The Essence of Fashion
Fashion is a state of being, it’s a current that carries the moods, inspirations, and beliefs of what surrounds us. Fashion has always been and has remained a cultural archival; so much can be learned from the garments and accessories humans have adorned themselves through the different eras of history. Similarly, the future of fashion foreshadows a world of innovation, change, and transformation.
The modernization of the Fashion Industry
With the rapid advancement of technology, climate change, and all the modern affairs associated with development and expansion; are the concerns that modernization is done ethically and humanely. The fashion industry has been the visual manifestation of culture shifts, and with that comes newfound approaches and attitudes to what we decide to wear on our bodies.
In the past few years, we have seen a slow but steady pull out of the wholesale fashion craze. Technology has allowed creative commerce to flourish and offer consumers with private label alternatives. People are gravitating towards sustainability within fashion; they are looking for things to wear that have meaning, have a story, and will be able to support the change they seek to contribute to.
Popularity is not sustainable
The constant cycle of fads and trends, prey on our most recent style infatuations. In a digital age fueled by the desire to be as reactive as possible, the fashion industry has caught on. Like an insatiable appetite for more and more, the industry has fallen prisoner to greed. However; just how long-lasting are those obsessions, craze, and trends? Not long at all. Every year, millions of garments end up in landfills, we empty our closets awaiting the next year of trendy drops. The rapid rise and fall of popularity has exhausted consumers, leaving them not wanting more, but different.
The fashion industry needs to slow down, and remember the beauty of thoughtful and careful design. There is a race to sell more and more, and to over-saturate the markets in order to increase profit margins. If things go out of style quicker, then the faster they can sell us new clothing. However, things are changing.
The fashion industry is being gradually disrupted; revolutionizing the way we make clothes is allowing us to find alternative ways to bring fashion into our lives. Here at Polite we are offering an inside look at what the fashion industry can be like, restructured.
Bringing the past into the future through upcycling
Our pearls are ethically handmade and all of our pieces go through various steps to source components, we use vegan grape leather, hemp textiles, and recycled precious metals. We are not just moving into the future, and leaving the past behind; we are bringing it with us and learning how to incorporate it back into the future. Our upcycling efforts have allowed us to reduce waste and bring life to once overlooked articles.
The entire restructuring of the fashion industry needs to be centered around regenerative creation. Moving towards a circular economic model, the fashion industry can better acclimate to a more adaptive production cycle. We want to inspire consumers to appreciate the art of upcycling, the desire to embrace pieces over time where trends don’t need to fade as quickly as culture has built them to. Now more than ever, shopping ethical brands, thrifting and vintage shopping have taken fashion lovers by storm. Luckily, the popularity of thrifting and vintage shopping have allowed us to move in the right direction. It shouldn’t stop there. Producing new clothing can be done sustainably, and we're here to prove it.