A spotlight has been shone on the problems in the fashion industry over the past five years with more and more brands pledging to 'do better' and 'be carbon neutral by 2030' etc. H&M, Zara and many others now have sustainable or conscious collections that everyone can easily access and feel good about buying that they have done their 'bit' for the environment.

With more and more large fast fashion brands announcing sustainable changes, it does feel like everything is moving in the right direction. Levis launched a Water>Less collection where they use 96% less water to make jeans and now state on their website that 75% of their cotton comes from 'more sustainable source' - talk about ambiguity!

Ralph Lauren also launched their Earth Polo, a polo t-shirt made from recycled plastic bottles and now publish a sustainability report.

Although this is all a step in the right direction from large fashion brands, it doesn't address the core of the sustainability and ethical fashion issue which is over-consumption. I would almost argue that you can still shop from some bigger retailers and build a more sustainable wardrobe just through slowing down consumption.

Fast-Fashion retailers and large corporations can make all the eco-collections they like but the conversation we should be having is about our individual problems with consumption. You can still shop exclusively from sustainable brands and still not be helping the environment if you are over consuming. I personally have really struggled with this as it is so easy to find yourself purchasing new clothes every month and end up with piles and piles of things you don't even wear.

Slow fashion and mindful consumption is the most environmentally friendly way to tackle the issues around fast fashion as it addresses the root cause of this broken system. Buying from sustainable brands (like Jena St) is one thing, however, unless we address the issues of over-consumption we will never be able to significantly reduce the impact of our clothing on the environment.

Slow fashion is a reaction to the current fast fashion business model and focuses on the longevity of the clothing and how it fits into your wardrobe. But how can we slow down our own consumption and adopt a more slow fashion approach?

There are many different ways we can move towards reducing our own individual consumption and I have written a lot about how I personally have done this over the past four years since starting my blog. One of the key ways in which I found the most progress was made was in stopping shopping as a recreational activity. I used to have very few hobbies and interested and would regularly go shopping on weekends with friends. When you do this you often end up spending money on things you don't need and wasting your life. Stopping going shopping recreational is something I don't feel is spoken about enough, but is one of the ways that I reduced my consumption and was less tempted to buy items I didn't need.

If you are interested in some other blog posts about slow fashion please see links below and keep in touch :)