Dear “Sustainable” Fashion,
I really want to support you. On the surface, it seems like your ideas, mission, and values are all in the right place. You are trying to help one of the most capitalistic, profit driven, environmentally damaging industries become more environmentally conscious and for that, I thank you, because it must be extremely hard. I don’t know where things went wrong, but you have definitely lost your way. I don’t know if I should blame you as a movement or the “warriors” of your movement: the upper middle class, skinny white girls who berate anyone who even considers shopping at places like Target or Forever 21. The amount of frustration and anger I feel everytime I see someone on Tik Tok, Instagram, etc. make a thread of sustainable and “cost effective” shopping alternatives (I’m talking $60 for one shirt) that only offers S-L sizes is too large to handle sometimes. And then when they blame and shame people for shopping at cost effective stores that aren’t environmentally friendly because that’s their only options (especially when thrift stores have become so commodified and overtaken)? That causes so much rage inside of me. So where did it all go wrong? When did you become a movement that allowed skinny, rich, and highly privileged individuals to shame less fortunate people for shopping at literally the only places they can afford? Especially after your warriors took over the sacred thrift stores so they could make obscene amounts of money re-selling these clothes on Depop for their other privileged friends? You need to change. You need to refocus.
The power that our society places on clothing is absolutely insane. It makes total sense, because everyone has to wear clothes but still, it absolutely blows my mind. Everyday I feel like there’s a new trend and a new fad that everyone is wearing and I can barely keep up. It can be really hard finding clothes and popular styles that fit your body when your stomach sticks out and your thighs uncomfortably rub together. Don’t get me wrong-I’m not trying to skinny shame at all, but it can be so hard participating in something that is so catered to someone else and so against your own body. At least with you, sustainable fashion, we’re fighting for a better future
along the way right? But, when you think about it, it’s not really sustainable if only a small portion of a population can participate. It can be really disheartening getting excited over new clothes but also knowing you’re contributing to climate change, but what else can I and others do? I and many others don’t fit into the skinny and rich categories of your movement, even if we so badly want to join.
Maybe I’m being too harsh, or maybe I’m thinking of it the wrong way, but I think you can be better. You can help the planet and allow for people of all sizes and tax brackets to participate. It’ll take a lot of work from a lot of powerful people, but I think that we can fix you and make you a movement that everyone can support and everyone benefits from. A world where everyone, no matter if you have $10 or $100 dollars to spend on clothes can feel happy about their purchase and not guilty over the damage to the planet they have inadvertently caused is exciting to me. For now, let’s stop placing blame on the consumers who are trying to find a shred of joy in their fast fashion purchase in a world so against them, and start placing it on these corporations that make fashion so damaging in the first place.
Best, Mae