When slow fashion speeds up
I’ve had some version of this blogpost drafted for a long time. When I started to think about writing something on this concept, I had recently started this website and I could not stop buying yarn. The size and scale of my stash was getting out of hand and, between you and me, it has continued to do so. I’m not joking when I say that I think I have more yarn than my local haberdashery. Now, my stash has a lot of eco-friendly credentials. I have a beautiful range of organic, non-superwash, cruelty-free, non-synthetic, minimally processed yarns, and… It doesn’t matter. It’s still too much stuff for one person to use, even if my stash is a by-product of my small business. My purchasing habits are unsustainable. They are fundamentally not that dissimilar to that of a fast fashion addict working their way through a pile of new clothes from Zara, H&M, Boohoo, Shein, whatever. I repeat: it’s too much stuff.
And then, in March (this blogpost has been imported from my old website!), We Are Knitters partnered up with Zara Man to release a limited series of crochet kits to be sold on the Zara website. The kits would retail for c. £50, next to crochet-effect knitted tops sold for almost £20 less. It’s fair to say that the knitting community’s response to the collaboration was less than enthusiastic. Far from it. Reactions ranged from disappointment to outrage and, if there was a consensus view, it was that the collaboration was a wholesale betrayal of the slow-fashion values We Are Knitters claimed to represent.
I think, for some people, news of the collaboration confirmed their pre-existing views of We Are Knitters as a commercial yarn company that engaged in ‘greenwashing’ (the phenomenon of deceptively marketing one’s products, services, and/or brand as being more environmentally friendly than they actually are) and which was ‘problematic’ in a myriad of other ways, too. As my friend Iris has highlighted, this isn’t We Are Knitters only questionable partnership (they have previously collaborated with Urban Outfitters) and the origins of most of their yarns are unclear. Other people were more shocked when the news broke, particularly those who had purchased from We Are Knitters because of their slow fashion ethos. And, I’m sure, there were many more people in the middle who, more than anything, were disappointed in the collaboration and incredulous that such a decision had been made given Zara’s documented human rights abuses and its impact on the environment.
For me, the incident has been a catalyst to think about the relationship between ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ fashion and my own consumption habits. As I allude to above, the question of 'what happens when slow fashion speeds up' something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but I lack the expertise to speak with much authority on the subject. So I’d ask you to take this with a pinch of salt. I’m very much writing this based on my own experience, preferences and yarn budget and not on any structured research. Maybe that’ll be possible one day but I hope this personal essay will do for now.
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If nothing else, this my old blog and my Instagram archives serve as a testament to my love of We Are Knitters as a brand. I didn’t learn to knit with their kits – my mum just pipped them to the post – but they were my first foray into luxury yarn and fashion-forward designs. I still remember sitting in my boyfriend’s flat in January 2019 scrolling through Facebook and coming across my first We Are Knitters ad. Once I had gotten over the price point (“£160 for a blanket kit? Really?”), I ordered the Cutie Beanie kit for about £25 and waited for it to arrive with bated breath. Reader: it was love at first stitch. My experience of knitting until that point had varied between dingy local knitting shops with a surprising variety of novelty yarns that tangled as soon as you looked at them, and the masterful knitting of the matriarchs in my life, which simultaneously seemed to be totally unachievable and also limited to matinee jackets for babies. We Are Knitters, more than any other brand, changed this for me. I had my issues with them; the first sweater I ever made was one of their kits and the fit was… Well, it didn’t fit, to tell the truth, and their kits increasingly felt like an expensive indulgence that wasn’t necessarily the best use of my limited funds.
