The term "Slow fashion" was coined by author, design activist, and professor Kate Fletcher. She defines slow fashion as: "designing, producing, consuming and living better. She states that "slow fashion is not time-based but quality-based" and advocates "a different approach in which designers, buyers, retailers and consumers are more aware of the impacts of products on workers, communities and ecosystems".
According to Untitled Magazine:
"Slow fashion advocates for the manufacturing process to regard all people, the planet, and animals. It involves local makers and sources eco-friendly materials to preserve crafts and the environment, which provides value to consumers and producers. It urges slower production schedules, small-batch collections, and zero waste designs." Slow Fashion also includes other elements such as: buying vintage or used clothes, redesigning old clothes, shopping from smaller producers, making clothes and accessories at home and buying garments that last longer.
According to Untitled Magazine, the "Slow Fashion Movement could have started back in the 1970s.
"1970: Ethical fashion was first introduced into mainstream culture by hippies, who preferred locally-grown, handmade, and pesticide-free products.
1990: The New York Times and Vogue published articles tracing the environmental trend in the fashion world. Soon after, British fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, who has been recognized as one of the first designers to combine environmental activism with fashion, gave a speech about the environmental impacts of fashion at the UN.
1995: Giorgio Armani began to use hemp in his Emporio Armani collection.
2001: Natalie Chanin launched Project Alabama, a collection of 200 locally produced hand-sewn T-shirts. Stella McCartney launched her sustainable line the same year.
2007: The term “slow fashion” was coined by Kate Fletcher, a professor of Sustainability, Design, and Fashion at the University of the Arts London’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion.
2011: The UN formed the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, an organization designed to stop the fashion industry’s environmental and socially destructive practices.
Fair Trade USA rolled out the first sustainable fashion certification label."