When it comes to slow fashion, Is paying more really worth it?

Debunking the myth that slow fashion is expensive beyond affordability

In a world where words such as “sustainability” & “eco-friendly,” are being tossed around as often as day light, for those of us wanting to learn & switch over towards more conscious fashion choices, concepts & their meanings can become super blurry and intertwined among truths & nots real fast, real soon.

So what does slow fashion really mean to your wallet/purse? Is the true cost of being a conscious consumer going to break your bank? Let’s talk about that:

First off, if you look at the mere price tag only, yes slow fashion purchases can be expensive. But you have to think about what we are using as an arbitrary to measure this so called expense against. This myth basically exists only because we: the customers have tuned our brains into thinking that anything that costs more than the parallel fast fashion option is expensive. So our arbitrary is in fact the very concept we want to eliminate by embracing slow fashion.

We must realize that fast fashion by inherent is meant to be well, just as the name suggests: “fast”. How this speed is achieved is by cost cutting on quality and making things in massive quantities but at cheaper pricing. So it’s always important to understand that the fast fashion prices are abnormally cheap because of these compromises on quality for the purpose of quantity.

Now, here’s why this potential initial cost you put forward for a slow fashion purchase literally becomes actually negligible in the eyes of paying it forward:

Any well-made item in general, including garments tend to be expensive. But it also means that it is of good quality & thereby more durable. So one may pay half the price for a fast fashion item but end up needing to buy several purchases of that very item due to it deteriorating. But the more well-made slow fashion item which needed to be paid a higher price initially may last for years turning it into a long term investment.

Apart from personal savings, in social context; slow fashion brands have a much higher ethical stand points, making fair pays for the people who make their clothes, which truly means you are paying forward.

Lastly, because investing in slow fashion is a conscious choice: you are almost most certain to never impulse buy items you are not really sure about: this in turn leaves needing to be disposed & creating waste to a minimum. Buying expensive also means having a few high quality pieces; which makes one automatically want to take good care for it & handed down to good hands when not worn one day. Which results in less number of discarded garments ending up in landfills.