Lasting Sustainable Wardrobe

The difference between slow fashion and fast fashion is about the time before it ends up . In fast fashion clothing is trendy, it is seasonally and is made of industrially-made fabrics from 3rd world countries where they work for very little money and for long hours. Fast fashion has many negatives including being shipped across an ocean and using up precious fuel. And it there other wasteful pacakging, chemicals and toxins that have to be used to create these garments and put them on a ship or a plane to get to you for the cheapest price so that you will buy them.

When you finished the few months of the season and don’t want to be seen wearing orange and brown for Autumn or Red and Green for Winter then you will want to toss them in the donation pile thinking that African poor people need your fast fashion discards. In reality, not all the clothing will go to needy children. It ends up as a trash heap in another country where the toxic fabrics mix with the rainfall and nearest water and source poison the land, the water and affect the animal and plant habitats in that unfortunate place. The plastics that you thought would be recycled end up there, too. It’s pictures are all over the internet to be ignored. It’s something we need to change as a modern society seeing our ugly mistakes and quickly switching over to another way. I realize that many eco activists use these pictures to blame people. I really don’t think this helps when we have an ugly habit and are closing our eyes to fast fashion disasters.

The first thing you need to do is admit you have a problem and stop it. Will Smiths kids and other celebrities are pushing the trends. They haven’t grown up yet and they don’t see the damage they are causing. You don’t have to be immature or be stuck in your old ways because the good part of this all is that the alternatives are fabulous and exciting. There is a lot of hope and it’s really very easy to make the switch. Avoid the green washing of advertisers saying it is eco-friendly but it has holes in those claims.

As I’ve said many times before, it has been a journey for me and I’m getting stricter with my choices as time goes on. One thing recently has been a good reminder to me and has helped me tremendously and perhaps it will help you is thinking of your clothes as compost. I put all my kitchen scraps in a small compost bin and the city picks it up once a week to make a compost for the city plants and trees. Nothing here in the city is natural and professional gardeners and caretakers take care of the landscaping around town and in the parks. They need the compost of plants and foods and bark and leaves that will break down completely. Even the allowance of 5% polyester wouldn’t do the job it’s supposed to. The same goes with our clothing. It has to be all natural clothing to break down and become dirt.

Recently, I have been very mesmerized by the thought of linen and cotton plants being made into textiles. I’ve been looking up the plants and watching videos and listening to audio books while I knit. I saw there are other fibers like hemp and nettle fiber that can be made into fabric. It really looks super interesting especially to see people gathering plants and processing them by hand and pring and weaving them. All the old ways of doing things are so interesting and comforting to me. The whole process makes me smile just watching other people process fibers or just talk about it. It’s really amazing to me.

In a recent Instagram post from FiberShed they talked about ‘Closing the Loop’ in textiles. It had a very interesting graphic. It showed that we can put a garment in the ground, then it becomes grass, then a sheep eats it, its fleece is shorn, the fleece is made into yarn, then made into a sweater and the process begins again. It’s a closed loop. It’s a big circle like the circle of life.

The thing is that before you put that sweater in the ground so a sheep with eventually eat the grass of the composted sweater it has to be very natural. It can’t have 15% of polyester to make sure it is colorfast. It can’t have industrial chemical dyes and plastic buttons. Plastic, polyester, acrylic and nylon take hundreds of years to compost. This is not what we need for sheep to eat. We need to stop the pollution going into the environment that is toxic for our health. It’s not good for animal and insect life either. Now we are thinking and can instead to the beautiful alternatives such as wood buttons and pretty colors of natural dyes. Natural fibers feel great! I’m so happy that the alternatives are beautiful and give us opportunities in organic farms, in heritage crafts and artistic businesses. And even better is that we are helping our fellow local people.

This is not about quick seasonal trends. This is slow fashion. Yes, it is sometimes more expensive but it takes longer to make and this forces us to not be concerned with the latest seasonal trends. We’ll think about it before we buy it. We imagine the garment being part of our wardrobe and lasting ten

years or more. We’re going to hang on to the beautiful sweater and treat it like gold and mend it if it gets a hole. And that is a whole new fun process as well because it becomes an art piece of patches and embroidery. Eventually it will get old and we will have to bury it but it will be OK because it will break down and become earth again. Fast fashion is toxic and harmful to everything and everyone while slow fashion is healthy, beneficial and helpful to everyone and everything involved. It’s not a sacrifice because once you see the pros and cons, then you can’t unsee them and it beomes a whole new exciting journey. Join the slow fashion revolution to influence your family and friends. If we go about it in a friendly way, they will probably want to join in and not think you are part of a crazy eco-cult. Don’t blame people or throw tomato soup on museum paintings or super glue yourself to the floor of the airport. We’re not going about it that way. We walk the walk and lead by example in maturity and artistry. Our job is also to be informed in case people ask us questions and we’re going to make it fun and exciting just by bringing this new adventure that is doable and beautiful to their attention. It’s like showing people that cooked potatoes are better than ultra-processed junk food like Pringles. 🤭😜

We can do this, friends!