Like the local food movement and the maker culture, “slow fashion” appeals to customers who want to know the source of the things they buy, own and consume.

While the slow fashion concept has been around for a long time, it has surged during the past two years into a small-but-dedicated movement, partly inspired by the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, according to NPR reporter Elizabeth Blair in this Morning Edition story. “In 2013 some 2,000 people were making clothes—mostly for large, western brands—when the building they were working in collapsed. More than 1,100 people were killed.”

Quote:

“Pietra Rivoli, a professor of finance and business at Georgetown University, says tragedies like the one in Bangladesh are a result of fast fashion: Consumers in the West buying lots of cheap clothes that are made in countries with little or no oversight of fire safety and fair labor.

“If you’re into “slow food”—the ethical response to “fast food”—you probably want to know how the animals were treated or whether pesticides were used on your vegetables. Now, the “slow fashion” movement is in the same spirit.”

Listen to the story below or visit NPR.org to hear or read the full story: “Slow Fashion Shows Consumers What It’s Made Of.”

(Photo: Zady.com)