12 Ethical Fashion Terms You Need to Know
Being a conscious consumer applies to all areas of life. Ethical fashion is being increasingly popularized in the media. Brands may say that they’re eco-friendly or carbon neutral. Some people talk about sustainable fashion while others talk about ethical fashion. These terms can be confusing, and there are a lot of them. So here is the quick rundown of the top 12 ethical fashion terms you need to know to be a conscious consumer of fashion.
Sustainable:
In 1987, the UN defined sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
In a literal sense, sustainability means maintaining an ecological balance by not depleting natural resources or causing adverse effects on the environment. Sustainability includes realigning business models, production processes, and consumer interaction — not just changing one small thing about the business. Sustainable fashion works to improve all stages of a garment’s journey, including design, raw material production, manufacturing, transport, storage, marketing and final sale.
Dr. Brismar of Green Strategy said, “From an environmental perspective, the aim should be to minimize any undesirable environmental effect of the product’s life cycle by: (a) ensuring efficient and careful use of natural resources (water, energy, land, soil, animals, plants, biodiversity, ecosystems, etc); (b) selecting renewable energy sources (wind, solar, etc) at every stage, and (c) maximizing repair, remake, reuse, and recycling of the product and its components
Sustainability can also refer to the social impacts of a garment or brand. This could include working to improve the lives and conditions of agricultural workers, garment makers, those in the transportation sector, and retail sales associates.
2. Ethical
The term ethical fashion is often used interchangeably with sustainable fashion. However, ethical fashion focuses more on the philosophy or ethics of fashion including the conditions of producers and makers, the fight for a living wage, and cruelty-free and vegan fashion. Environmental ethics concerning climate change and the adverse effects of poor environmental practices on the communities where those practices are happening also come into play when talking about ethical fashion.
Ethics, of course, are subjective. The term ethical fashion can be a vague umbrella term for many different issues. However, the more transparent a brand is about their production and values, the more “ethical” it likely is.
3. Fast fashion
The ethical fashion movement began in response to a rapid rise in fast fashion beginning around 2010 with Forever 21 opening its doors. Fast fashion is cheap, “trendy” clothing sold at most major clothing retailers. The pieces are poorly made with the intent that a consumer will only wear it 3-5 times before discarding it. Because the price point of these garments is so low, garment makers do not make a living wage and in many cases are trafficked by their employer. Fast fashion creates demand for overproduction and requires long hours by garment makers in bad conditions.
Not only does fast fashion create unlivable and unworkable conditions for garment makers, but fast fashion wreaks havoc on the environment. To offer cheap clothes to a mass market means cutting corners in every area of production. Often the farming practices are unsustainable and require fields to be abandoned within 10 years of their inception. It means creating factories whose chemical runoff and air pollution may be detrimental for the surrounding community.
4. Minimalism
When it comes to fashion, minimalism means owning fewer pieces of clothing. Minimalism encourages buying high quality pieces that will last a lifetime and being creative in the ways you mix and style them. Minimalist wardrobes often include classic basics like a button down shirt or a pair of loafers. Minimalism is often related to ethical fashion because it rejects fast fashion trends. It can be better for the environment because each garment purchase is more thought out and thought of how it could fit within the existing wardrobe.
Often, minimalists will create a capsule wardrobe — a smaller, intentional selection of your wardrobe where you only wear 10-30 pieces and you mix and match them. A capsule wardrobe could be a good way to transition to a minimalist wardrobe without immediately throwing out 80% of what you own.
5. Greenwashing
Greenwashing is when a brand or organization promotes its environmentally-friendly policies that are little more than a fraction of their business practices. Greenwashing takes increased consumer focus on making equitable decisions for the earth and manipulates this interest for their own benefit. For example, a brand might introduce a small line of products that are “sustainable” or “eco-friendly” without addressing their overall business practices and operations. By disproportionately promoting this small part of their business, the brand seems to have higher standards than those by which they actually operate. Here are more examples of how to spot greenwashing.
6. Upcycling
Upcycling is the act of turning one garment or other fabric item into something new and usable, and often of better-quality. For example, you could turn an old pillowcase into a bandana or face mask, or a pair of worn jeans into cut-off shorts. In the ethical fashion world, upcycling is encouraged to reduce spending and to be more intentional about using what we already own. Upcycling removes waste from the system and extends the lifespan of a garment or other item.
