A Conscious Closet and a Just Society
When I think about the fast fashion trends I’ve participated in, I think about all the infinity scarfs I bought at Target, the UGG boots I had to have at Christmas or all the expensive shirts from Francesca’s I wore on vacation once and never again.
Fast fashion is the emphasis on quick, easily accessible and cheap fashion trends to mass consumers. It’s usually trendy clothing items that come from the catwalk or celebrity culture, which are turned into cheap, low-quality garments in retail stores at a fast rate.
So why is this something to move away from and protest against?
For one, these cheap, low quality, mass-produced clothing trends result in harmful impacts on the environment, human well-being and ultimately our wallets. They are made from harmful chemicals that can afflict our bodies and our earth. A massive amount of clothing ends up in landfills, further polluting the earth because consumers are being “tricked” into regularly buying new clothes that they don’t need.
In 2018, The Pulse of the Fashion Industry’s report stated that less than one percent of all clothing materials are recycled into new garments. The 2019 report states that “the fashion industry has improved its social and environmental performance since 2018 —and at a slower rate than the previous year. Despite this improvement, the fashion industry remains far from sustainable.”
At this rate, it is clear the fashion industry is continuing to encourage short life-cycles of clothing garments and for customers to buy new material as much as possible.
As someone who considers themselves a social activist, I feel it is the only logical next step to apply my passion for sustainability to my closet.
Most of the conversation about sustainability, from my point of view, has been centered around single-use plastic. While this is also important, I think fashion and clothing sustainability need more awareness.
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Bringing Green Living to Clothing Shopping Habits
I’ve come into the slow fashion movement through my interest in sustainability in general. I’ve been working to reduce my waste, switching to reusable products and being more conscious of my eating habits. I’m particularly proud of completely removing plastic bags from my life and home. I only use reusable bags at stores, and I use old newspapers as trash liners.
This has been especially difficult to keep up during the time of COVID-19 because a lot of stores are banning the use of personal bags. It makes sense that personal bags are a health risk right now. I also would not want to touch stranger’s belongings on a regular basis as a cashier or other retail employee; however, this is not enough of an excuse to use the plastic or paper bags.
While it hasn’t been convenient, I ask for my groceries to not be bagged and put back into the cart instead. Baggers usually give me a confused look at this request, but they also seem excited and grateful for the break. Then, I bag my groceries outside of the store with my reusable bags before returning my cart.
My point is that sustainable lifestyle habits take real, conscious effort. Applying the same attention I give plastic bags to my clothes and shopping choices also takes conscious effort.
Shopping slow fashion is shopping ethically. To participate in the slow fashion movement, I took the following steps in my life.
First, I got rid of clothes I rarely wore. I tried to think about what clothes make me feel comfortable and confident while keeping in mind different types of occasions.
I donated anything I didn’t actually enjoy wearing, only keeping things I felt truly confident in (plus some practical items). It’s important to prioritize a personalized and realistic style and comfort level in your closet, rather than any ideas of what you should be wearing or current, popular trends.
After going through my closet, I made sure to first donate my things to my sisters to look through. This is something I personally value in the slow fashion process. My sisters really appreciate and look forward to looking through my clothes because they get new things for free. And, when my mom has clothes for me to look through at holidays, I’m just as excited. Whatever they don’t want we donate to my other younger cousins or my mom’s friend’s kids. The last stop is Goodwill for unwanted items.
From there, I shop smart and responsibly. I shop for clothes at Goodwill and other second-hand stores. I look for clothes that won’t break or tear easily and that I can match with a lot of things I already own. I am striving for a minimalist closet with extremely versatile garments. Owning shirts or pants that only match with one other thing or can only be worn on certain occasions is not the mentality of the slow fashion movement.
While there are more and more sustainable, ethical fashion companies popping up with locally-made, natural fabrics, I haven’t shopped at these very much. The problem for me is that they are all so expensive. This makes sense, seeing as you’re paying for higher quality, healthier clothing; however, the prices are too high for my own budget.
That being said, I never buy any clothing online, especially from Amazon. When I do need something specific, I try to buy things that will last for as many seasons as possible. The goal is not to need more clothes each time the weather changes.
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There is a game that I play with some of my cousins called “What are you wearing?” It’s a simple, silly game where we all go around and say where our clothes are from. It started as a conversation starter, and it’s become a fun tradition.
The unofficial winner of the game is usually whoever happens to be wearing the most borrowed/second-hand/homemade/locally sourced items. My cousin Annie usually wins because she always has on something she made herself or something from her mom or grandma’s closet.
It’s fun to share where you get your clothing and to unconsciously encourage slow fashion. It’s also fun for someone to reveal, “I don’t know where this shirt came from, I found it in my closet” or “I stole this from my brother’s drawer.” 😂
Check Your Privilege
Lastly, I want to acknowledge the privilege that is associated with my take on slow fashion as well as the fashion industry in general.
First of all, it is a privilege to be overly concerned about sustainability and my waste production. People of lower income and poverty don’t have the same opportunity to switch to reusable products or eat more sustainable foods. These lifestyle choices are inherently more expensive and require more time and energy to keep up.
Also, there is a lack of accessibility to the slow fashion movement for plus-sized individuals. Plus-sizes have always been excluded from mainstream clothing companies, and this is being carried over to the new, sustainable fashion companies. There are not enough sizing options, nor is there equitable representation of plus-size people in sustainable fashion.
The slow, sustainable fashion movement needs to keep in mind who this conversation is leaving out.
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We, as consumers, have immense power in our purchases. We have the power to decide what’s important to us, just by being conscious of where and how we spend money. Companies respond to consumers, not the other way around.
Plus, taking part in the slow fashion movement allows us to create our own unique style. It’s rare that you’d find two of the same item in a second-hand store, therefore, slow fashion offers a chance to express not only ourselves, but what we value in a just society.
