Pants

"Slow Fashion" Comes to San Francisco

Proving once more that appending the word “slow” to an existing thing is a way to get noticed, the San Francisco Chronicle clues us in on the next big thing to hit the SF scene: slow fashion. What is slow fashion, you ask? The Chronicle explains:

It’s not about large volume on the cheap. It’s about quality over quantity, said Janet Lees, a senior director at SFMade, a local manufacturing advocacy group.

“It’s small batch, high quality, limited edition, customizable,” Lees said. “You can’t compete on low price points. That’s not what’s being manufactured in San Francisco. It’s really artisanal manufacturing.” […]

“Just like we’ve had this huge movement of slow food,” [founder of Jeanne-Marc clothing company Jeanne Allen] said, “now people want slow fashion.”

Reading like a Kinfolk SEO campaign, the “local manufacturing advocacy group” proclaimed trend should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, it wouldn’t surprise us if a Bold Italic piece on “artisanal clothing” is already in the works.

[Photo: SFMade]

Comments (6)

Some kind of “slow fashion” thing called Joshu+Vela appeared at the old Mission Hiring Hall space recently, with a big “Made to Wear” sign featuring a photo of a canvas tote bag.  Are people wearing bags now?  Is that a trend I missed?

Handmade clothes that aren’t produced by Bangladeshi children hardly seem to deserve the snark. I can’t afford to have my clothes made in S.F. by a Bard grad, but if I could, I probably would. Note, as well, that just like “slow food” was coined to contrast with fast food, the term “fast fashion” exists in the world of clothes (e.g., H&M, Zara). Calling it “slow fashion” may be a bit affected, but it makes sense.  

While you are right, I think the post is more a giant eyeroll at the fact that things in San Francisco lately have to have a catchy or hip title in order to take off (or as Buzzfeed would say, become “a thing”).   It goes without saying that this type of design has been around within mainstream fashion far longer than any of us have been clogging up the internet highway, but these silly buzzwords are just ways to get mindless, storefront shoppers (let’s be honest, tech workers who are dying to be fashionable - I don’t see the marina stereotype caring about this) to buy more shit because of a blanket, buzz-term they saw on a local website.

I want artisinal socks.

This has already been happening in SF for years…SFGate is just too clueless to have picked up on it (and their wearables coverage is truly emetic).  Most newcomers to the local handmade clothing trade are as uninventive as the term “Slow fashion” and will survive for a time thanks only to the disposable income of the current boom of agape consumers.

I just curated some artisanal poop in my toilet. Locally sourced, $20 and it’s yours.