The Slow Fashion concept is spreading throughout the world with the commitment to sustainability and social responsibility.
It isn’t a trend: it’s a necessity. Ecological fashion is a response to fast fashion, which accumulated criticism as a polluting industrial model which uses dubious materials and resorts to exploitation of workforces in third-world countries. But there is a worldwide response to this phenomenon: slow fashion, or ethical fashion, a sustainable, aware proposal that is entering our wardrobes. Many designers have decided to take control in order to change the world, stitch by stitch. The aim is to make garments that leave as small a footprint as possible on the planet, and link up to the movement that fosters recycling, Kilometre Zero, veganism or non-polluting transport.
In Spain, several platforms have emerged which promote ethical fashion. One of them is Slow Fashion Next, which asserts that sustainable clothing can be a tool for change. For its part, the Sustainable Fashion Association of Spain (AMSE) brings together companies with a commitment to consumers who come to fashion via ecological consumption. It is one more step on the path to this lifestyle that seeks equilibrium.
For a garment to be sustainable, it must be made using organic materials such as cotton, hemp or linen, or with textiles resulting from recycled garments. It must also be manufactured in local workshops with dignified wages, in a commitment to Kilometre Zero products, in contrast to the offshore phenomenon of opening up workshops in poor countries.
The AMSE calculates that the consumption of Slow Fashion has grown by 25 percent over the last year. A phenomenon which stirs the conscience of both shoppers and the big firms, which is bringing out eco-friendly lines, although there is still much to be done. One pending task is that of making fast fashion consumers understand that a T-shirt that costs just 3 Euros only lasts for a couple of washes and the low price is achieved by violating workers’ rights. But a 25-Euro organic cotton T-shirt can boast of a much longer lifespan, and lasts for more than a single season.
Upcycling is another way of creating sustainable fashion. It is based on the idea of making a new garment from an existing one. Using garment remains, waste and other disused materials, a new item is created in order to bestow a second life on it.
There are many examples of this modality on Mallorca. The footwear of Pla Shoes is designed by Irene Peukes in Mallorca. Part of the production process is handmade by craftswomen from Bangladesh, using natural jute fibre. The work with the craftswomen is coordinated through Cáritas Bangladesh, in accordance with the Fair Trade Code of Practice. In Mallorca, the uppers are attached to the soles by local artisan shoemakers, completing a totally manual footwear process.
Joana Borràs, Cinzia Bertocci and Jaume Sansó are the people behind Feel Mallorca. Their women’s fashion oozes Mediterranean style and cossets design but above all the production process, which takes place in Mallorca and on the Spanish peninsula. Traditional Mallorcan embroidery is merged with modern dyeing and textile manipulation techniques, based on bio cotton and recycled and regenerated dyes.
Suite 13 is a firm with the María Trepat and Alexia Izu as its brains. Their sustainable women’s collections are designed on Mallorca and made in Barcelona, transparently. All of the fabrics are made in Spain. In 2015, moreover, a second line was added - Heaven Lab – which is produced in India under the GOTS certification. All of Suite 13’s fabrics are organic and ecologically-certified.
With regard to accessories, Maravillas Bags makes artisanal bags in its workshop in the centre of Palma. The company has created the vegan collection Ananas, with bags made from a natural material made using the fibres of the pineapple plant leaf, called Piñatex. A vegan, ecological alternative to imitation leather.
At Natural Felt, meanwhile, the basis is formed by sheep’s wool from Mallorca, which is washed and carded using artisanal methods, without any kind of machinery. The fibre is dyed with natural products made from plants gathered in the area.
Recycling awards
The Creative Clothes Recycling Marathon is a more-than-established contest in Mallorca. The competition is designed to reward the island’s fashion students who manage to create a new garment from another one. The results are astonishing and demonstrate the possibilities of upcycling. The competition enjoys the participation of the Consell de Mallorca (Council of Mallorca), the Balearic School of Art and Advanced Design (EASDIB) and the Deixalles Foundation.