Even so, I felt I’d found a way into knitting that was relatively accessible, particularly with their WAK Friends referral code. I had developed a love of premium knitwear whilst working at Whistles (a UK premium high street retailer) but could no longer afford it without a staff uniform discount and I had long been sceptical of fast fashion, so that wasn’t an option. With We Are Knitters and, to a lesser extent, other similar brands like Wool and the Gang, I learnt that it was possible to make fashionable piece of clothing myself with the natural fibres I enjoyed wearing. I was vaguely aware of Ravelry but I found it so difficult to navigate that it really wasn’t accessible to me as a new knitter. My knitting confidence grew and the rest, as they say, is history (or, at least, is well documented on this website and my Instagram, but that doesn’t read as well). I was, and I continue to be, impressed with most of their yarns and I stand by the reviews I have written of their products. Working with them in 2021 on the Fuzzy Vest was a career highlight for me and I still can’t quite believe that I was given that opportunity.
I mention this not to be nostalgic but to give some context to my relationship with We Are Knitters and their working definition of ‘slow fashion’. For me, they were living proof that knitting and, by extension, slow fashion could be – dare I say it – cool. I felt empowered to make my own clothes and to take an active role in the fight against the fast fashion, and I’m not sure I would have been able to feel like that without We Are Knitters.
I’m well aware that for many other people, We Are Knitters was totally inaccessible because of their prices or sizes or geography, and I don’t want to be dismissive of that. But something about their branding resonated with me deeply and the brand has been an essential part of my development as a knitter. Their emphasis on sustainability in their marketing set them apart from other commercial yarn brands primarily aimed at millennial and Gen Z knitters like Wool and the Gang, BettaKnit, or even Hobbii, for whom sustainability might be toted a benefit of knitting but whose brand identity is fundamentally based on other principles.
I think this hypocrisy is exactly why the We Are Knitters x Zara Man collaboration has been so disappointing and hurtful. If I have understood it correctly, their reason for the collaboration was to promote slow fashion values from within the epicentre of fast fashion, Zara. If they could raise awareness of their brand and, with it, the slow fashion movement more broadly through the collaboration, then that was a net positive. They lowered the environmental impact where possible by using a recycled yarn and packaging with minimal/no plastic, and they did not seek to profit from the venture.
However, for many members of the online knitting community, myself included, this was besides the point. Zara and its parent company Inditex represent a particular kind of horror within the fashion and textiles industry. Not only do they have a well documented track record of environmental and ethical abuses, including the use of Uyghur forced labour, but they played an establishing role in the fast fashion industrial complex as we know it, introducing new collections in a seemingly never-ending cycle and copying the work of independent designers. To say that this flies in the face of slow fashion values doesn’t quite convey how antithetical the two models are.
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But what is slow fashion? Should I define it by what it isn’t (i.e., ‘it’s not fast fashion and therefore it must be slow’), or should it represent a more concrete set of ideals? Because, as I write above, my yarn consumption isn’t really sustainable, so it can’t be about responsible consumption. I have more hand-knitted tops and jumpers than one person can possibly wear (around 50, at last count), so it can’t be about owning only what I need. I respond to trends when I’m designing, so it can’t be about eliminating the trend cycle. I mostly shop for yarn online from all over the world, so it can’t be about minimising my carbon footprint by shopping locally. I’m unsure of where much of my yarn collection really comes from or what the working conditions are like in the mills where it is produced, so it can’t be about protecting human rights. For the most part, I don’t know how well the fibre-producing animals are kept and I don’t know what their environmental impact is, so it can’t be about protecting animal welfare and the environment.
And yet slow fashion is about all of these factors I have listed here. It is about responsible consumption, owning only what you need, avoiding trend cycles, minimising one’s carbon footprint, and protecting human rights, animal welfare, and the environment. So, should the question instead be, ‘What do I mean when I use that term with regards to my knitting practices?’ Can I really claim to care about this issue when so many of my habits, even those that are a necessary by-product of running TKPG, stand so clearly in opposition to what slow fashion ‘should’ be?
From the bottom of my heart, I want to answer ‘yes’ to this question, and I want to empower other people to also be able to answer ‘yes’ in much the same way that We Are Knitters empowered me. I also recognise that I have a long way to go before I can really walk and chew the proverbial gum. I often hear that moving towards sustainable living is a process and that we can lose sight of the good in pursuit of the perfect, and I don’t want to fall into that trap.
