Sustainable Fashion Glossary: Essential Terms You Need to Know
All Things Fashion
Fast Fashion
Fast fashion refers to the rapid production of trendy, low-cost clothing designed to be worn briefly before being discarded. Brands like Zara and H&M epitomize this model, offering styles inspired by the latest runway looks at a fraction of the cost. However, fast fashion contributes significantly to environmental pollution, overproduction, and poor labor conditions. The fast fashion cycle creates an overwhelming amount of waste as consumers are encouraged to frequently buy and quickly dispose of clothing.
Sustainable Fashion
Ethical Fashion
While sustainable fashion focuses on environmental impact, ethical fashion emphasizes the social impact of clothing production. This includes ensuring fair wages, safe working conditions, and the absence of child labor. Ethical fashion brands often go hand in hand with sustainability but place a stronger focus on human rights and worker welfare throughout the supply chain.
Fair Trade Fashion
Vegan Fashion
Vegan fashion eliminates the use of animal products like leather, wool, silk, and fur. It’s an ethical choice that supports animal welfare while offering alternatives such as synthetic or plant-based materials like mushroom leather and Piñatex (made from pineapple leaves). Vegan brands like Matt & Nat and Stella McCartney offer cruelty-free alternatives that don’t compromise on style.
Circular Fashion
Video credit: SokFok Studio
Zero Waste Fashion
Zero-waste fashion aims to reduce or eliminate textile waste during the production process. Designers focus on using every scrap of fabric efficiently or repurposing leftover materials into new products. Brands like Tonlé and Eileen Fisher’s Waste No More initiative are great examples of this practice, where nothing goes to waste and clothing is either upcycled or repurposed.
Secondhand/Thrift Fashion
Shopping secondhand is one of the most sustainable ways to consume fashion. By buying pre-loved items, you prevent them from ending up in landfills while also reducing the need for new production. Platforms like ThreadUp, The RealReal, Tradesy, Grailed, Rebag, Poshmark, and Depop are thriving in the resale market, allowing consumers to find high-quality, stylish pieces at a fraction of the original cost.
Organic Fashion
Cruelty-Free Fashion
Cruelty-free fashion means that no animals were harmed in the making of the garment or accessory. It extends beyond vegan fashion to include products that haven’t been tested on animals. This term is often seen in the beauty industry as well, with certifications ensuring no animal testing at any stage of production.
Sweatshop
Sustainability Ranking
Supply Chain
In the context of sustainable fashion, supply chains refer to the entire process of producing and delivering clothing, from sourcing raw materials to the final product. A transparent supply chain ensures that every stage of production is ethical and environmentally friendly, holding brands accountable for their practices.
Recycling
Upcycling
Downcycling
Downcycling is the opposite of upcycling—it involves turning waste materials into products of lesser value. For example, old textiles might be downcycled into industrial rags or insulation materials. While downcycling is less glamorous, it still plays a role in reducing waste.
Design for Disassembly
Design for disassembly is a technique that ensures garments can be easily taken apart and recycled at the end of their life cycle. This allows individual components, such as buttons, zippers, and fabric, to be repurposed without waste.
Eco-Friendly/Sustainable Textiles
Biodegradable
Biodegradable refers to materials that can naturally decompose in the environment without leaving harmful residues behind. In fashion, biodegradable fabrics like organic cotton, linen, wool, and Tencel® break down over time when exposed to natural elements like sunlight, water, and microorganisms. These materials are crucial for sustainable fashion as they help reduce waste and pollution compared to synthetic fabrics like polyester or nylon, which can take hundreds of years to degrade. Opting for biodegradable fashion helps minimize the long-term environmental impact of your wardrobe.
Hazardous Chemicals
Ethical Fashion
Social Responsibility
Social responsibility in fashion refers to the ethical obligation of brands to ensure fair labor practices, worker safety, and positive community impact. It goes beyond profit to prioritize the well-being of workers, ethical sourcing, and minimizing environmental harm. Brands committed to social responsibility often implement policies that promote safe working conditions, fair wages, and eco-friendly practices throughout their supply chains.
Greenwashing
Greenwashing occurs when companies falsely claim to be environmentally friendly to attract consumers. It’s a marketing tactic that gives the illusion of sustainability without real efforts behind it. Common signs of greenwashing include vague claims, misleading labels, or promoting a small eco-friendly initiative while the majority of the brand’s practices remain harmful. As consumers become more eco-conscious, greenwashing has become a significant issue in the fashion industry.
Public Awareness
Public awareness in the context of fashion refers to how much consumers understand the environmental and ethical impacts of their clothing choices. As awareness grows, more people demand transparency from brands, seek sustainable alternatives, and make informed purchasing decisions. Campaigns, documentaries, and fashion movements like Fashion Revolution have contributed to increasing awareness of the industry’s social and environmental challenges.
