Why Is Sustainable Fashion Labelled Expensive?

Sustainable fashion is commonly labelled as being expensive, which drawers a lot of people away who instead buy into cheap fast fashion garments. Here are a few points that highlight why sustainable fashion is higher than fast fashion clothing, which will be discussed further in this post:

• Prioritise environmental effects - consider workers such as cotton farmers, mainly working with organic cotton which uses no genetically modified organisms (GMO's)

• Ensure factory workers are given a living wage as well as good working environment

• Many small sustainable brands use small scale production and use services such as made-to-order

• Considerations of the end life of a garment - fighting the possibility of it ending in landfill and finding alternative uses for the garments end life

This post will dive deeper into these areas and offer further understanding of the considerations involved in producing a sustainable garment, and the charges that should be applied to todays fashion.

MATERIALS

As fast fashion is made up of mass produced garments, materials used are made up of cheap quality and demands on manufacturing them quickly results in poorly made garments which only last a couple months.

Let's take cotton as an example of how prices can vary. Conventional cotton is grown in poor soil quality due to the repeated use of farming in the soil. Because of this, the soil loses its natural nutrients and so chemicals are used to combat this, commonly known as genetically modified organisms that are harmful to both people and the local environment.

A solution to growing and using conventional cotton is organic cotton which uses no GMO's and is grown in conditions less harmful to the environment. Using organic farming solutions also ensures the farmers growing the plants are safer than if they were to work in a conventional cotton farm.

ETHICAL WORKING ENVIRONMENT AND LIVING WAGE

If you think about it, a top being sold for £3 clearly isn't contributing to fair pay for the people who made it. So why is it okay that brands selling items as low as these prices and still making a profit seen as okay? There is an issue in the industry of how little companies pay factories for their stock, but they still seem to get away with it.

As fast fashion brands haggle to get the cheapest price they can per unit, this isn't giving the factories enough money to pay their workers. Some may ask why don't the factories reject the amount brands are offering for supplies. However, as there is such large competition with factories, partially in less developed countries where labour laws are poor. They accept the low production costs as otherwise they would have no income. As a society, people have been used to these low priced garments, which leads to brands continuing with these prices to drive future sales.

Ethical and sustainable brands ensure that their workers are paid a National living wage, including a good working environment. All of these factors will be contributed into the price of a garment, especially in small scale productions.

SMALL SCALE PRODUCTION

Some sustainable fashion brands work on a small scale production, which may consist of made-to-measure and made-to-order services, where a garment is only made once an order has been requested, unlike fast fashion garments which are mass produced in large quantities.

As small scale production involves a lot more time and thought into its processes, these tend to be priced higher than fast fashion garments. Thoughts on where to get access to sustainable materials, best practices to ensure minimal waste is made, consideration of packaging materials and the consideration of what will happen to that garment at the end of its life - Is it biodegradable? Can it be recycled into a new product? Circularity is of high demand in the fashion industry. With over-consumption leading to tonnes of landfill waste every year, solutions to avoid this is a must for finding alternative practices to use waste.

INVEST IN SUSTAINABLE FASHION

A main issue of fashion is the over-consumption produced by brands and the plethora of clothes their consumers purchase, one solution is to consume less clothes. A practice you may want to implement into your shopping habits is to invest in sustainable pieces, which will not only last longer in your wardrobe, but you will also be helping the planet little by little.

Sabrina Cowper | Reform Your Fashion