Sustainable fashion in Doha: The Rise of Thrifting and Slow Fashion

While fashion is at the forefront of many people’s lives in Doha, not everybody thinks about the sustainability behind their fashion choices. Especially with the growth of the fast fashion market in recent years, everything has become about wearing something new every day. However, it is important to take a second and reevaluate your fashion decisions. Some of the movements emerging in Doha are thrifting and slow fashion, both of which allow for more sustainable and mindful consumption.

One of the main ways to dress sustainably is by reusing clothes and shopping at second-hand stores. Adinda Maulina is the creator of one of Doha’s only online thrift shopping platforms - Doha Thrift. The store presents a selection of carefully chosen pieces that Maulina flies in from Istanbul’s vintage thrift stores. It allows those in Doha to benefit from unique and high-quality pieces, which, as Maulina suggests, is one of the main reasons for the growing popularity of the store. The entrepreneur herself has “always been against fast fashion” hence sustainability has always been at the core of the initiative for Maulina.

Many of Maulina’s customers have been lately switching from fast fashion to second-hand pieces. Maulina points out that “they are noticing that the quality of those [fast fashion] items is not good” and are drawn to more long-lasting items. The thrift store is more popular amongst foreigners who have been exposed to the thrift culture in other countries, however lately the base of local customers has been increasing. Many are still not familiar with the thrifting culture, and you can hear comments such as “Oh my God I love this, do you have this in another size”? However, Maulina is happy that the market is attracting new customers “Whatever brings them into the more sustainable side of things, then why not”.

There are some other platforms in Doha used to sell and upcycle used clothing. A university student Amina Zaidi, 21, mentions that she often browses her campus’ group chat used for selling old clothes “I can find pieces there that I couldn’t get in stores”. Zaidi sees reusing clothes as a convenient and price-friendly alternative to always renewing your closet from fast fashion stores, however, sometimes the clothes are “quite old and not the best quality anymore” which stops Zaidi from heavily relying on such purchases.

However, thrifting is not the only alternative to fast fashion in Doha. Many new fashion entrepreneurs here center around sustainable clothes, one of them being Sonali Raman, the owner of SR, a sustainable, slow fashion brand. Raman's main objective when creating the brand was promoting “consuming sensibly, living mindfully, and caring for the environment”. However many people in Doha have yet to become aware of the importance of sustainable fashion and the negative impact of consuming clothes irresponsibly. Raman mentions many customers are in a position where they don’t know “what impact can I have if I make the change”, leading to the lack of reliance on slow fashion brands.

Raman shares that due to ethical and sustainable production she experiences some financial difficulties “It’s a slow business and you slowly grow, it doesn’t happen overnight”. Even more so, the high production cost translates to higher prices for the consumers, lowering their interest. When asked about slow fashion stores, Zaidi agrees that “as a student, I am not able to spend so much money on clothes” which forces her to stick to other alternatives. However, as Raman mentions, this is often driven by the mindset of owning a high number of clothes as opposed to a few high-quality pieces, and in her opinion “being fashionable is not about wearing something new every day”.

Both entrepreneurs agree on the importance of sustainable fashion and mention a positively changing attitude towards the market. However, raising awareness remains the biggest challenge, as many people are still unaware of the impact of their fashion choices. However, Raman is sure that this mindset is temporary and we “just need to give it a little bit of time”. Additionally, an important part that both entrepreneurs mention is a lack of government support towards encouraging such businesses and thus contributing to the growing sustainability outlook in the city, pointing towards the fact that more awareness needs to be created not just individually, but also through national initiatives in Doha.