Join Us!

The next challenge: May 2023

Celebrate, educate, connect, and make a difference!  Follow Slow Fashion Challenge on Instagram for slow fashion inspiration and to join the challenges.

How does the challenge work?

Learn and share about slow fashion every day in May on Instagram. Use the calendar of prompts to creatively post about slow fashion and that day’s topic. Follow and tag your posts #slowfashionchallenge so we can find each other. Learn and join in on the worldwide conversation. Participants’ posts are shared on the @slowfashionchallenge account to elevate the discussion and to spread new ideas, share information, celebrate sustainable brands and organizations, and to connect the community. Everyone is welcome, whether you are new to slow fashion or an experienced slow fashionista, brand or organization.

What is slow fashion?

“Buy less, choose well, make it last.” — Vivienne Westwood

Slow fashion is conscious fashion. It’s about slowing down enough to consider what’s behind what you wear. Who made your clothes? Where were they made and out of what materials? Who grew or manufactured the fabric? Do they have a history or a story? It’s also about using and appreciating what you already have and loving your garments enough to want to repair them and enjoy wearing them over and over. It’s shifting how you view what you wear from a constant need for more to realizing the value of every piece and only acquiring new ones that meet high standards. Do you value locally grown organic food? Consider organic clothing and accessories made by local artisans and small ethical brands or choosing second hand or upcycled.

Fast fashion has become a huge problem worldwide for our planet and its people. The fast fashion industry is one of the largest polluters on the planet. It uses excessive amounts of water, treats garment workers inhumanely, contributes up to 10% of global CO2 emissions, floods the environment and our bodies with chemicals through synthetic fabric production and industrial farming of fibers and all of this is for cheap clothing. Americans consume more than 400% more clothing than we did only 20 years ago yet we throw away over 14 million tons of clothing annually. The trend has become to only wear something once or a couple of times and then toss it in the trash, making room for the next new cheap item. Fast fashion brands often burn their unsold clothing. The system is out of control. 

What can we do about it?

  • Use what you have.
  • Purchase from ethical and eco conscious brands.
  • Look for garments made from organic, natural, recycled or upcyled fabrics.
  • Shop small, indie, local, vintage and second hand.
  • Swap clothes, rent them, reinvent, alter and mend them.
  • Invest in classic pieces that will last for years. Celebrate and enjoy fine quality garments.
  • Care for your clothes. Wash less often using gentle detergent in a cold gentle cycle and hang dry. Repair them.
  • Support your local communtiy artisans, tailors and makers.
  • Ask your favorite brands through email, social media or post: Who made my clothes?
  • Join us in the Slow Fashion Challenge!


Amy Daileda started and co-hosted the challenge for 5 years and now it's run by Louise Kane of ReAdorn London & Sharmon Lebby of Blessed Designs

Louise Kane of ReAdorn London

Louise creates and repairs jewelry from broken and discarded pieces through her innovative business ReAdorn London. Mail her your broken and unwanted jewelry to have it turned into something new or shop her upcycled collection of one of a kind pieces through her website. She also runs the Rejewel Collective, a group of international jewelers following this zero waste business model. Louise is based in North East London, teaches upcycled jewelry classes, is a mother of two and is passionate about waste reduction.

Sharmon Lebby of Blessed Designs

Sharmon Lebby is a writer, stylist, the Founder of Blessed Designs and the President of the Ethical Network of San Antonio. As an ethical fashion advocate she encourages others to live intentionally sustainable lives while amplifying small businesses. She is specifically interested in the intersections of environmentalism, fashion, and BIPOC communities.