Made To Order Or Thrifting, What Slow Fashion Actually Means
Made to order or thrifting? Both count, and Vivi Rufino settles what slow fashion actually means. Made to order uses new fibres but never mass produces, with no warehouse and no toxic runoff. Thrifting reuses what already exists. Over two days at the atelier with Vivi and David, the couple who run Freedom Ecowear together, Vivi maps the spectrum, from made to order beachwear to small batches to second hand, and why there is no single right way.
What Slow Fashion Actually Means, From Made To Order To Thrifting
The useful thing in her answer is that the cleanest thing you can do on this spectrum is usually the least glamorous one, wearing what already exists. The brand has its own page in our clothes directory.
Made To Order Sustainable Clothing Is New Fibres, But Not Mass Production
She does not draw a wall around her own approach. “I know a lot of you love to thrift and you call that slow fashion too. I’m not trying to make a wall here or anything,” she said, “but what is the true definition of slow fashion? Because made to order is still using new fibres, but they’re not producing in bulk. There’s no mass production, there’s no big factory, there’s no toxic runoff, none of that.”
That line clears it up. Made to order uses new material, yes, but it removes the bulk, the warehouse and the runoff. “When the customer makes an order, they then start cutting, they then start sewing, they put the pieces together, do all the ironing, and then they ship it out to the customer with biodegradable, compostable packaging,” she said, “and the dead stock gets upcycled for new garments.” It is the no stock, no waste model, and you can see it carried through to the no plastic packaging too.
The Slow Fashion Pinnacle Is Small Batches, Not Just Made To Order
Here is the part most explainers get wrong. Made to order is the start, not the summit. “Are there different types of slow fashion? Made to order, no, no, no. The pinnacle, my favourite, I think the pinnacle is small batches,” she said. “That’s what we aim for. But that’s only a bonus when you have enough data and enough orders coming in. Made to order is great to start.”
Thrifting And Second Hand, The Most Sustainable Slow Fashion Option Of All
Vivi does not put her own model above reuse. When she gives advice to people who cannot afford new natural clothes, she names second hand first. “If you cannot afford expensive natural clothes, there’s always also the option to go and get second hand, good quality clothing with great materials,” she said.
And the principle she keeps circling back to. “There’s nothing more sustainable than what already exists. So trying to get the most sustainable material, the most natural organic material, might not be the way at first. You need to start with what you have.” That is a maker telling you, plainly, that the greenest swimwear is sometimes the one already in your drawer. It is the same honesty she brings to spandex in natural swimwear.
You Do Not Have To Pick A Perfect Slow Fashion Rule To Shop Better
The slow fashion label gets fought over because people want a single rule to follow. There is not one. Made to order, small batch and second hand all step out of the mass production machine, just at different points along it.
That is freeing rather than confusing. You do not have to buy the perfect organic piece to be doing it right. You can thrift, you can mend, you can buy one made to order piece you will keep for years. The only option Vivi rules out is mass produced and disposable. Choose anywhere else on the spectrum and you are already off the machine. Our sustainable clothing guide maps the whole thing.
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