Revealed Magazine Summer 2024 final - Flipbook - Page 32
The Slow Fiber Movement
Strives to Reform Sourcing
BY ASI EFROS
The move to know how and where the products you consume is on the rise.
Organic and humanely sourced fruits,
The Italian Slow Fiber
the
vegetables, grains and meats is almost
movement s tar ted in
the economy. “ We work
the norm in certain circles. And when
2022, as a branch of
together and help each
knowing the name of the animal your
the Slow Food initiative.
other within our collective
meat comes from becomes part of a
It
to make more and more
comedy skit (like in “Portlandia”), you
members—yarn
know it’s going mainstream.
textile manufacturers—
Casalini explains. “At the
and has grown to 25.
same time, we are rethinking
star ted
with
16
environment
sustainable
and
With clothing, the Slow Fiber movement
and
produc ts,”
the whole industrial model
is slower to take hold (pardon the pun).
The purpose of the Slow
to account for the expense
However, Dario Casalini, entrepreneur
Fiber collective is twofold.
of climate change and social
and CEO of intimate brand Oscalito, aims
It is raising consumers'
inequalities.
to change that.
awareness of how fabric
“I realized that all my friends were
very keen to spend $30 or $40 for a
bottle of wine, but only $5 for a pair of
briefs,” Casalini tells Revealed. “When
it came to underwear, the perception
is made and why properly
Education about being ethical
produced textiles cost
at every step is something
“We consider
Slow
Fiber to be
more. “ When the price
the beginning of
is low, it ’s because the
the industry-wide
producer doesn’t take
revolution."
care of the environmental
of value decreased incredibly. I wanted
and social aspec ts of
to understand why it happened and try
produc tion,”
to educate the consumer to put more
Casalini. Convincing the
money into textiles.”
average consumer to pay
explains
Dario Casalini
Oscalito CEO
2 or 3 times more for sustainable items
He set to work on educating himself so
of a stumbling block. For
example, he shares, "If you
grow organic cotton, use
harmful chemicals to dye it
and child labor to produce
the garment, it’s labeled as
organic cotton but it misses
every other checkpoint of the
Slow Fiber manifesto,” clari昀椀ed Casalini.
remains challenging.
He has eyes on international expansion
he could educate others. The result was
a book, “Dress Good, Clean and Fair:
Inwardly, the group works with textile
for this movement. “We consider Slow
The Sustainable Fashion Revolution,”
companies to accept Slow Fiber's
Fiber to be the beginning of the industry-
published by the Slow Food Collective in
principles of beautiful, fair, good, clean,
wide revolution,” he says. “We want it
2021. Though it’s only available in Italian,
healthy and durable, remembering
to be a real opportunity to change the
it has helped to further the movement.
the impact production has on people,
textile trade.
R E V E A L E D - THE SUMME R IS SUE #11
