the highly contaminated rivers worldwide are filled with chemicals from textile factories that dump their wastes in these rivers.

Every year, tonnes of textile waste measured in millions find themselves in landfills. It only gets worse as the United Nations has said that the fashion industry takes up more energy than a combination of the shipping and aviation industry. It's mind-blowing indeed.

The high energy consumption and endless supply chain imply that it makes up for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. With the increasing awareness of these negative impacts by the fashion industry, people are more about the brands they patronize and the cause they support with their sales.

Consumer’s demand-supply chain transparency to make decisions on the impact of their clothes on the environment. As it stands now, it is a better option to navigate the fashion industry to find sustainable fashion alternatives. There are lots of buzzwords and terms surrounding the fashion industry, but what do they mean?

Research has been going on about the fashion industry and the various related terms, and we hope our findings will be of assistance to you.

SUSTAINABLE FASHION, ETHICAL FASHION, CIRCULAR FASHION: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Sustainable fashion

The most commonly used word in the fashion industry is Sustainable fashion, and that's without a doubt. It implies the impact the fashion industry has on the environment, addressing water use, pollution, waste production, etc. The concept is about creating products with the lowest potential adverse effect on the environment.

It is tough to achieve that currently, if not impossible, for a brand to be solely a sustainable fashion brand, mainly when operating on a large scale. However, brands can make efforts to be transparent in their sustainability goals and strive to be sustainable in their dealings. There's always a chance to make efforts to do better.

Circular fashion

The term ''Circular Fashion is a new concept in the fashion industry. It refers to shoes, clothes, and accessories designed to be resource-efficient, biodegradable, and nontoxic. These features say a lot about the goal of circular fashion. The fashion products in this category should be recyclable and should bear in mind good ethics. It boils down to ensuring materials and products are in circulation rather than creating new ones.

A significant element of the circular fashion industry is the extension of a garment's lifespan by taking care of the product, making it through multiple users (second-hand fashion, for instance), repairing and refurbishing the garment. Besides, you can reduce the impact of individual fashion pieces on the environment by extending their lifespan.

Ethical Fashion

The concept of ethical fashion is a broader term that describes how people in the fashion supply chain are treated and the production process. The supply chain runs from the farmers and people growing cotton to the ones that manufacture the clothes.

Ethical fashion is gotten without using child labor, sweatshops, or worker's abuse. It extends to involve animal treatment and the impact of these actions on the environment. It also covers various issues like exploitation, working conditions, sustainable production, fair trade, and animal welfare.

In summary,

• Ethical fashion is concerned with human rights
• Sustainable fashion address concerns about the environment
• Circular fashion deals with ensuring existing items are in circulation

We hope things are a bit clearer with these descriptions. These options are alternatives to the conventional fast fashion style, and the more actions brands are taking to achieve sustainability in the fashion industry, the better. The concept of circular fashion is one that brands should work within, ensuring goods are in circulation rather than producing new ones.

Girotti has taken the mass customization option, which is better than fast fashion. We manufacture products when there's a demand for them, so there's no wastage from overproduction. With mass customization, there's a conducive environment for workers and good pays to go with it. Make the difference today by supporting brands that practice circular fashion trends and mass customization of fashion items.

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