Ethical Fashion

“Ethical fashion” is a phrase only used in recent history even though some of its practices date farther back. In the last decade or so, fast fashion has taken over the industry and has caused damage. Large brands have been notorious for underpaying and overworking their employees in factory settings. This has resulted in most people’s interpretation of  “ethical fashion” as one in direct response to this issue. Ethical fashion describes an industry that emerged as an alternative to mass produced clothing; it is an umbrella term used to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment, and animal welfare. Fast fashion is one of the main factors that impacts environmental protection; this is a consequence of the use of non-recyclable products, unregulated production practices and the pollution it produces. dasFlow prides itself on ethical fashion as we create high quality, durable clothing that lasts for years. Customers are guaranteed the opportunity to purchase an item and wear it for many years to come, opposed to purchasing an article of clothing to only see it deteriorate within a few months. Our products are extremely sustainable. Our garments have high durability and remarkable longevity. Not only does dasFlow promise amazing durability but the clothing is trendy and comfortable. 

dasFlow is committed to using environmentally friendly techniques; for example, we use a process known as dye sublimation, which eliminates water usage and produces virtually zero waste. This is because the sublimation process turns solids directly into gas without using any water and without getting chemicals into our waterways and ecosystem. Dye sublimation printing is a computer printing technique which uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as a plastic, card, paper, or fabric. The sublimation name was first applied because the dye was considered to make the transition between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage. This understanding of the process was later shown to be incorrect, as there is some liquefying of the dye. Since then, the proper name for the process became to be known as dye-diffusion, though this technically-correct term has not supplanted the original name. Many consumer and professional dye-sublimation printers are designed and used for producing photographic prints, ID cards, clothing, and more. The process uses the science of sublimation, in which heat and pressure are applied to a solid, turning it into a gas through an endothermic reaction without passing through the liquid phase. In sublimation printing, unique sublimation dyes are transferred to sheets of “transfer” paper via liquid gel ink through a piezoelectric print head. The ink is deposited on these high-release inkjet papers, which are used for the next step of the sublimation printing process. After the digital design is printed onto sublimation transfer sheets, it is placed on a heat press along with the substrate to be sublimated. in order to transfer the image from the paper to the substrate, it requires a heat press process that is a combination of time, temperature and pressure. The heat press applies this special combination, which can change depending on the substrate, to “transfer” the sublimation dyes at the molecular level into the substrate. The most common dyes used for sublimation activate at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. However, a range of 380 to 420 degrees Fahrenheit is normally recommended for optimal color. The end result of the sublimation process is a nearly permanent, high resolution, full color print. Because the dyes are infused into the substrate at the molecular level, rather than applied at a topical level (such as with screen printing and direct to garment printing), the prints will not crack, fade or peel from the substrate under normal conditions. We also use cut and sew manufacturing which denotes a garment that has been customized from raw fabric rather than one that has been purchased from a third-party supplier and then screen-printed or altered.

1 in 6 people work in the global fashion industry, and most are earning less than $3 a day. Growers, producers, movers, makers, packers, and sellers are exploited, underpaid, and put in terrible working conditions. Garment factory workers work in factories without access to clean drinking water, regular breaks, comfortable environments, or basic human rights. Ethical fashion. Two words which should be recognised, respected, and admired when said to someone you first meet. It’s not a term that can be summarised in one blog post, but it’s a term we must learn to seek, maintain, and aspire to in our fashion decisions. We should bother with ethical fashion, because we’re human. The emotional and mental stress of a cotton farmer, and the conditions of garment factory workers wouldn’t be wished upon our worst enemies; so why do we continue to support it? We should bother with ethical fashion, because we want to continue existing on this beautiful planet. The rate at which we’re using resources isn’t sustainable for mother earth. We should bother with ethical fashion, because “there is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness.”- Mahatma Ghandi.