In an oversaturated sea of revolving trends, local leaders offer a sustainable alternative to fast fashion
By Regine Malibiran
The term “fast fashion” was first coined by The New York Times in a 1990 article about two new stores on Lexington Avenue, Express and Zara, and a supply chain that could take a design from a sketch to the rack in 15 days.
Since then, “fast fashion” has escalated to ultra-fast fashion. Retail giants like SHEIN and Temu are the “primary online fashion marketplaces” in the United States, producing over 10,000 new designs a day and feeding the acceleration of a $1.7 trillion fashion industry, according to McKinsey & Company.
This rapid cycle exacerbates the climate crisis and exploits workers: the Geneva Environment Network reports that the fashion industry accounts for 2%-8% of global carbon emissions and that 85% of all textiles end up as waste. The cheaper the garment, the shorter its lifespan. According to a 2019 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with the industry’s current rate of production and resulting waste, its carbon contribution could balloon to 26% by 2050.
Fast fashion is also notorious for unethical labor practices that keep sweatshops in business. In 2018, Better Work reported that around 80% of global garment workers are women who “are concentrated in the lowest-paying, lowest-skilled occupations.” The Rana Plaza collapse that killed 1,134 and injured over 2,500 Bangladeshi garment workers in 2013 highlighted the most dangerous consequences of labor exploitation and necessitated international policy to improve working conditions.
On the other side of the supply chain, the Associated Press reports that SHEIN faces a lawsuit from independent designers given that the manufacturer “has grown rich by committing individual infringements over and over again, as part of a long and continuous pattern of racketeering, which shows no sign of abating.”
Though the reach of overconsumption is global, the impact starts at home. “Slow fashion,” coined by research professor, author and design activist Kate Fletcher, “represents a blatant discontinuity with the practices of today’s sector; a break from the values and goals of fast (growth-based) fashion.” Slow fashion doesn’t refer simply to the length of time it takes a garment to be produced nor is it a greenwashing marketing slogan, it is a different economic model altogether.
“Above all else, slow culture is an invitation to think about systems change in the fashion sector and to question the role of economic growth, underlying values and worldviews in fashion so that a different and truly “richer” society develops,” writes Fletcher in Slow Fashion: An Invitation for Systems Change. “For the question is not can we produce more fashion (we know that this is possible), but what are the sociocultural and ecological consequences of doing so? Are the benefits worth the extra costs? And what sorts of fashion systems would best serve our total needs?”
Meghan Herman, founder and designer of local ethical fashion brand HarperSage, made a conscious decision to pursue her vision of “slow” through her company. Before starting HarperSage, Herman’s work as a designer for both mass market and smaller brands provided her the opportunities to learn about the supply chain and visit factories overseas in China and India producing her designs.
In witnessing both the excessive waste and unethical labor practices, Herman reached an “inflection point” in her late 20s after realizing that she couldn’t stay in the industry she loved unless she did it her own way. She started to think more tangibly about her own brand and the people she trusted with her vision. Herman brought together what she treasured – design, textiles, people and artisans – and sought a business partner who shared her values.
“I really bonded with a woman who was part of a buying agency. We had dinner and she really opened up and connected about her frustrations working with retailers – something as simple as a color getting rejected and then [immediately] cancelled,” says Herman. “But after being on the ground floor and witnessing how much goes into a single lab dip or a single yardage of color, it’s actual insanity for somebody in the States, for example, to just sit there and pull it up and say, ‘it’s rejected.’”
A few years later, Herman’s colleague turned friend left the buying agency and started her own factory with her twin sister, who now exclusively manufactures HarperSage’s garments. HarperSage’s partner factory is a Supplier Ethical Data Exchange approved supplier, meaning that SEDEX regularly audits them on pillars of labor standards, health and safety, environment ethics and business ethics. SEDEX provides their members with all the tools, as well as a process of accountability, to pursue social and environmental sustainability.
“I think of [sustainability] like building a house,” says Herman. Starting with safe manufacturing and living wages as her foundation, she eventually added another level by making all of her designs from deadstock fabrics that would otherwise become waste.
