Slow Fashion Moms || A Needed, New Community
My slow fashion journey is deeply connected with my motherhood. If it weren’t for the simplicity I craved after having a baby at a very young age, I’m not sure I would have felt the pull to slow down, be intentional with my purchases, and, eventually, fall down the rabbit hole of educating myself on the ethics of the fashion industry. I probably would have…but it might have taken a while longer.
Motherhood pushes you outside yourself in such a tangible way that so often, we’re in the middle of something before we even realize what we’re doing. (In more ways than one). Slow fashion looks like that for many of us. We want to shop better, we want to know how and where our clothing is made, we want to save for investment pieces, but we don’t know where to start. We don’t have a community around us to help educate, encourage, and research with us, so we stick to our old habits and don’t venture out on our own.
Several years ago, the ethical blogging space looked much different than it does now. There was a smaller group of us — a noticeable community among us, and what felt like a mutual desire to pursue the same goals of raising awareness for ethics in fashion. We were on the same team, each doing our own thing, but together. Now though, as sustainable fashion has exploded and with it, a host of content creators sharing brands and their journeys, the community feel has fizzled out to pave the way for an individualized story. Each person shares their brands, their fashion, their journey, and there is less of a nod to the community that lingers beneath the follower-driven surface.
My friend Ashleigh (the founder of Sela Designs) and I noticed this divide especially in the motherhood community — the ethical fashion space lacked a safe haven for moms, a place they could come and ask questions, share brands, and learn. Motherhood poses unique struggles to an ethical closet, because our wardrobe needs are usually much more “raw and messy” than someone without children who might be shopping from a sustainable brand. We need to chase toddlers on our hands and knees, we need to be able to wash crayon and glitter and sticky hands and leftovers off of our precious, sustainable fabrics, we need pieces that will last, pieces that will fit our bodies as they adapt to the call of motherhood. That’s a steep calling for a closet.
And since we’ve both, Ashleigh and I, been in the ethical fashion space for years and counting, we thought, why not start it ourselves?
And so, Slow Fashion Moms was born — with an iPhone in hand and messy backgrounds notwithstanding.
It’s a small community, one where we are simply sharing our daily outfits, tips we’ve picked up along the way, and brands we’ve encountered that compliment our motherhood. We plan to dig deep into size inclusivity, fabrics, fit, and brands that do all of the above well. We’re just starting out, but if you’re a mom in any phase, plan to be a mom, or simply need community of women who love ethical fashion, consider this your invitation to join us there.
We don’t know where this journey is heading, but we know it needed to begin.
Follow along with us at Slow Fashion Moms and, if you have any, leave your questions/ideas/struggles in the comments here and we will address them in our content over on Instagram!
