Fashion is not just about chic, design, and aesthetics; unfortunately, it often goes hand in hand with environmental destruction, starvation wages, and child labor. But it doesn’t have to be that way: more and more designers, labels, and shops are offering fashion that is not only fair and ecological, but also cool and elegant. Armedangels is one such example: what started as a student flat share in Cologne’s Belgian Quarter has now become a professional team that still pursues its goal of “becoming the fairest fashion label in the world.”

That’s how I began to blog about fashion in 2014. This is one of my oldest articles, a short note in German, as I had just started Open Mind Culture as a personal “note blog” (Notizblog). Years later, not only my blog, but also many alternative labels that used to be fresh startups back than, are still there. Reason enough to update and expand this article!

Sustainable fashion has become widespread, and some labels, such as the one mentioned above, are now mainstream. Several pieces from their classic collection still hang in my closet. These have been joined by other garments from fair companies that focus on ecology and durability and, due to their high prices, at least in comparison to widespread fast fashion, often opt for simple and timeless designs that do not go out of fashion quickly. Brainshirt, Knowledge Cotton, amt, and the Viennese label Consches are further examples of sustainable fashion startups, while established names such as Lilli Mendelssohn from Berlin prove that traditional knitwear from German manufacturers can also be chic, elegant, and sustainable.

Sustainable fashion brands need to compete with the big players’ greenwashing and their advertising claims about such-and-such recycling percentage and overusing unprotected terms like conscious and sustainable. In this way, they squander the trust that more ambitious providers have built up.

Critical voices question the act of buying itself, because many people already own too much and the second-hand scene in this country attracts buyers and also sells surplus goods to Africa, where the originally well-intentioned Mitumba becomes cheap competition for local producers, just as Asian manufacturers have recently been the subject of demonstrations and legal action in the fashion capital of Paris.

Also from Cologne comes a concept called Kleiderei, a library for clothes to borrow. Under the motto “you’ve got style, you borrow clothes”, Kleiderei has franchised to other cities like Hamburg and Berlin.

Many years after the introductory paragraph, the world has changed little for the better, but at least fair fashion alternatives and other ecological and ethical foundations have been able to establish themselves and inspire other providers with their good example. Thus, despite ongoing crises, it is fair to say: Fairness is never out of fashion!