Where I live in Melbourne, we have a rich fashion culture that has produced many notable sustainable fashion designers who have helped change the sustainable fashion industry for the better. But something strange is happening, and I have a feeling I know why. Over the past two years, we’ve seen numerous independent, sustainable fashion designers shut down their businesses. Brands such as Arnsdorf, ABC.H, Dion Lee, and Nique have closed their doors. But there are so many more.

This alarms me. Yes, I’m a sustainable fashion designer, and my industry is in turmoil, but this is less about me and more about the bigger picture. What do these closures mean for not just the Australian sustainable fashion industry, but the global fashion industry?

Put yourself in the shoes of a sustainable fashion designer. You design your own clothes, and local makers help you produce them. You have a supportive community around you that appreciates your work. These clothes are made well, built to last, and priced accordingly.

This community respects and supports you, but they’re still living in a society dominated by ultra-fast fashion. To buy from you, your customers must go against the norm, making a conscious and ethical decision to bypass cheaper options and support sustainable fashion.

However, our society is becoming more entrenched in fast fashion. You have faced a global pandemic, economic downturns, and erratic political climates, yet fast fashion giants continue to thrive. It’s getting harder for your community to support you, as the noise created by these massive corporations grows louder.

Soon, many in your community begin to believe that fast fashion prices are the normal price of clothing, sustainable fashion just seems too expensive. It becomes hard for them to justify paying more. They adopt the mentality that if a garment breaks, it’s cheaper to replace than to repair it. Fashion becomes a disposable commodity, and your sustainable fashion designs get lost in a sea of consumerism, manipulative branding, and discarded clothing.

What to do?

As a sustainable fashion designer myself, I like to tell people that sustainable fashion reflects the true cost of fashion. Fast fashion isn’t cheap; it’s simply underpriced. Only 2% of the people who make your clothes earn a living wage. The minimum wage in the countries that produce most of our clothing isn’t enough to live on. There’s a gap of 45.8% between a basic living wage and what workers are paid.

On top of underpaying workers, fast fashion companies often disregard the environment, pouring chemicals into waterways and releasing toxic fumes into the air. I haven’t even mentioned unsafe working conditions, petroleum-derived textiles, or farmers’ rights. The system is broken, and it needs fixing. But if it were fixed, our clothes would cost a lot more.

To make matters worse, many factory workers are paid per garment, meaning these items are sewn incredibly quickly, which results in inadequate quality — contributing to our throwaway fashion culture.

Sustainable fashion brands are value-driven and refuse to contribute to these problems. They choose to manufacture ethically, using sustainable textiles and creating garments that last. This is how clothing should be made, which shows that sustainable fashion is priced correctly, while fast fashion is underpriced.

To give you an idea of the costs associated with sustainable fashion, here are some factors:

• Fabric : Sustainable fashion brands use natural and sustainably made fabrics that are much more expensive than synthetics and the low quality options that fast fashion offers. Fast fashion brands also buy in massive (and I mean earth-shatteringly huge) quantities, allowing them to demand lower prices from fabric mills.

• Makers : Sustainable fashion brands often use local makers, and when they manufacture overseas, they choose factories offering quality service. This costs more.

• Quality : Sustainable fashion brands take more time and care to sew a garment properly so it lasts. Sustainable fashion prioritises high-quality fabrics, materials, and workmanship.

• Quantity : Sustainable fashion brands release intentional collections with fewer items. When you produce smaller runs, it generally costs more per piece to make.

Comparing fast fashion to sustainable fashion is like comparing fast food to your favourite family-owned restaurant. They aren’t in the same league. You’d never want to eat fast food regularly, so how can we justify buying fast fashion regularly?

Losing our sustainable fashion brands would undermine the entire sustainable fashion movement, stifling our progress towards a more responsible fashion industry.

The empowering thing for consumers is that the power lies in your hands — or rather, in your wallet. How you spend your money dictates what the future will look like. And one person can make a huge difference, because one purchase from a sustainable fashion designer means so much more to them than a thousand purchases do for a fast fashion chain.

You’ll feel empowered to make a change once your mindset around fashion shifts. In 2000, we purchased half the clothing we do today. My country of birth, Australia, consumes more new fashion per capita than any other country on Earth. Our mindset around fashion has changed drastically in the last 20 years.

It’s now normal to replace rather than repair, to follow trends — even micro-trends — for a short period before replacing them with new ones. It’s time to return to our roots and choose clothes we want to make memories in, building a wardrobe full of pieces that we connect with.

Many years ago, I struggled with overspending on clothes. I compulsively bought until I realised what I was doing was unhealthy — for me, my bank account, and the environment. I had to change my mindset. Now, I shop intentionally. I have a dress I bought when my 15-year-old daughter was two, and I still wear it. I have a coat my mum handed down to me from the ’50s, and I wore it just yesterday. I have shoes I saved up for when I was in fashion school, and silk scarves I can’t even remember buying.

All of these items mean a great deal to me. I have a connection with them; they’re part of my life and tell my story. Fast fashion doesn’t tell your story; it tells someone else’s — a story of underpaid workers, environmental destruction, and suffering.

You’re probably reading this because you already support sustainable fashion. Thank you. The world needs more people like you. To make a real difference, we need those who don’t yet understand the importance of sustainable fashion to recognise its relevance. If you share this message (or better yet, this blog post) with just one person, you won’t only be part of the change — you’ll be helping someone else become part of it too.