Why is sustainable fashion more expensive than fast fashion?

As the name implies, sustainable fashion refers to clothing or accessories manufactured in the most environmentally friendly way possible. They prioritize the environment and workers and encourage consumers to take care of their garments and buy only what they need. These factors make it much more expensive for Sustainable Fashion items than for Fast Fashion brands. Let’s take a look at the main reasons for this.

A slow fashion label aims to offer gear that consumers will want to wear every day for a long time. Slow fashion does not encourage consumers to spend a lot of money on trends that will only last a season.

Sustainable fashion brands and retailers use a unique combination of environmentally friendly fabrics, colors, and patterns to create timeless looks. Quality comes at a price, so providing an exceptional customer service experience, high-quality products, and an incredible purchase experience costs money.

Clothing manufacturers invest in talented people and have low production volumes. They use high-quality materials and sell at a higher price. Several steps in the lifecycle of clothing items contribute to this price.

Textiles made from natural, organic, or recycled materials are essential to producing eco-friendly fashion. Environmentally friendly fibers only have one disadvantage: they are expensive. This is because their demand is low, availability is limited, and production processes are costly.

The construction and finishing of clothing must be excellent for it to be durable, comfortable, and stylish. Quality clothing should have clean cuts, perfect fit, and no irregularities, misalignments, or defects. A good production process takes time, labor, and money, while cheap clothes have low fiber strength and poor construction.

Fashion brands that adhere to sustainable guidelines encourage consumers to buy fewer products of higher quality. While fast fashion giants want you to spend as much as possible, responsible labels reject excessive consumerism. So everything from fabrics, patterns, and cuts are well thought of to create designs that do not fall out of fashion but are effortless.. 

But sustainable brands design classic and timeless clothing that lasts season after season. Because you wear the same clothes often, higher prices are necessary to cover expenses between purchases that should happen less often.

For sustainable apparel brands, recycled fabrics are used for new collections. These brands convert textile waste and used clothes into new clothing, minimizing their environmental impact. Reusing, recycling, and repurposing old clothes creates value and promotes a more responsible approach to fashion instead of encouraging throwaway culture. But recycling costs resources and money.

Despite the wide price gap between fast fashion and sustainably made clothing, there are many good reasons for it. One is reducing the impact on supply chains on farmers and garment factory workers.

In contrast to Fast Fashion brands, Sustainable Fashion companies pay their workers a living wage. Cases of child labor and industrial slavery still happen today.

The fast fashion industry outsources its labor to large factories in the Global South. This means they do not have to comply with trade unions and strict environmental regulations and pay their workers significantly lower wages. To sell highly cheap clothes, companies exploit people and the planet…

Although fast fashion is exceptionally cheap, the environmental and social costs are enormous. Many sustainable clothes are costly, but ultimately, as demand increases, sustainable fashion will become more affordable.