Transparency
Traceability
Traceability refers to the ability to track the entire journey of a garment, from raw material sourcing to finished product. This ensures that brands and consumers can verify the origins of a product, its environmental impact, and the labor conditions under which it was made. Traceability is a key element of sustainability, as it enables accountability and helps prevent unethical practices like child labor and environmental harm.
Sustainable Fashion Standards and Certifications
Clean Clothes Campaign
The Clean Clothes Campaign is a global network focused on improving working conditions in the fashion industry. They hold brands accountable for how they treat workers, campaigning for fair wages, safe conditions, and the eradication of child labor.
Greenpeace Detox Campaign
International Labor Rights Forum
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a human rights organization that advocates for fair labor practices and justice for workers globally. It addresses issues such as child labor, low wages, and unsafe working conditions, aiming to hold corporations accountable for violations in their supply chains.
Labour Behind the Label
Labour Behind the Label is a UK-based campaign supporting garment workers globally. It advocates for workers’ rights, including fair wages and safe working conditions. The campaign raises awareness of labor exploitation in the fashion industry and works with local organizations to drive change.
United Students Against Sweatshops
This student-led organization fights for workers’ rights in sweatshops, especially in factories producing collegiate apparel. It organizes campaigns across university campuses to pressure brands to improve labor conditions and adopt fair wages for workers in their supply chains.
Certified B Corporations
Certified B Corporations are companies that meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. They focus on balancing profit with purpose and are committed to benefiting employees, the environment, and the broader community.
Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)
Bluesign®
Bluesign® is a sustainability standard for textiles that ensures the responsible use of resources, minimizes environmental impact, and guarantees consumer safety. The certification covers the entire supply chain, ensuring products meet strict environmental and safety criteria.
Global Recycle Standard (GRS)
The Global Recycle Standard (GRS) is a certification that verifies the recycled content of products. It tracks the entire supply chain to ensure that materials meet social, environmental, and chemical standards, and promotes the use of recycled materials in the fashion industry.
Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS)
GOTS is the leading certification for organic textiles. It ensures that textiles are made from at least 70% organic fibers and that the production process meets strict environmental and social criteria, from harvesting to final manufacturing and labeling.
OEKO-TEX®
Organic Content Standard (OCS)
The Organic Content Standard (OCS) tracks the use of organic materials in non-food products. It verifies the presence and amount of organic material in the final product but does not address the environmental or social impact of production.
Responsible Wool Standard (RWS
The Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) ensures the welfare of sheep and the health of the land used in wool production. The certification applies to the entire supply chain, ensuring that wool is produced in a way that respects both animal welfare and environmental sustainability.
Building Sustainable Fashion Habits
Capsule Wardrobe
Swap Parties
Swap parties allow people to exchange clothing items with others instead of buying new ones. It’s an eco-friendly way to refresh your wardrobe and give pre-loved clothes a second life.
Minimalism
Minimalism encourages owning fewer, higher-quality items rather than buying in excess. In fashion, this means creating a wardrobe of timeless, versatile pieces that don’t follow fleeting trends.
Fashion Movements (Fashion Revolution)
Movements like Fashion Revolution, which was sparked by the Rana Plaza disaster, aim to bring transparency to the fashion industry. Through initiatives like Who Made My Clothes, these movements advocate for worker rights and sustainable practices.
Who Made My Clothes Campaign
The Who Made My Clothes Campaign is a global movement launched by Fashion Revolution following the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in 2013, which exposed unsafe working conditions in the fashion industry. The campaign urges brands to reveal their supply chains and asks consumers to hold them accountable by posing the question, “Who made my clothes?” Through social media and the hashtag #WhoMadeMyClothes, it encourages individuals to demand transparency, ethical production, fair wages, and better conditions for garment workers worldwide.
Wardrobe Challenges (Project 333, 10 x 10 Challenge)
Wardrobe challenges like Project 333 or the 10 x 10 Challenge encourage participants to create capsule wardrobes with a limited number of items. These challenges highlight the versatility of a small wardrobe while promoting mindful consumption.
30 Plus Wears Challenge
The 30 Plus Wears Challenge is a sustainable fashion initiative encouraging individuals to commit to wearing each clothing item at least 30 times. The challenge promotes mindful consumption by helping people assess how often they truly wear their garments before feeling the need to purchase something new. By focusing on re-wearing clothes, participants are encouraged to invest in quality over quantity, choosing versatile pieces that will stand the test of time.
Need a Little Extra Help?
If you’re looking for some personalized guidance, Sparkpick’s stylists and transformational guides have got you covered! Our styling team is here to help you embrace sustainable fashion by focusing on mindful shopping, choosing quality over quantity, and making the most of your favorite pieces. Whether you want to build a capsule wardrobe or explore eco-friendly brands, we’ll make sure your style aligns with a more conscious, planet-friendly lifestyle. Let’s create something amazing together!
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