Slow fashion

Fashion is a cyclical progression of trends, happening in a certain range of time, therefore is strongly connected to repetitive change. Until the advent of fast fashion, fashion cycles were mainly two per year, with the two main collections: Autumn Winter, and Spring-Summer. The flourishing of fast fashion led to an increase in the pace of production and consumption, so that fashion today has reached an unsustainable speed.

In recent years, there has also been an acceleration of the timing of distribution: the next season’s products arrive in the shops earlier and earlier, and purchases are stimulated by a system of discounts that no longer only concern the end of the season, but follow an incomprehensible logic, if not that of wild sales.

This continuous acceleration of the time factor in the processes of production, distribution and consumption has contributed substantially to the imbalances between supply and demand, to an increase in consumption, to a lower quality of garments, which are increasingly considered as disposable products, to the production of more and more waste, which is difficult to dispose of.

Slow fashion started as a critique to this continuous acceleration and initially it was embraced by a few alternative brands and designers. But lately many established brands are slowing down their production, trying to reduce the number of collections: Off-White, Tory Burch and Mugler, for instance, have announced they will abandon the seasonal calendar, allowing them to regain control of in-store delivery. Gucci has announced that it will reduce the pace of its collections from five to only two per year; Dries Van Noten has downsized his men’s and women’s collections by about 40%, not only in the volume of the garments, but also in the volume of the fabrics, which are often repurposed.

Slow fashion allows to rationalize assortments, avoid overstocking, and have more time to dedicate to the creative process and development of collections. By decreasing the volume of the collections, there is also more space and time to create limited edition capsules or other collaborations that generate interest.

Slow fashion is first and foremost fashion that has more value, which also means finding a new balance between prices and volumes. If luxury brands can leverage their exclusivity and desirability to increase prices, smaller brands can focus on distancing themselves from a system that favours disposable fashion, too high price fluctuations between the full season and the sales period and the consequent devaluation of products. Some smaller brands, such as Rifò, mentioned in the case studies in the previous chapter, owe part of their success to the absence of end-of-season discounts and a policy of fair prices all year round, as well as a pre-sale system in which there is a way to test a product on the market.

In this framework, it is important to communicate the value of what you do, you have somehow to re-educate desire, the beauty of waiting for something precious, well and responsibly made. Storytelling becomes therefore very important: telling people about your work, the research behind your garments, how the garments are made, by whom, with what materials, so that the customer understands the value and agrees to pay a little more.

Source: Lottozero, ph.Rachele Salvioli