Is ethical fashion too slow – or am I just being impatient?

I It was never my intention to mess with an ethical fashion brand. While I was already thinking about it, suddenly my eyes fell on their Instagram ad, which featured a beautiful forest-green dress. How can I make better purchases? And avoid fast fashion, Type, came in front, promising high quality, no wastage and fair wages for textile workers; The £47 dress looked just as good as the sustainability credentials. It took a few clicks and just a few seconds to order. I didn’t bother myself with the small print, but rather went about my day, looking forward to wearing it to some spring events.

Four weeks later, spring was in full swing and I hadn’t found the dress. Unfolded repeatedly emailed me with excited updates in innocently smutty tones. My dress was being “cut”, “stitched”, “selected”. Five, then six weeks passed. Seven weeks later, I emailed customer service. “I have to ask, when will I get this dress? “While I want to support sustainable fashion, I don’t think you’ve made it clear that it will take more than six weeks to arrive,” I said angrily.

An apologetic employee replied, explaining the label’s no-waste ethos – each item is made from scratch after the customer orders it; There is no stock waiting to be shipped out – and it is also said that some orders were even held up at customs. Unfolded’s standard delivery time was four to six weeks, so it was slightly behind schedule. “We hope you love your product when it arrives!” He signed dangerously.

At this point, I had to have a talk with myself. I was Being an Eco Karen? Rationally, I knew it was Asos, Amazon and Shein that had made me this way: a greedy retail monster, bitten by the radioactive combination of three-click transactions and next-day delivery. I knew that shopping kind equals shopping slow – I just hadn’t considered the snail’s pace.

I tried to go back to my motivation for buying the dress. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, one truckload of clothing is landfilled or burned every second. Every year approximately 30 percent of the clothes produced globally remain unsold. Big retailers know this will happen. Google “Chili clothing mountain” to find out what kind of place they end up at – it will turn your stomach.

Furthermore, textile workers – the majority of whom are women – are suffering in this race to the bottom. Andrew Morgan’s documentary true value It is estimated that less than 2 percent of the people making our clothes earn living wages; Undercover reporting in 2022 found that some Chinese factory workers were earning just 3p per garment. I knew that by running a slow business, Unfolded was doing something positive, going against fast-fashion. Why couldn’t I wait?

But I knew that if I couldn’t, others wouldn’t either. If the first wave of sustainability-curious buyers were meeting a slow or unclear customer journey and disliking it, how would a brand like this ever catch on?

“The problem is that the consumer is not in that mindset right now,” says Alison Lowe, who works with brands on the issue. A UEL lecturer and author How to Start Your Own Fashion LabelShe tells me that Unfolded follows a “pre-order” business model, and not all ethical labels use it.

“They did the right thing by keeping you updated – you know they didn’t just take your money and run away.” But he feels they could be more specific in preparing buyers for the delivery period. “The customer really values ​​honesty,” says Lowe. “It’s better to say, ‘We’re doing this well, but we haven’t figured out the solution yet.’ She prefers the approach of small-batch labels that make a handful of stock, sell those items and then make more.

Lizzie Rivera, founder of the ethical lifestyle guide Live Frankly, agrees that seven, almost eight weeks, is “a little unreasonable.” “We’re not going to change the world if we’re only attracting hardcore sustainable fashion fans,” she says. But Rivera sees consumer patience as an important part of changing the game. “We have to get out of the habit of thinking, ‘I want this tomorrow’. Establishing a small brand is not a reasonable demand; This is an unreasonable expectation.”

To try to understand how we went down the wrong path, I talked to Kelly Russell, founder of Unfolded. They think they are clear about their four to six week shipping time, but admit that no matter how they state it, some people will fail to internalize it and find it irritating. He asks why I chose this outfit out of all the options, and I pause. “Maybe the price,” I say, thinking about other ethical brands I’d browsed but given up on because of the £120+ price point.

“Okay, fine, that’s your deal,” he explains. It turns out that creating a sustainable label takes a lot of salary and emissions math. When Russell started Unfolded, she talked to 300 shoppers about ethical clothing: what they wanted and what it took to get them to buy it. “A big hurdle was, ‘I don’t know where to shop’,” he explains. “The second was that ethical fashion is usually more expensive. Many consumers are either not able or unwilling to pay more.

He asked what issues would people be willing to compromise on if he could lower prices. The biggest thing was there were less options; Small collections were fine for them. The second was time: Buyers accepted that it may take longer to receive the goods.

What I didn’t get from my seconds-long Instagram shopping experience was that Unfolded started as a community. Enthusiasts join the brand’s private Facebook group (currently 6,800 members), where they give creative input into each collection, share shopping photos and volunteer to model in photo shoots.

Given this “tribe” feeling, Russell is surprised that email updates were a source of irritation. Most customers are fans. “People reach out and say, ‘I had no idea about this.’ “They have this new appreciation for the process.”

Along with running a business with a clean conscience, Russell also wants to educate people about what goes into making a garment. (My “give it to me now” consumer brain has apparently overruled this level of curiosity.) He apologizes for the long wait I had to do but is firm in his stance. “We think this is the right compromise. It’s better for the planet, better for the customer and better for the garment worker.”

As far as ethical brands with fast delivery go, Alison Lowe points me toward Pangia (three to five business days) and Spanish brand ECOALF (one to three days). I get Fanfare (24 to 48 hours), while Lizzie Rivera gets Isle of Wight-based Rapanui and US-based Aya for the basics, as well as another made-to-order label, Lora Jean (two to four weeks). Is the champion. With the exception of Rapanui and Aya, most price points are significantly higher than Unfolded, so I second Cali’s point. We may have good products and quick delivery, but not cheap.

In a way, my peek behind the curtain of an ethical choice is just what every consumer needs to shop with clarity. There’s no such thing as a simple, affordable, quick product that’s also kind to people and the planet. There is always a cost, even if we don’t see it. But if we budget for some better options – patience as well as cash – maybe we can still turn that around.