By Oana Orzac
In the fashion industry, pollution has become a serious concern. In 2019, fashion became the second largest polluter globally after the oil industry.
In 1987, UNESCO created a definition of sustainability: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
As a result, many bands in this industry have attempted in recent years to reduce pollution. This has led to sustainable clothing to help the environment. These brands are popular now, with people seeing the impact that the fashion industry has on the world.
But when did the sustainable fashion movement begin?
“Silent Spring”
The sustainable fashion movement began simultaneously with the modern ecological movement. This is due to the 1962 book ‘Silent Spring‘, written by biologist Rachel Carson. This book has focused on the widespread pollution associated with chemicals that still exists today.
Early in the 19th century, with the Industrial Revolution, new technologies appeared. The sewing machine, for example, was a new concept that helped produce clothes faster. However, sustainable fashion began to take shape only in the early 1960s. Thanks to rebellious movements, including western hippies, natural materials became popular. In villages, sustainable fashion was often a necessity, as people had no other option.
Retired food shop owner Mirza Anuta, 72, talks about fashion in the ’60s. “There were no fashionable clothes. Being from a village, I had two outfits: one for the holidays and one for every-day wear,” said the pensioner from Romania. “The clothes were made of wool and linen, made by women at home on the weaving machine.”
In the ’70s and ’80s sustainable fashion was there. Thanks to the punk rock movement, it was about vintage and second-hand fashion.
Bank worker Rodica Orzac, 60, said that in the ’70s and ’80s, to be fashionable means to create your own clothes. “In the ’70s and ’80s in Romania was a Communist country. There were not too many options, only the state ones. To be fashionable, we started to create our own clothes.
“So, we made our clothes at the sewing machine, or most often, we use our parents’ clothes and upgraded them, according to the fashion of those times.”
Sustainability in the ’90s
The most crucial part of sustainable fashion was in the ’90s. Because of new ways of production and new ways of manufacturing, fashion became more accessible and cheaper. This led to fast-fashion production.
Simultaneously, some brands brought about ecological fashion. It fell to the Esprit brand, which created the ‘Eco collection’ collection, to bring awareness to the fashion world.
Rodica said: “It wasn’t until the ’90s that we were able to be freer in terms of fashion. There were so many clothes and opportunities that you didn’t know what to choose. It was a time when people started to have a lot of clothes in the closet and some only wore them once.”
However, people did not realize how many problems fashion had until 2013, when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing more than 1,000 people. Since then, many brands in line with people have begun to take steps to minimize these problems.
Sustainable fashion is no longer a trend but part of everyone’s life. “Green is the new black” became the slogan of the moment. Thanks to many organizations and brands as well as Covid-19, fast-fashion and pollution have begun to reduce.
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