Speed as Distance over Time: Reframing fast and slow fashion in Australia

Fast fashion and slow fashion are critical concepts in the discussion of sustainability in fashion. In academic circles each concept has been widely studied, and in fashion media and communication, slow fashion is often set up as a contrasting paradigm to the dominant model of fast fashion. This chapter looks beyond the common definitions of ‘fast fashion’ and ‘slow fashion’ to instead bring the concept of fashion’s speed back to first principles. As sociologist John Tomlinson (2007) observes, in physics, speed equals distance over time. What, then, are the ethical considerations for fashion in the concept of distance, and in the context of time? Through examining the spatial and temporal dimensions of speed in fashion, this chapter identifies relationships between speed/distance, and speed/time that can further inform conceptions of sustainable fashion. These ideas are discussed through analysis of the Australian fashion industry. The chapter argues that through setting aside the inevitable binary of fast fashion and slow fashion, and instead discussing speed as an ethics of distance and time, producers and consumers may come to a more nuanced understanding of what kinds of practices may contribute to a sustainable fashion system in Australia.