The Slow Fashion Festival

April is most certainly the month of sustainable practices. More than a concept or cute buzzword to get people more invested in taking care of the planet, “sustainability” is a complete lifestyle change, an evaluation of common practices to fully understand if you’re doing all you can to help keep the planet healthy.

One of the most detrimental industries to the planet is fashion, more specifically fast fashion, cheaply made near-replicas of runway looks sold just as cheaply. The fast fashion industry accounts for more carbon emissions than international air travel and shipping combined. In fact, according to Earth.org, “If fast fashion were a country, its carbon emissions would rank almost as high as the entire European continent.” Also worth noting, the industry consumes more than 90 billion cubic meters of water each year. (A basic pair of jeans requires around 2,000 gallons of water alone.) Never mind the inherent racism in fast fashion, both historically and environmentally. Check out Julia V. Pretsfelder’s incredible article in SUSTAIN the Mag called “Why is Fast Fashion Racist? ‘Ethical’ Brand’s Reckoning” and Consumed: The Need for Collective Change by Aja Barber.

There’s so much to learn about the fashion industry and how its practices have harmed the planet for decades. However, there are organizations working to repair much of the damage and reverse the traditional ideologies held by the industry overall. Thus, the “slow fashion” movement. (Refer to Audrey Stanton’s article “What Is Slow Fashion?” on The Good Trade.) We all know about the Texas Campaign for the Environment’s annual Trash Makeover Challenge, an Austin staple and leader in the sustainability movement. However, there’s another event that took Austin by storm in October 2022. The Slow Fashion Festival is a three-day event whose mission is to have intentional conversations and calls to action to push back against fast fashion and its harm to the environment.

Conceived by photographer and art event curator Leah Bury; Reza Cristián, founder of SUSTAIN The Mag; Courtney Keville, founder of Mutiny Market; and Mikaela Friedman, VP of Mutiny Market, and held at Factory on 5th, Slow Fashion Festival brought together Austin-based businesses and organizations for a series of panels, demonstrations of slow fashion in action (for example, an exhibition on slow fashion photography sponsored by Precision Camera) and the highly anticipated and discussed Living Closet art gallery and clothing swap sponsored by GOOD Group ATX. The event, of course, included a makers market where purveyors of sustainable goods had a chance to sell their wares.

The Slow Fashion Festival will hold a spring fashion show on April 15 (a week before Earth Day), so save that tax refund for the fashion revolution!

Follow Slow Fashion Festival: slowfashionfestival.com slowfashionfestatx