Hello lovely people!
So Germany, where I live, has been on partial lock down since almost half a year now. Everything being closed, one would think, should make Shop Stop very easy. And still I found myself seduced by pretty things on the internet and buying them. And then I got scammed. Not a big deal but enough to feel like maybe this was Karma, reminding me of these challenges I’ve been giving other people and I should stick with myself. So now, I’m back on the Shop Stop train.
Now it’s time to take it a step further and to quit fast fashion. What does that mean?
All those quick, cheap (often not even really cheap), low quality clothing items from shops who mass produce and there’s a massive sale 3-4x a year where items are suddenly reduced up to 70%? That’s fast fashion. The price tag has nothing to do with the actual value of the item. You can get better quality (without looking like a müsli-hippie, unless that’s what you’re going for) for less. It also doesn’t reflect the cost in damages done to people along the production chain and the environment.
This is not a rant blog, this is a positive blog so I will only say this:
One fast fashion T-shirt uses a ridiculous amount of water, is often treated with horrid chemicals, sewn by underpaid people, and travels all over the world before being bought by someone going “eh… I don’t reeeealllyy love it, but its so cheap, if I change my mind it wouldn’t matter too much…”. On average, you can count the times these items are worn on one hand, before going to landfill just a few months later. But this is not a rant blog. If you want to know more shittiness on this topic, one quick online search will come up with plenty documentaries.
…wait, was that a rant? Instead of ranting, here’s a list of DOs:
- Buy Second Hand. It takes a little digging, but you can find everything you need and look great.
- If you buy new, choose to pay a little more for something you really love, that is good quality, and you will wear for a long time, possibly pass it on to the next generation.
- Ask your elders for hand me downs. Speaking of next generation: I love wearing the stuff I find on my eccentric artist parents’ attic. I’m also somewhat eccentric, when I’m not wearing the ecologist’s outdoor uniform for work.
- Support local businesses that sell clothing made within your country.
- Support sustainable start ups. And just because it says “sustainable” on the product, doesn’t mean it actually is. Sorry, but that just requires your own research and common sense.
- Learn to mend your clothes. If you have long-lasting clothes, it’s worth putting in the work to mend them. Often the fixes make them look even cooler. Can’t sew? I recently stumbled across a cool project for this. Its called “repair_what_you_wear” on Instagram. Let me know what you think.
Ok! That’s all for now. Let me know how you fare. Also, if you know of any good places to buy slow fashion (only when needed!), share and leave a comment 🙂
**Title Photo by the blowup; Demo posters in a room by Cherie Birkner; Abandoned factory by Francois Le Nguyen
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