The fashion industry seemingly creates new trends for every season. Some may be based on previous seasons, but many are entirely new and require many fashion enthusiasts to buy new pieces.
More recently, we have seen the rise of creating a “forever” wardrobe — one that will stand the test of time and never go out of style. However, this notion of promoting a timeless wardrobe comes and goes very often in the fashion industry because of how it no longer provides companies with consistent profit. Similar to most trends, it goes off the racks and to the backs of our minds. So that we focus on the newest trend that has come to the forefront.
Based on the general atmosphere of the fashion industry, it does seem as though the buyers and sellers want clothing to be more eco-friendly because, as Jess Cartner-Morley said, “Fashion is about the future; without a future for the planet, there is no fashion.” Everybody understands that there needs to be a huge shift in how the industry works so that they will still have a place to create, work, sell, and buy in. And yet there is still hesitation because, at an economic level, it is not as easy to change things around.
Currently, the fashion industry generates around 2% of the global GDP and employs nearly 400 million people — it has become this massive because of the growth fast fashion has seen in recent decades. Because of how much it has grown, clothes have become a lot cheaper for consumers as well.
The quality may not be the best, but the latest trends have been accessible to anyone that is interested. Buyers are getting used to having clothing that doesn’t stand the test of time, and for the most part, they seem to be okay with it. The clothing they are buying is not breaking the bank, and they are able to stay on-trend.
Looking for high-quality but inexpensive clothing is very hard to do right now. You can try to create a “forever” wardrobe or buy pieces that work in different ways, but in order to do that, you need to put in the money and time — mainly money because if you want something to last, you cannot trust anything that is cheap as it has become increasingly synonymous with low quality.
Investment dressing is the idea of buying a few solid pieces that you can wear from season to season but can change based on mixing and matching. Some would say it is the same as creating a timeless closet, but I think that it is different because you are not required to find clothing that is expensive or high quality. Rather, you are just looking at clothes that you will wear no matter how the trends change, and hopefully, you have clothes that can be “altered” by adding or removing accessories.
The problem that we see today in relation to fashion is that no matter which way you look at it — in a fast fashion or sustainable lens — it seems like you need to buy a whole new wardrobe to be happy and fit in. Whenever we go shopping, we aren’t really shopping for clothes, but for new “aesthetics.” These require multiple articles of clothing, and sadly, the articles may go out of style almost immediately after you accumulate your new closet.
The solution? I can’t say I have one that would be perfect. I believe that you should be able to buy the clothes that you want and enjoy the trends that you are interested in. But I am also a big believer in caring about our planet, because climate change is, in fact, real, and it is time that we, as a society, started caring for our earth.