Amplifying Slow Fashion Movement: Introducing our Global Ambassadors Network
When Slow Fashion Season first started as a small campaign on a crowd action platform called CollAction, no one could have imagined it would grow into a full fledged NGO with a community of over 50.000 people — a truly remarkable story.
At the time, CollAction’s tagline was ‘Building people power to transform the fashion industry.’ And in just a few years, Slow Fashion Movement has built quite a community! Largely in thanks to our over 150 Global Ambassadors — which you might have seen featured on our socials, especially on Instagram under the #SFMambassador tag. But how do you become one, and what exactly do ambassadors do? Keep reading, and perhaps you will be our next slow fashion ambassador!
The Role of Ambassadors
Slow Fashion Movement ambassadors are vital in spreading awareness about slow fashion. Our network of ambassadors helps spread the word to lots of different communities across the world, and most importantly, provides a personal touch to a complex and broad topic. Educating yourself on sustainability or working conditions in the fashion industry is important and necessary work, however it can be overwhelming when done alone. Luckily, Slow Fashion Movement provides a like-minded community where they join forces with fellow ambassadors that are also learning and sharing information!
In addition to educational efforts, our ambassadors lead by example and aim to inspire others to adopt a slow fashion lifestyle. Whether it’s by posting sewing tutorials, calling out fast fashion brands for greenwashing in reels, or sharing their thrift finds, every ambassador finds their unique way to share their slow fashion journey with others.
Who can become a Slow Fashion Ambassador?
Anyone can become an ambassador for Slow Fashion Movement. Whether you are a professional in the fashion industry or someone just learning about sustainable fashion, you are invited to join the movement. It also doesn’t matter if you have thousands of followers or just a hundred, the point is to have real people across the world share their experiences with their community.
Ambassadors have complete freedom to create the content they want, as long as it relates to slow fashion. All new ambassadors are provided with an orientation to slow fashion, given resources to start off their journey, and updated about campaigns that can be joined throughout the year.
Content creation is highly encouraged to start off in the movement. Ambassador posts are often featured on our global social media platforms to uplift and highlight the diversity and talent of our global effort to change the fashion industry to become better.
Another great asset for ambassadors are Slow Fashion Movement’s monthly ambassador calls. They are a great way to meet like-minded people and share thoughts and ideas about slow fashion. But if you’re still curious about what it’s like to be an ambassador, consider reading last week’s article to learn from a few ambassadors about their personal experience in Slow Fashion Movement!
Claudia’s Personal Experience as an Ambassador
While I am a writer for the SFM Blog, I am in fact also an ambassador! I first came across Slow Fashion Movement on Instagram in 2020, after seeing someone repost something calling on all slow fashion enthusiasts to join their Slow Fashion Season. After reading more about it, I had to join. I’ve followed Slow Fashion Movement ever since, and when I saw an open call for ambassadors in 2021, I signed up. A week later, I joined an onboarding call, and in June, I was officially an ambassador. This was right in time for the next edition of the Slow Fashion Season campaign, which helped me document my slow fashion journey.
Through the ambassadors’ calls, I’ve met many inspiring slow fashion enthusiasts, from business owners to sustainability students: all like-minded people passionate about creating change in the fashion industry through their own actions. Without the calls, I would have never been exposed to so many like-minded individuals. I feel like I am learning every day from their stories and their own content. And as Slow Fashion Movement’s community has grown, different time slots of the monthly calls have been made to give as many people as possible a chance to join, you know, so you don’t have to tune in on Zoom at 5am in your timezone ;)
And after some time, I really wanted to be even more involved with the movement, and when I saw a call for volunteers to directly create content for SFM, for the blog and amongst other things, I knew it was time to take the next step and applied again — the rest is history! Many volunteers who are now creating content for SFM’s channels, or who are helping out behind the scenes planning or doing research, started out somewhere, so who knows what’s in store for new ambassadors!
If you are interested in joining and becoming involved in Slow Fashion Movement, becoming an ambassador might be something for you! Keep an eye out on our Instagram as we are planning to publish an open call very soon! Perhaps I will see you in our next monthly meeting!
Written by Claudia van Dijk
