Is made-to-order fashion a privilege?
We would all like to buy sustainable, custom-made clothes. But it's just too expensive.
Esmerelda Top from Olivia Rose The Label
The fashion industry is currently one of the biggest polluters in the world, and the eco-conscious have been desperately finding a way to minimise the damage. As a result, made-to-order fashion is making a huge comeback. Beautiful garments and ethical practices – what more could we ask for? Well, thereʼs are still a small problem.
Once upon a time, all clothes were custom made and expensive. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people made their own clothes, owned relatively few and repaired what they had. Style choices were mostly a privilege for the upper class. Things have clearly changed. Modern production processes, increased globalisation and consumerist psychology have combined to create a system where people work in factories under deplorable and dangerous conditions just to satisfy the never-ending demand for something new and trendy.
However, in recent years, custom made fashion has been making a comeback. Independent fashion brands like Olivia Rose The Label and Oresund Iris are skyrocketing in demand. While there are advantages to made-to-order fashion, there are also some unpleasant disadvantages that we need to talk about.
The pros of made-to-order fashion are that it is much more sustainable. Independent designers only purchase enough materials to fulfil a certain set of orders, which means less waste. They donʼt work from factories that leak harmful chemicals into their surroundings, and they donʼt need to hire workers to keep up with the demand of making hundreds of garments a day.
Itʼs also much easier for the designers to have a personal connection with their customers, to understand what they like and dislike. In turn, the customers receive high-quality clothes that are made to fit them like a glove, and also have that special, personal human touch. However, all of that hardly makes custom clothing cheap. Production is limited as itʼs done by hand, and the labels are unable to bulk purchase fabrics for a lower price. They have to cover labour and materials costs and still make a profit margin large enough to allow them to continue operations. Simply put, custom made clothes are usually way more expensive than their fast fashion lookalikes. Fast fashion brands that can produce in bulk and sell their clothes for affordable prices often take advantage of this and use it to their benefit.
Left: White Shirred Puff Long Sleeve Top (£25) from Pretty Little Thing | Right: Esmerelda Top in White (£190) from Olivia Rose the Label
For example, the white shirred puff long sleeve crop top from Pretty Little Thing, an online British fast fashion shop, is clearly a lower quality version of Olivia Roseʼs Esmerelda Top. The top from Pretty Little Thing costs £25, while the Esmerelda top costs £190.
This stark difference in price for two pieces of clothing that look so similar is one of the reasons why some people struggle to be ethical consumers. We know that Olivia Rose is better for a number of reasons: she designs all of her clothes on her own, her label is low-waste because she makes everything by hand, and she takes pride and cares deeply about her work.
But it doesnʼt changes the fact that most students and young adults canʼt afford to spend £190 on a top. While itʼs completely possible to save £190 if you have a part-time or a full-time job, some people would rather put that money towards buying a new laptop, upgrading their phone, or saving for a car. We have to recognise that being able to say ‘just save up and buy the originalʼ is a privilege that not everyone can afford.
That statement is also an example of how financially privileged individuals are unaware of the things working-class consumers have to consider when making an ‘extravagantʼ purchase. We have to come to the unpleasant realisation that while made-to-order fashion is becoming trendy, itʼs still not affordable. The problem with ethical fashion used to be that it was expensive and ugly. The latter problem has now been solved, but the former – not so much. Itʼs difficult to navigate the complexities of ethical consumption and production in the fashion industry, but the point to take away is this: if beautiful and ethical fashion is only for people who have the money to spend £230 on a dress, then is it really a good thing?
