There is a growing concern that fast fashion is the cause of more pollution than all international flights and maritime shipping combined! That is quite a worry. However, the rise of slow fashion is helping to tackle the problem.
Kitty Brown Boutique has never been part of the fast fashion business. We have always been resolutely in the slow lane. We create our collections from companies who consider the effect their products have on our planet and they endeavour to not harm people or animals.
In addition slow fashion businesses avoid using plastics whenever possible and ensure workers receive fair pay and work in decent conditions.
Most of all, those in the world of slow fashion business create high quality products that last more than one season. In addition, they do not follow every trend but instead encourage customers to keep clothing longer. No item is disposable, it is intended to last for years.
Of course, this comes at a cost on the price tag. Higher quality materials and well sewn garments come at a higher price. But if a garment costs three times more than its fast fashion equivalent and lasts four or more times longer. Plus, the manufacturing process is environmentally friendly and workers are treated decently, which is really the more expensive? At Kitty Brown Boutique we try to build collections which are great to wear, not wildly expensive and won't cost the Earth.
What is Kitty Brown Boutique doing to be part of the slow fashion business?
- We try to use as little plastic as possible. Packaging is always paper or another recyclable material. Any plastics that arrive in our shop are sent for recycling with Lancaster City Council. We recycle as must of our waste as we can.
- Any deliveries to customers are made via businesses who treat their workers well and pay decent wages. We are not interested in having our deliveries made by people trapped in the 'gig economy'.
- We stock collections which are made from high quality materials. Indeed, many of our ranges are made from recycled materials.
- Our shop itself is a sustainable way of shopping. Imagine if all the items that people tried on in our changing room and found to not work for them had been bought on-line and then returned. The pollution created by people driving to post offices, delivery companies handling the delivery and the return would be considerable. In our shop it is simply put back on the hanger and walked back to the rail.
- We have partnered with One Tribe Global. Every purchase from Kitty Brown Boutique results in our making a donation to help save the world's rain forests. At the time of writing our partnership has resulted in 16,630 trees being protected.
We have plans for the future to cut waste even further and have started working on making recycled items made in our home town of Carnforth, Lancashire. We will update you when these plans are more advanced but be assured our business is not sitting around hoping everything will be okay. We are actively working to make a difference.
'Sustainability takes forever, and that’s the point' – William McDonough