Is “Slow Fashion” the New Trend?

At a time when small businesses need all the help they can get, popular media shouldn’t be limiting their potential by coining silly terms.

Typical small business store selling clothing and accessories.
(Photo by Laura Peruchi on Unsplash)

A recent Time Magazine article titled, How Trump’s Trade War Could Boost Slow Fashion, suggested that slow fashion is a new trend that could avoid the worst effects of Trump’s tariff regime. I talk to a lot of small business owners, some who produce or procure clothes but also many who sell other products. I think it is about much more than just fashion. The term slow fashion is limited in the scope of what we are witnessing and negatively impacts many small businesses.

I don’t want to attack the Time Magazine article point by point. I don’t think that’s constructive because they are merely reporting something they believe to be more universally accepted. While their reporting does perpetuate the error, I would rather address that universally accepted idea, which I believe to be the bigger issue.

It is About Much More Than Fashion

What we are seeing is a trend to buy local and from small businesses. It’s not new, and it is not limited to fashion. I wrote an earlier article called A Silver Lining for Small Businesses During These Troubled Times, discussing the reasons we are seeing a change in where people prefer to shop and why.

The main point of the article is that this is a historical phenomenon that has been observed many times before, especially during difficult times. When political and economic events cause social upheavals, customers tend to seek out things like arts and crafts that help them forget those things.

That article explained that our current troubled times will impact businesses that produce and sell arts and crafts. However, I also explained that this isn’t limited to just that, it also affects vendors “of foods, plants, candles, clothes, and just about anything else being sold at local fairs.” Vendors who produce and sell clothes are included, but it isn’t just about them.

The Times Magazine article focuses on the Trump Administration’s executive orders, and how these raised tariffs and eliminated exemptions for foreign manufacturers like Temu and Shein. The implication is that the executive orders effectively create a protectionist environment for small businesses that produce locally.

While this is true, the impact is not just on the fashion industry. As a matter of fact, the article’s web page happens to have an advertisement for Temu (ironically) that I have copied here:

Only two items here are “fashion” items. Obviously, Temu carries far more products than just clothing, handbags and shoes. That is the point: this trend is about much more than fashion.

It’s Also About More than Economics

Another misconception is that this trend is just about economics. Many other news outlets make the same suggestion. For example, Business Wire has an article about the slow death of Fast Fashion, and Outlook Business contrasts Fast Fashion with Slow Fashion, and that’s just scratching the surface - it’s such a popular topic that it’s becoming a meme.

These articles and many others like it, attribute “President Trump's sweeping tariff announcements,” as the main reason for the death of Fast Fashion. Whatever Trump’s reasons were for signing these executive actions, they are more than an economic tool.

While they certainly will have an economic impact, they will also have a social and political impact. We’ve already seen how the goodwill that existed between Canadian and US citizens has visibly cooled as a result of tariffs.

Tourism will also be impacted. According to Fortune, the industry will be directly impacted: “Visits are expected to fall 5.1%, down from an earlier view for an 8.8% increase. Spending by foreign tourists is expected to tumble 11%, representing a loss of $18 billion this year.”

Let’s remember that those visitors from abroad also purchase from small businesses when they are here. It bears mentioning that most travel agencies are also small businesses. This is not just an economic impact but also one that changes social, personal, and even familial relationships.

My point is that the result will be farther-reaching than just economics. Small business owners, as an industry, and not just fashion sellers, need to understand this shift. This will allow them to better adapt to the changes.

Are flower shops slow fashion?
(Photo by Amina Filkins on Pexels)

This Shift Shouldn’t Be Seen as “Slow”

Calling it Slow Fashion hobbles small businesses. The news media are calling it slow because it focusses on an environmentally sustainable, ethically produced approach to retail, according to the Time Magazine article. That is a false narrative that suggests this approach is a hobbled alternative to faster, more profitable production. It suggests a negative value proposition to business owners, customers, and also to investors.

Products that are environmentally and ethically produced can also be fast, profitable, and a good investment. It is a popular opinion, especially in the finance industry, that the return on investment is not at the same level as that of mass-produced goods from less reputable sources.

This criticism is outdated. Many environmentally and ethically produced goods today don’t fit that model anymore. Many industries have already adapted to producing better and healthier products, often with a better Return On Investment (ROI) to boot.

Small business owners are also aware of this. Those who don’t produce their own products because they are resellers already source from environmentally and ethically sound suppliers. Supply chains already incorporate those changes, and the process isn’t necessarily slow.

On the other hand, those small businesses that do produce their own goods are also on board. They would rather produce environmentally sound and ethical products because they see it as an added benefit. Most of the small business owners I have come to know over the years advertise this on their websites, on social media, and in person to their customers.

Speaking of the customers, they are more demanding than ever before. They want environmentally and ethically produced products in their homes. Since the trend is to buy more locally produced goods, customers can also better verify that they are. The products are there, and so is the demand.

These customers will accept that hand-made and small business goods might take a bit longer to create, and so they will wait for them. However, it is still faster, more convenient, and more reassuring than having it produced abroad, arriving on a container ship from someone far away they hardly know.

The Word “Fashion” is Narrowly Targeted

It shouldn’t need to be repeated here, but the word Fashion is typically directed at women, and especially young teen girls. It is marketed directly at impressionable young teens as a necessity rather than an option. Just look at how many fashion influencers flood social media with their posts every day. They are seen as icons, heroes, and celebrities, especially if they manage to earn income doing it.

The problem with the term is that it belittles small business owners. It lumps them in with a non-serious crowd when, in reality, running a successful business is very serious. It is hard work; it requires constant learning, and it requires solid business skills. While I realize that some influencers do put in hard work to create successful businesses, that is not the image that the public has of them, regardless of how effective they are at it.

While I can’t be certain that the intent by whoever coined the phrase slow fashion was to belittle small business owners and their hard work, the end result is that it does. As any small business owner is painfully aware, being taken seriously by everyone from 9-5 employees to owners of larger businesses is an ongoing problem. If you doubt me on that, I urge you to try and secure a bank loan for your small business sometime; good luck with that.

The fundamental problem with this image is that it hurts small businesses. Obviously, not qualifying for that loan is a problem, but more directly, it perpetuates that negative image to customers. It is imperative to build a good relationship with the customers, so if they see the business owner as unserious, then it impacts sales.

More importantly, the tariffs, the political issues, and inflation will already make it difficult for small businesses to succeed and grow in the near future. What small business owners don’t need at this time is for the media to perpetuate an image that can undermine their success.

So, this goes to all the article writers that I have quoted above, and to the rest of the news media out there: stop it! Find a better term. Slow Fashion is not the one small business owners need right now.