Have you ever thought of the effort that goes into designing, stitching and producing clothes that we so frivolously purchase? On average a sweatshop worker that produces clothes for high end brands earns only $202 per month. Keeping the current situation in mind and the excessive capitalism being practiced today, some fashion designers haven take steps forward and introduced something that just might put an end to the crazy world of fast fashion by introducing "slow fashion."
Slow fashion is basically a revolution, a movement, a differential ideology that promotes creation of products which weigh full on the scales of both longevity and quality. It encourages the use of products, for example clothes, until they wear out. The slow fashion movement propagates slower production schedules, fair wages for laborers, lower carbon footprints and less waste. Furthermore, the slow fashion approach to designing clothes encourages transparency in all its dealings, even in customer seller dealings by educating them about the production process as well the craft of making so that the consumers realize the real worth of the hard work that goes into the production of a single garment.
Such slow fashion approach is being practiced by a brand that has its roots in Colombia and California, Mar Y Lana. Mar Y Lana which means sea and wool is a brand that produces traditional and modern ponchos which are eco-friendly. They produce small batch textile using traditional methods of local artisans in Colombia. Mar Y Lana is all about following the slow fashion revolution to its core; their products are all hand woven on wooden looms by professional artisans that use zero electricity. Unlike other companies, startups and brands all the local artisans are being paid fairly for their work which is well above minimum wage in Colombia. The brand is not just about fair trade but also conscious consumerism where customers are kept first as they provide quality long lasting products – one could easily pass them down instead of tossing them out in a dumpster.
We hope other businesses also look up to them and practice slow fashion in particular for their own better future, in the words of Mar Y Lana its time when we Reclaim, Preserve and Innovate.