It is highly unlikely that fast fashion brands will ever give us full transparency of their supply chains, but how accountable are we to the fast-fashion problem? Surely, if we fail to educate ourselves and take decisive action to change how we shop, aren't we just as much to blame?
So, let's address the first question...
Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion concerns more than addressing fashion textiles or products. It comprises addressing the whole system of fashion.
wikipedia
Fast-fashion brands can deliver up to twelve collections each year, using poor quality fabrics and even cheaper labour. These huge supply chains are causing irreparable damage to our planet, it's ecosystems and communities of people. And what is more, much of this fast-fashion clothing will end up in landfill.
It is estimated that 350,000 tonnes, that’s around £140 million worth of used but still wearable clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year. (1)
Well, if you want to help break the cycle, and help the sustainable fashion movement, there is no better place to start than educating ourselves first. It allows us to make more informed decisions and teaches us what to look for when we go shopping. More crucially, it teaches us what to avoid.
Are you ready to embrace sustainable fashion and adopt some cruelty free, animal friendly fashion? Check out our top 7 recommended titles below.
Wear No Evil: How to Change the World with Your Wardrobe
by Greta Eagan
Wear No Evil is the handbook for navigating both fashion and ethics.
This book is written so you can regain the power of every purchase and features the Integrity Index (a simplified way of identifying the ethics behind any piece of fashion), along with an easy to use rating system. Learn to shop anywhere, while building your personal style and supporting the causes and conditions you already advocate in other areas of your life (such as local or organic food).
How To Break Up With Fast Fashion: A guilt-free guide to changing the way you shop - for good
by Lauren Bravo
How To Break Up With Fast Fashion will help you to change your mindset, fall back in love with your wardrobe and embrace more sustainable ways of shopping - from the clothes swap to the charity shop.
Lauren has written about fashion since 2009, and about changing the way that we shop since 2016.
Vegan Style
by Sascha Camilli
Sascha Camilli is the founder and editor of Vildamagazine.com, the world's first digital vegan fashion magazine.
Her book, Vegan Style offers lifestyle inspiration for those who want to live kindly, feel good, and look great. It is full of insight and advice from some of our most creative and innovative vegan fashion designers and influencers.
Discover today, how you can incorporate more cruelty-free brands to your wardrobe.
To Die for: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?
by Lucy Siegle
Lucy Siegle is a British journalist and writer on environmental issues. And her book To Die for: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? is her expose on the fashion industry, examining the inhumane and environmentally devastating story behind the clothes we so casually buy and wear.
To Die For offers a very plausible vision of how green could really be the new black. Far from outlining a future of drab, ethical clothing, Lucy Siegle believes that it is indeed possible to be an 'ethical fashionista', simply by being aware of how and where (and by whom) clothing is manufactured.
Vegan Life: Cruelty-Free Living, Fashion, Beauty and Home
by Jo Peters
A plant-based diet is the foundation of a vegan lifestyle, but you can do so much more to incorporate a cruelty-free approach into everyday life. Vegan Life highlights the simple, achievable ways you can show kindness to animals and to the environment, not just with your choice of food but with the household products, clothing and cosmetics you buy too.
Having a lower impact on our environment has never been easier with tips on how to spot cruelty free options when shopping, DIY ideas for making your own organic cosmetic and cleaning products and, of course, essential recipes for delicious plant-based food.
Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion - and the Future of Clothes
by Dana Thomas
In her career, Dana Thomas has been a regular contributor to The New York Times Style section and has written for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the FT, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
In Fashionopolis, Dana reviews developments in sustainable fashion, including 3-D printed clothes, clean denim, fabric recycling and even lab-grown materials. From small boutique makers to high-street names like Stella McCartney, this book highlights brands that are leading the Fashion Revolution. It's time to get dressed with intention and this is a comprehensive look at how to start.
A Life Less Throwaway
by Tara Button
Our consumption risen dramatically over the last 60 years and at the same time we are dramatically increasing the devastation of our planet. A Life Less Throwaway explains why buying quality and 'buying once' is so important.
Tara advocates a life that celebrates ‘mindful curation’, the art of choosing carefully all the objects in our lives, making sure they are the best, most classic and longest lasting, instead of surrounding ourselves with throwaway stuff and appliances with built-in obsolescence.
Mindful curation is a lifestyle choice that will make you happier, healthier and more fulfilled spiritual as well as helping save the planet.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
Margaret Mead
committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s
the only thing that ever has."
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