Has fashion really gone green, or is it just good advertising?

Fashion used to be like falling in love with a toxic guy: bright, exciting, and utterly destructive. Each new collection was like another declaration of love, after which the planet received another dose of microplastic in its lungs.

But something has changed. “Environmentalism” has burst into fashion – like a new fatal mistress, wearing a hemp wreath and carrying an organic cotton bag.

1. Slow fashion: when a dress lives longer than your Instagram romance

Slow fashion is for those who are tired of wardrobes on steroids. Fewer collections, more meaning. Brands like Patagonia, Reformation, or Ukrainian local heroes like Framiore don’t just make things—they weave ethics into them. They say: wear, repair, pass them on, and only then buy new.

2. Vegan leather or plastic fraud?

Vegan leather sounds noble until you find out that most of it is polyurethane. That is, a petroleum product that will decompose in a couple of hundred years at best. But there are also breakthroughs – leather made from mushrooms (Mylo), pineapples (Piñatex), or cacti (Desserto). And these cacti don’t sting, they just make you happy.

3. Biodegradable fabrics: when a shirt is the future compost

A hemp shirt, a seaweed dress, a T-shirt made from recycled coffee beans. This is not the menu of a new hipster cafe, but the reality of sustainable fashion. Such fabrics are not only harmless, but can also be composted. In the literal sense.

4. Upcycle or the art of sewing from the dead

When new is remaking the old. Upcycling is like the necromancy of fashion: we take an old shirt, add fantasy, and voila — a new life. This is how brands like Eileen Fisher or Ukrainian OLDNEW work. It’s not just ecological, it’s a protest against mass consumption.

5. Greenwashing: when a brand smiles sweetly, but behind the scenes burns tons of fabric

Yes, sustainable fashion is beautiful. But while you’re reading this, someone on the other side of the world is releasing a limited edition “eco” line to cover up the daily burning of leftovers from the previous collection. Greenwashing is like zombie makeup: shiny on top, rotten on the inside.

Conclusion? Fashion is changing. Slowly. Painfully. But it is changing. And in this struggle, every purchase is like a ballot in an election for the future of the planet. Either you vote for a compostable dress, or for another bag from Zara that will outlive you by a hundred years.

So choose. And remember: your style is your activism.