Herman encourages people to think of materials and clothes as an investment, as opposed to a disposable trend. Though ethical and sustainable brands can’t compete with fast fashion’s prices, a well-made staple piece can last long enough to be an heirloom.
“It’s about changing our societal mindset and understanding that you are investing in a piece to wear throughout the year,” says Herman, advising that shoppers consider the true cost per wear of their garments.
Herman’s vision has grown into a HarperSage flagship store on Burnet Road, opening with a launch party on March 8, 2025. It is the largest location thus far for the brand and provides room to expand HarperSage as a third space for the community. The flagship store will offer complimentary alterations as well as an “outpost” for another local sustainably minded and woman-owned retailer, Parker + Scott.
“Why it’s so important to me to have a space of our own is to be situated in the physical community to have these conversations,” says Herman. “We have our design studio located in the back of the shop. Customers will be able to come in, walk through the studio and always see the process of what’s going on.”
Mikaela Freedman, co-founder of Shop Slow on South Lamar, has a similar transparent, community-focused approach. Along with business partner Rebecca Wright, Freedman opened the slow fashion boutique in October 2023 after answering a Craigslist ad for a DIY space rental. The pair originally intended for the space to be a studio for Wright’s custom clothing brand, Psychic Outlaw, but their vision expanded and they took the opportunity to gather a collective of handmade apparel brands under one roof. By having a storefront, customers are able to try on custom pieces in person and interact directly with the makers of their garments. Shop Slow also hosts events like embroidery and sewing workshops, upcycling classes, clothes swaps and community nights.
“It’s less about the clothes and more about the people in [slow fashion],” says Freedman. “Part of that is education: understanding where your clothes come from, the people that made them and then how to take care of these pieces of art.”
Though the Shop Slow storefront is closing on March 2, Freedman is continuing her work in slow fashion through the Slow Fashion Festival with co-organizers Leah Bury and Reza Cristián. Slow Fashion Festival is volunteer-run, which emphasizes their team’s ethos that anyone can get involved. Freedman joined the organizers after Bury reached out with the original idea to do a three-day event featuring a fashion show, vendor market, art gallery and panel discussion in October 2022. Through the team’s combined talent and dedication, they’ve produced two more fashion shows since then, hosted a meetup during SXSW and participated in the Hollywood Climate Summit.
“It’s just snowballed into a magical, very natural, organic group. It feels like a silly thing that happened, you know?” says Freedman. “I think that slow fashion too is accepting your whimsy, your weirdness. Leaning into it as far as you can because it’s so authentic. We’re looking for authenticity and transparency and that’s honestly what fashion is about.”
The organizers are planning another fashion show on April 26. The team keeps economic accessibility at the forefront of their programming and aims to provide inclusive low ticket pricing. If the Slow Fashion Festival is someone’s first step into sustainability, the organizers will try their best to make it an affordable one.
“Just as with sustainability efforts at large, I want people to understand that they don’t need to be scared away at the thought of ‘doing it wrong’ or not doing it well enough,” says Bury. “Slow fashion is truly a way of thinking and living. I want people of all entry points and backgrounds to know that even small steps are really valuable.”
Cristián agrees that while individual efforts are vital, change also needs to happen on a larger scale.
“The biggest challenge is knowing that sometimes creating change isn’t just about individual actions, but also on a higher scale change in regulations and policies,” says Cristián. “In California, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 just passed, the first Extended Producer Responsibility recycling program aimed to address textile waste in the United States.”
For those who already purchase second hand and mend their own garments, Cristián recommends supporting and joining groups like the Central Texas Fashion Coalition, a professional grassroots organization that “puts sustainable and ethical business practices at the forefront of [their] work.” Membership levels start at $5 a month or $50 annually, and come with benefits like monthly meetups, marketing resources and community building.
Wherever anyone finds themselves within the cycles of style and fashion, there are always opportunities to make more sustainable choices.
“What draws me so much to slow fashion in particular is that I think it is a really accessible and applicable way for people to learn and more deeply understand principles like mindful consumption and circularity,” says Bury. “These principles can be applied in so many more areas than just slow fashion, but starting out with slow fashion and taking simple steps can be a great entry point for folks to begin to look at other areas of their lives where they can be more sustainable and community-oriented.”