7. Organic
The word organic seems like it’s thrown around everywhere, so what does it mean for the fashion industry? Often, “organic” is associated with cotton production, though it could be related to any natural fiber used to make garments. Organic cotton is not genetically modified, and there are no pesticides used to grow it. Abstaining from pesticides benefits the earth and the people who pick the cotton by hand. Otherwise, toxic chemicals seep into the land and pollute the water, causing chronic health conditions for the local community.
The Global Organic Textile Standard — abbreviated as GOTS — regulates the organic cotton industry. If you want to purchase organic cotton, look for this certification.
8. Vegan/Cruelty Free (ethics)
Some ethical consumers go as far as worrying about the animals that our products come from. People who look for vegan fashion do not buy leather goods — as leather comes from cow hides (typically). Vegan fashion does not use any materials that come from animals, whether or not that animal died in the process of the production. There are vegan leather alternatives as well as other vegan-specific products. Other animal-derived products that vegans avoid are wool, silk, and other furs. Some vegans believe that it is ethical to buy these products second-hand but not new.
Cruelty-free products tend to be more beauty-related — i.e., they didn’t test the products on animals. All vegan products are cruelty-free, but cruelty-free products may not be vegan.
9. Carbon neutral/carbon offsetting
Many brands are going carbon neutral. This means that to the best of their ability, the brand has calculated how much carbon they emit into the atmosphere, and they are taking steps to negate these emissions by donating to charities who plant trees or reduce emissions through energy efficiency.
While this may seem straightforward, calculating carbon emissions is a lengthy and tedious process, and brands often use “carbon-offsetting” or “carbon neutrality” as a tactic to greenwash. It’s important to know that carbon-offsetting does not necessarily make a brand sustainable.
10. Microplastics/microfibres
Garments fall into one of two categories: those made with natural fibers and those made with synthetic fibers. Natural fibers are linen, wool, bamboo, cotton — anything that comes directly from a plant. Rayon, nylon, polyester, acrylic, and spandex are examples of synthetic fibers used to make thread. These synthetic fibers are made in part by plastic. Every time we wash clothes made of non-natural fibers, tiny pieces of plastic — known as microplastic— detach from the garment similar to lint collecting in the dryer. Most washing machines do not have a filter to catch microplastics; thus, they enter the water and sewage systems. Eventually, the microplastics from our clothing wind up as pollution in the ocean.
11. Living wage
A living wage is the amount of money an individual would need to make to be able to eat, afford shelter, and have other basic necessities. Oftentimes, the minimum wage is enough for a person to live off of, and that is why labor activists fight to increase the minimum wage. Ethical consumers should be worried about the wages that garment makers earn. Without making a living wage, garment makers must work extra hours, a second job, or they may be in a human trafficking situation.
12. Rana Plaza
The Rana Plaza tragedy awoke many consumers to the ethical fashion movement. In 2013, a factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed — killing over 1,000 garment makers and injuring 2,500 more. Rana Plaza brought attention to the extremely dangerous conditions that thousands of garment makers face every day and the lack of labor laws in the fast fashion industry.
Fashion Revolution Week commemorates the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory by asking “who made my clothes?” and pushing global brands to improve conditions for garment makers.
While there are a seemingly endless number of ethical fashion terms, understanding these fundamentals will start you on your way to being a more conscious consumer. From recognizing the greenwashing campaigns of global fashion brands to starting an upcycling project, you can help disrupt poor working conditions in garment factories and help ensure that equitable decisions are being made to support makers, farmers, and everyone else involved in the fashion industry.
About the Author
Emma Beavins is from Franklin, Indiana—a mid-sized town in the heart of central Indiana. Emma is an avid reader, caffeinated-beverage consumer, and a firm believer in the pancakes-are-better-than-waffles debate. Emma enjoys running half marathons and spending quality time with friends, preferably over breakfast. Emma is studying English and Spanish at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana where she hopes to be able to use her verbal and written communication skills to advocate for various social justice issues.