When launching the Outlandish Blog, one of my main purposes was to promote, in particular, Finnish brands that embrace sustainability in their operations, processes and values overall. Sustainable fashion in action!
Finland is a pioneer in sustainable production in so many ways! And, of course, I’m very proud of that having Republic of Finland written on my passport. And since within these two years I’ve managed to establish relationships with such sustainable fashion brands, I’d like to spread the word about them.
Today I want to talk to you about sustainability. Particularly to point out how much more it involves than being ecological does. Brands can be green or transparent, but that doesn’t make them sustainable. Let’s dive in!
What Is Sustainable Fashion?
Note that this is not a sponsored post. Please read the disclaimer here.
I paid for all products seen in these photos and I do get
a percentage of possible future sales.
I feel ya, sustainability in fashion can make one feel completely powerless and like it’s a problem that can’t be solved. But the thing is, it actually can be solved! It depends on all of us and how we consume.
The first thing we need to do is to educate ourselves. And since this is a subject that I’ve noticed a lot of people struggling with, I wanted to help out. I’ll do the research and bring sustainable fashion literally closer to home by trying to make it a bit clearer.
What is sustainable fashion? How do you recognize sustainable brands? And most importantly, why should you go for the more expensive, sustainably produced item rather than the cheap fast fashion piece? All this coming up now!
I will use PIHKA collection as an example in this post. They simply are the perfect example of a fashion brand that embraces sustainable values.
So, let’s start with the most obvious aspect of sustainable fashion;
Raw materials
The thing to know about fast fashion, and why it’s such an enormous threat to our environment, is the fact that producing the needed raw materials requires vast amounts of water. Water is a luxury in many parts on the planet.
On top of water, fabric production requires an incredible amount of poisonous chemicals, like pesticides. Just think, you’re wearing a ton of pesticides per month…
Whereas brands that embrace sustainable values get their materials from environmentally friendly producers. There are a lot of brands already in existence that have found ways to produce their raw materials cleanly and without excess pollution.
If raw materials are collected from elsewhere, sustainable brands look for distributors of reusable materials. Or materials that would otherwise be thrown away.
In PIHKA collection’s case, they use surplus cow leather that is left when the cows become something that ends up on your barbecue. All the leather would otherwise be discarded to landfills but this way the whole animal gets used.
Local production
As we are aware, fast fashion items are produced in terrible conditions in countries where there are no employee rights. In addition to the environment suffering, the people working in the mass-production factories with very little pay suffer as well.
Whether it’s raw materials or the actual clothes, the closer your clothes are produced the less the environment is strained. In addition, when production happens in, for example, the EU you know that employees are paid proper salaries. Also, we have laws in place that protect us from being abused.
As the recent pandemic has shown us, local production should be supported. This is our time to force the industry to make the changes that should have happened years ago!
And again, PIHKA collection is a great example of this. They get their leather from Sweden and Germany, from factories that are constantly finding new ways to make their production more environmentally friendly.
PIHKA collection makes sure themselves that the distributors are as sustainable as they say. In addition to which, they want their raw materials to be traceable so that you can know exactly where they came from.
Visibility throughout the production chain
Do you know what the woman, who made that top you’re currently wearing, looks like? How many children does she have? No idea? Yeah, that’s fast fashion for you! Faceless and thus completely elusive when it comes to not treating people and the environment with the respect they deserve.
Sustainable brands, on the other hand, are very much transparent. They do not mind sharing their production processes for everyone to see. Or showcasing the actual people making those items. Let’s look at PIHKA collection:
They don’t just have their own names and photos available on their website, they also arrange courses where you can go and see how the bag-making process works. You also get to make your own bag! I went to such a course last June and here’s what I made!
Legit sustainable brands have no need to hide anything from their customers. Because they know that everything’s legit. And THAT is a huge reason why fast fashion needs to go, the sooner the better!
Sustainable values on company level
Sustainable values should not be displayed only in the production of your clothes. They should reach all the way to how the company itself is run. By this I mean that the company encourages, or even provides their employees with environmentally friendly working spaces and tools.
Brands like Mother of Pearl (MOP) and PIHKA collection want their employees to lead just as environmentally friendly lives as their production chains are required to do.
This can mean simple changes on a daily basis. Like banning any plastic products from the office kitchen, including lunch containers and plastic bags. The company can instead provide their employees with alternative options. And very often the employees themselves already lead sustainable lifestyles.
Of course, this is something that we consumers can very rarely track since few companies will allow outsiders into their office kitchen. But the companies who embrace sustainable values on every level are glad to talk about it. And often have this information available, for example, on their website.
Trends change slowly
Now THIS! I had never thought about this aspect of fashion. But the lovely ladies at PIHKA collection brought it to my attention when we were chatting about their company values and sustainable operations.
They directed my attention to the fact that, even though we’re used to trends changing every couple months, it really shouldn’t be like that. Fast fashion brands actually bring us new collections every other week. Just imagine the waste of energy, money, and material…
Only 10 years ago Fashion Weeks happened twice a year. Now even 4 times a year. I have 2 friends who have worked in the fashion industry, and discussing the industry with them made me feel slightly sick. I never knew that one fashion house makes 900-1000 garments for one fashion show but only 100-120 of them end up on the runway! The rest goes to waste…
Even though these high-end clothes are handmade in Europe, the fact is that most of these extraordinary pieces of clothing end up in the landfills. Which is completely counterproductive.
The thing is, trends really don’t change so often. When you’ve got great design mixed with good quality, the clothes and accessories are good for more than just one season.
For example, PIHKA collection doesn’t come up with new designs regularly. Why should they? Their bags are classics in terms of design. And they come in different tones, so they cover every season.
Their products were made to last for years, even decades. Why couldn’t rest of the fashion industry take on this frame of mind as well?
I totally get that we need new ideas for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter seasons! I do enjoy coming up with new outfit ideas when the season changes. But could there be some other way to do this than by producing thousands, maybe millions of pieces of clothing that will never be worn? This is a discussion I’d love to hear and be a part of!
But how can I afford it?
Yep, this is the point where many people end up walking away from sustainably produced clothes, higher prices. But at the end of the day, the answer to the headline’s question is simple:
By stopping those Primark hauls today! Nobody needs 5 new T-shirts a week. Oh, I know how good shopping feels, I really do! Being the absolute materialist that I am.
But I also know that when you shift from shopping once a week to shopping once a month, you value those purchases more. That more expensive item makes you 10 times happier than those 5€ T-shirts with fading colours and shrinking fabrics.
Because higher price in sustainable fashion also means higher quality. These PIHKA bags will last for ages! And good quality leather is the best fabric to invest in because it becomes more beautiful the older and more worn it gets. Which means that I don’t need to buy a new clutch any time soon!
Sustainable brands don’t change their product catalogs every couple months, so you have time to save up for that piece that you absolutely have to have.
We live in a world where we’ve gotten used to getting everything right now, this very moment. But that instant gratification is a big culprit for the climate crisis we have in our hands today.
Sustainable fashion is something we’re all aware of. The need for it, the benefits of it, and also the cost of it. I hope this post has brought some clarity to you in terms of why and how.
I had a ton of questions when I sat down with the PIHKA girls, and the information I got from them was so inspiring that I couldn’t wait to get to share it with y’all. I really hope this post has been useful.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Would you start making subtle changes towards more sustainable brands or do you prefer to keep buying from fast fashion brands? Why so?
Also, if you have any questions on this subject, please comment below or e-mail me and I will be very happy to find the answers for you. There are no stupid questions.
The Fashion Revolution starts today and it starts with you and I! ♥
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