A Letter
| April 16 2018 |
For the longest time, New Classics was just a thought at the back of my head. I had always dreamed of opening an online store, and after reading my first book on sustainable fashion, everything just clicked.
I was completely unaware of this growing movement of consumers, entrepreneurs and creative professionals who consciously chose to use their buying power and talents in an effort to make the fashion industry more sustainable. And after doing my own research on this movement, which I later discovered to be the slow fashion movement, I realized that there really was no other alternative if we wanted to conserve our environmental and social wellbeing on this planet.
Slow fashion, much like its parent, slow living, is a lifestyle choice aimed at slowing down the pace of our lives and our rate of consumption. In doing so, these slow movements encourage more meaningful, authentic, and enjoyable experiences with sustainability, responsibility and quality at their cores. Fast fashion, on the other hand, is a term used by fashion retailers to describe inexpensive designs that are manufactured quickly in order to capture recent trends, as so eloquently described by Wikipedia.
This philosophy of quick manufacturing at a cheap price is utilized by many large fashion companies, like H&M, Zara, and Topshop, and allows the mainstream consumer to buy on-trend clothing on a whim without paying the designer price tag. And while this may seem like a win-win for both the fashion retailer and customer, fast fashion comes with an extremely high hidden cost that both the environment and garment workers have to pay for.
With that being said, I launched New Classics with the purpose of introducing and benefiting the designers and brands who are initiating the way for sustainable fashion. We also want to bring the conversation of sustainability and the ethical treatment of garment workers in the fashion industry outside of New Classics and to the everyday consumer. After all, in order to raise the environmental and social standards of the mainstream fashion industry, we cannot just depend on the brands to become more sustainable. We must also rely on consumers to hold these brands and companies accountable. This is why movements, such as the Fashion Revolution, and days like Earth Day are so important. In order to keep on making progress towards the ultimate goal of sustainability, it's vital that we keep on educating ourselves and others.
So in honour of Earth Day (April 22nd), we will be posting all throughout this week on our social media accounts to remind ourselves that our Earth deserves our utmost respect. Make sure to follow along on Instagram!
So in honour of Earth Day (April 22nd), we will be posting all throughout this week on our social media accounts to remind ourselves that our Earth deserves our utmost respect. Make sure to follow along on Instagram!