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But even defining the ‘good’ can be a minefield. It isn’t as simple as saying that everyone should use non-superwash, locally produced natural fibres for what I hope are obvious reasons. Such yarns won’t be in everyone’s budget and statements like this don’t accommodate other factors like allergies, preferences, and the seasonal availability/use of different fibres. Plus, it feels wrong to call people out for using synthetic or superwash yarns when I quite literally have enough yarn to stock a small yarn shop behind me as I write this, and this was hardly the issue that prompted me to write this article in the first place. These are complicated subjects in which expertise and nuance are helpful and I don’t think this article is the correct venue. Instead, I would refer you to my friends Iris (@hirismakes via @botanica_yarnfest) and Abbie (@abbieknits), who have written about the reality of superwash treated yarn and the sustainability of acrylic yarns respectively.
Stepping aside from this question, then, I am still left wondering whether I am actually speaking about two separate phenomena when I discuss this subject: ‘slow fashion’ and ‘fast knitting’. In preparation for this article, I asked my Instagram followers what it was about the We Are Knitters x Zara Man collaboration that had been so offensive. Another friend, Hannah (@hananarbs) made the observation that We Are Knitters had been building ‘a culture of “fast knitting”’ by encouraging over-purchasing with regular sales and hyped-up products like Yarnicorn. If my yarn stash is anything to go by, then I think that Hannah is on the right track. Many others reported that they had long felt that We Are Knitters were the ‘fast fashion of hand-knitting’, citing their regular releases of new collections and quick-to-knit chunky wools. Personally, I think this can be extended to other similar commercial yarn and kit brands, like Wool and the Gang, BettaKnit, and Made With Love by Tom Daley. Again, though, I don’t think the community response would have been the same had it been one of those brands who had collaborated with Zara since they don’t place such an emphasis on sustainability in their marketing and branding.
Personally, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the knitting kit business model. For many, myself included, a knitting kit is an accessible (in terms of difficulty, if not price; they are very expensive) ‘way in’ to the world of hand-knitting and, if nothing else, they offer a greater awareness of the processes that go into garment making. I also think that many of the brands who sell knitting kits also sell excellent yarns that are relatively easy to access across the world, which makes them good options for pattern writing. It bears repeating that I stand by all of my reviews of We Are Knitters’ yarns and I will continue to use what I have in my stash. I don’t even feel particularly bad saying that I will possibly order from them again in the future depending on what their next actions are. But I also think that we, as consumers, have a lot of power to shape the hand-knitting industry and to dictate what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour.
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Luckily, there are plenty of excellent yarn businesses that offer ethical and environmentally friendly yarns to suit a wide range of budgets and tastes. Woolyknit and West Yorkshire Spinners, for instance, offer an excellent range of British wools at affordable prices. Lauren Aston Designs stocks a range of chunky British wool that is suitable for trendy chunky knits. And there are many, many excellent independent yarn producers from around the British Isles that offer outstanding yarns. I focus here on British wool because I live in England and this will always be the most sustainable option for me, but there are equivalent alternatives around the world. I have assembled a list of these options below but if you come across any other brands that you think I should include here, please just email me to let me know so I can check them out for myself.
However, this is only part of the issue. Perhaps I speak mostly for myself here, but I think we need to avoid a culture of overconsumption where possible. I am sometimes reminded of the YouTube beauty community of the early/mid 2010s when I see excessive yarn hauls (my own included!) and an obsession over maintaining a stash of yarn. I think a lot of this is linked to the ‘Instagram-ification’ of hand-knitting and I acknowledge that I am part of the problem here, as I always have multiple WIPs on the go and, as mentioned at the start of this article, more hand-knitted clothing than one person could ever hope to wear. I certainly need to reflect on my own practices and implement some changes, and I hope that this article is a good starting point. It has been an exercise in self-evaluation as much as anything else.
