Slow fashion: giving things a chance for a second life

As we have seen in previous posts, in the fashion industry the responsibility lies not only with the manufacturers, retailers and brands, but also with you and me, the consumers. Half the responsibility lies with the manufacturer and half with the consumer. In the UK, thirty billion pounds sterling was spent on clothes that were only worn once.

We are coming to the conclusion that we need to buy less, and take more care of the clothes we already have. For example, previous generations took much more care of their clothes, they would not buy a new thing, if we are not talking about the upper classes, but would fix it.

Let's remember the brand Patagonia, which not only supports the main trend of recent years in the fashion business - sustainability - but is practically engaged in consumer education, releasing video tutorials that teach how to fix broken things.

Personally, I think fixing things is interesting and fun. It allows us to be not just passive consumers, but active and more involved.

Think about it, when we fix things, we have a greater connection to them and the attitude towards them becomes different as well. It is no longer something I bought, but something I own. This is because when you fix an item, it becomes part of your identity.

Let's remember that things have always been made to order, and only in the first decades of the twentieth century, did they get mass industrialized. I think you'll agree that when we fix things, it allows you to feel again the value of owning a unique couture piece.

Patagonia, for example, understands that now we all want to move towards a sustainable future. And to do that, we need to start by teaching people how to fix things, from the simple steps of sewing on a button to the complex steps of fixing a clasp. This brand also has a high and noble mission. They don't just aim to sell as many clothes as possible.

They are among the leaders of what is called the twenty-first century fashion business model, which consists of teaching millions of people every month how to fix things. Now we're actually seeing moms fixing their kids' iPads and kids fixing their moms' jackets, but the cool thing is that it's bringing people together around real life topics that used to divide them. It's a phenomenon called slow fashion.