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Mindful Living and Ethical Fashion: How Your Footwear Choices Can Reflect Your Values

Consumers are constantly faced with choices regarding fleeting styles. Fast fashion is the best example of this. Manufacturing plants that focus on fast fashion value quantity over quality. Ethical fashion...

Consumers are constantly faced with choices regarding fleeting styles. Fast fashion is the best example of this. Manufacturing plants that focus on fast fashion value quantity over quality. Ethical fashion and mindful living attempt to break this pattern. Nowadays, more ethical companies are in an endless pursuit to encourage consumers to make more ethical choices that reduce their impact on the planet and offer more value for their money.

If you’re considering a switch, this guide is for you. Let’s explore ways to make mindful fashion choices that reflect your values.


What’s Wrong with Fast Fashion?

Before diving into ethical fashion and footwear, it is crucial to know what is wrong with fast fashion and its downsides, especially since many consumers are unaware of the impact of their buying choices. 

Fast fashion is characterized by the production of trendy, affordable, low-quality clothing. Brands use cheap, low-quality materials to reduce production costs, allowing them to pass on those savings to their customers by offering cheap clothing and footwear.

But few consumers know that behind these bargain prices is a dark side. First, fast fashion brands employ synthetic materials that can damage the environment. They use unsustainable materials that are low in quality and can add to environmental damage. In addition, these companies use manufacturing processes that cause environmental damage. 

Even the manufacturing conditions of factory workers are considered unethical. They are subject to hazardous working conditions and often work for long hours to meet a large demand for manufacturing targets. 

Fast fashion brands encourage overconsumption, which is another aspect that can have a negative environmental impact. Since fast fashion brands are inferior in quality, consumers have to constantly buy new items to replace the old ones that last only a few wears. This creates an unhealthy manufacturing cycle that thrives on overconsumption to keep the production line going, thus adding more to the carbon footprint. 

Needless to say, fast-fashion brands create a chain of problematic issues that center on fast fashion and their manufacturing processes. Consumers who purchase from fast-fashion brands support—even encourage—these unethical manufacturing practices. Therefore, it is essential to understand what fast-fashion brands do to avoid encouraging these practices.

Fast fashion overconsumption

 

Pillars of Ethical Fashion

Unlike fast fashion, ethical fashion focuses on three valuable factors: people, animals, and the planet.

While fast fashion compromises these pillars, ethical fashion brands honor them. That's why ethical fashion is promoted as a healthier choice (not an alternative) to fast fashion, preserving the environment, humans, and animals. 

Fast fashion thrives on keeping production costs low at the expense of human workers and the environment. It uses exploitative labor practices and takes advantage of workers in developing countries by paying them meager salaries and having them work for long hours.

Ethical fashion is different. Ethical fashion takes the social impact of clothing and shoe manufacturing as part of building its labor practice. Workers in ethical fashion companies work in safe conditions that don’t expose them to toxic materials and reasonable working hours are honored. Eco-friendly and sustainable materials and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes are prioritized. These companies constantly seek ways to reduce their environmental impact by recycling or using certified sustainable practices.

An ethical approach to manufacturing promotes a healthy and regenerative fashion industry. It encourages buyers to become responsible consumers and socially conscious in their fashion choices. 

To help you make the right decision, here are guidelines for an ethical fashion brand so you can make the right choices: 

  • Sustainable Materials—An ethical fashion brand uses eco-friendly and sustainable materials that do not harm
    or the environment.
  • Fair Labor Practices—Ethical brands ensure safe working conditions, fair pay, and reasonable working hours for their staff.
  • Environmental Compliance – Ethical fashion brands receive certifications from governing agencies reflecting their commitment to eco-friendly and sustainable manufacturing.
  • Transparency – Ethical brands are transparent about their materials, how they are sourced, and their manufacturing processes. 
  • Timeless over Trendy Designs – Ethical fashion brands focus on fashion styles' long-term sustainability and durability. Therefore, they avoid trendy designs and focus on timeless fashion choices. 
    Ethical footwear fashion

 

How Fashion Choices Reflect Your Values

Your style and fashion choices reflect who you are. Therefore, your choices as a consumer reflect whether you prioritize sustainability or overconsumption. 

Fashion is a direct reflection of your personal values because clothing and footwear become a form of self-expression. They are an extension of your individuality and personality. Your values influence your fashion choices because they achieve your desired style, or the brands that manufacture them align with your values.

Another way that fashion can reflect your values is through your cultural background. For example, you can choose to wear fashion pieces or accessories that reflect your culture. Your clothing embodies your cultural identity, so it’s crucial to understand what your clothing choices mean and how they can be interpreted culturally.

Next, your fashion choices can also impact your environmental values. To preserve the environment, you should prioritize eco-friendly styles over fast fashion. Support brands that use ethical materials and manufacturing processes to encourage more companies to do the same. Therefore, you should research a company and its brand values before buying from them to ensure that it aligns with your ethical and sustainable priorities. 

Fashion can also have a social impact, so you should understand the social impact a company is making before you choose to buy fashion items. Does a company support a specific social movement? Or does the company support women’s rights by giving them equal opportunities in its labor force? The more you understand the values of a brand, the more comfortable you will be in supporting them.

Fashion extends beyond the aesthetic and the visual aspect of style. It can also be a reflection of your values and individuality. The next thing you enter a store and choose clothing to buy, think about the social, environmental, and ethical impacts of your decision. Are you supporting the right cause, and are at peace with your fashion choices? 

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