Finally, I also want to briefly touch on the role of indie designers in the speeding-up of slow fashion. There is a lot that I could say here and I don’t think it’s as straightforward as suggesting that the designer community should only aim to design ‘timeless pieces that will never date and will stand the test of time’ because none of us are futurologists, and there’s no way of knowing how someone is going to interact with their hand-knits over time. Part of maintaining a small design-based business is responding to and reinterpreting trends, so I think there will always been an element of keeping up with fashion within our work. I also think that there’s a valid argument to be made with regards to offering knitting patterns as an alternative to customers who would otherwise be buying similar pieces from fast fashion retailers. I have definitely seen designs on Instagram that look similar to the clothing I have spotted in Primark, H&M, and, of course, Zara. More strongly, though, I feel that we have a responsibility to use and recommend sustainable and ethical yarns in our patterns that will be suitable for a range of budgets. I therefore hope that the list of brands I recommend below will be a useful resource.
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For now, I think that’s all I have to say on this subject. I am deeply saddened by the We Are Knitters x Zara Man collaboration as I feel it flies in the face of everything I thought We Are Knitters stood for as a brand. My preferences have gradually been shifting towards a wider range of brands anyway, as I think it’s important for me to put my money where my mouth is and to support brands that share my values. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on this subject and to discuss it further, so do let me know what you think in the comments.
Until then, happy knitting.
Alternatives
More minimally processed yarns:
Garthenor
Uist Wool
Caithness Yarns
Woolyknit
Heatherlea Black Cheviot
Gorgeous Alpacas
Toft
Black Isle Yarns
Lauren Aston Designs British Wool (good chunky option)
West Yorkshire Spinners
Grey Sheep Co
The Birlinn Yarn Company
Blacker Yarns
Tamarisk Farm
Daughter of a Shepherd
Town End Yarns
Ardalanish Mill
Cambrian Wool
JC Rennie
Jamieson & Smith
John Arbon Textiles
Kettle Yarn Co
Lily Warne
Charlie Button Yarn
Marina Skua
Seaweed Shepherdess
Sheepish Woollens
Fernhill Fibre
Wooldale Yarn
Unaroo Designs
Wool Decanted
Naturally Dyed:
Hook & Light
Woollenflower
Rauwerk
Moel View Yarns
Eco-Stitch
Marsh & Moor
Ria Burns
Trava & Wool
See also, Botanica Yarn Fest
Guld-DK
Gorgeous Yarns
Open Studio 79
Sionnach Yarns
Ethical Yarns/brands with a strong focus on ethical production:
Knitting For Olive
Along Avec Anna
Önling
Krea Deluxe
Bîches et Buches
Isager
Onion Garn
Rosa Pomar
Manos del Uruguay
Shops with a good selection of British wools/ethical yarns:
No Frills Knitting
Knit With Attitude
Wild & Woolly
Wool Bath
Tribe Yarns
Beautiful Knitters
Loop London
Making Stories
A Yarn Story
Knitt Yarns (fewer sustainable options, but an excellent range of Scandinavian yarn brands should you be looking for more commercial alternatives)
Stitch and Story (again, not so much an eco-friendly option, but they have a good range of chunky yarns should you no longer wish to shop with We Are Knitters)
Fast fashion resources and recommendations
Dana Thomas, Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes (2019) - an excellent analysis of the slow fashion movement and shifts in the manufacturing processes of our clothing towards more sustainable options. There is less of a focus on the crafting/DIY movement as this is more about general trends within the textiles industry but it is well worth a read. There is also a young readers' version.
Lauren Bravo, How to Break Up with Fast Fashion: A guilt-free guide to changing the way you shop - for good (2020) - like Thomas' work above, this offers a great insight into the harms caused by the global fashion industry. However, this book offers more practical advice for what you can do as a consumer and it also discusses the DIY movement.
Aja Barber, Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism (2021) - This book does what it says on the tin, really. Aja reflects on her personal history and experiences within the fashion industry. This is an entertaining and moving read, with important discussions of colonialism and how it feeds into our modern consumption habits. I highly recommend this book.