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Raw Fashion 

Fashion Revolution

Read:

http://labourbehindthelabel.org/

https://goodonyou.eco

Watch:

The True Cost

The Problem With Fast Fashion | Teen Vogue

Who Made My Clothes?

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Better Off Duds

The Knick

Hazlewood

The Prairie Misfit

T+A Vinyl and Fashion 

The Vintage Corner

River Vintage

Kid the Syd Vintage

Full of Sand

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We need to uplift producers that have sustainability at a core aspect of their morals. We need education of where our clothes come from and how to better our footprint. We need to demand transparency.

“The traditional hierarchical structure of the lone designer at the top needs a positive change where every person in the production process works together to create a circular system. Seventy-two per cent of UK adults are paying attention to the ‘green’ credentials of a brand and are willing to pay more for products from ‘companies committed to positive social and environmental impact’ (provenance 2018). Brands that make sustainability part of their DNA, rather than using it as a marketing tool, create products with quality and good aesthetic, generate brand trust and loyalty from their customers. Brands need to find a point of focus and have substance to this focus; be authentic and be open to questions. Transparency creates trust in the brand. The relationship between brand and consumer primarily depends on the the quality of the product and service provided. A conscious consumer may choose a brand initially for its sustainable or ethical ethos; however, if the product and service do not provide satisfaction, brand loyalty will be lost” (Moorhouse 16)

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Ultimately, we need to recognize the complete shift in society and consumerism that is needed to truly fight fashion fashion and uphold sustainable fashion. Political reform is necessary. But how can we balance the recognition that fast fashion is a structural issue but also attempt to better our impact on the world at a personal level?

I argue thrift store shopping is definitely one option that allows the consumer to reject fast fashion for prices that are still affordable. Thrift store shopping, however, is a bandaid cover up to a institutional problem. Thrift stores are often limited when it comes to plus size clothing and does not change the fact that alot of thrift stores rerelease fast fashion clothing that produces waste and is sewn together to eventually fall apart.

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We need to be vocal and demand that the conditions for workers improve and the environmental impacts are significantly lessened. 

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What draws you to second hand clothing as a concept?

for me, a lot of it has to do with textile waste, and trying to give old pieces new life.  The planet is drowning in clothing, and we keep producing more and more, quicker and quicker, and it’s an unsustainable way of life.

What made you decide to open a vintage store?

I’ve always been good at “thrifting”, and finding the best things in piles of undesirable clothing.  When I got laid off from a career I decided that I might as well give it a go as a way of making a living, and that was 7 years ago!

Can you talk to the difference in quality of clothing over time?

For the most part, vintage clothing is absolutely better quality.  There are some modern pieces that are good quality for sure, and they’re usually higher end/designer pieces, but so much has changed in textile production throughout the decades.  Even the quality of cotton has seriously degraded, so a cotton piece from the 50’s is inevitably better quality than a cotton piece from today.

A century ago people would have made their own clothing and mending their own clothing, today we see people taking in their clothing to get a button fixed, can you explain why you believe this is the case?

I think probably a lot of it has to do with time ~ we’re all “so busy” working.  And I probably actually believe that people are more likely to throw away or donate a piece without a button and just buy a new one instead of taking it to a seamstress/tailor to fix that button.  We live in a strange world where you can buy a new shirt for cheaper than it would cost to take an “old” shirt to get fixed.  Also, that kind of knowledge stopped getting passed down from generation to generation.

Why mend clothes, would be the question, when new fast fashion can be had at prices that will suit most pockets? (Clark 435)

Can you speak to the environmental benefits to thrift store/vintage store shopping?

They’re endless, really, in my opinion.  There is so much water waste in making new clothing it’s not even funny.  You’re not sending tons of textile to the landfill, and you’re also usually buying something that hasn’t been shipped from overseas.

Can you speak to the social and political benefits to thrift store/vintage store shopping?

I think that keeping money in the province/city that you live in is something that’s not talked about too much.  If you buy at a department store, your money is going to a huge corporation, more likely than not an American one.

Are there sustainability consequences that come out of thrift store environments?

I can’t think of any.  Bed bugs are always a concern, but the major thrift shops have ways of dealing with them.

Going into the future, what do you imagine as a sustainable model for fashion?

Less shitty clothing made.  A better understanding of what it costs to make a garment - I firmly believe that we all really really really need to stop believing that it’s ok to buy a new shirt for $9 - that’s a completely environmentally unfeasible model, but we’re all taught that it’s ok to buy them without any consequence.  they’re garbage, and just end up in the garbage after 3 wears.

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“Local manufacturing is more difficult, especially nowadays when a high percentage of the global production of clothing, footwear and accessories has moved to the Far East” (Clark 434)

The Sand Box in the City

Ashnita Mehjabeen

Lennard Taylor Design

Eleven03

Armando Medina

Rebecca King Fashion House

KarynaShovkunDesign

Prahsik

Melissa Squire

Whiskey Teacup

Laurie Brown

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The clothing industry has significantly shifted from the time of Anne Shirley but is it possible to regain that relationship that was had. We are constantly after the next thing.

How do we interact with clothing on a level that allows us to reject consumerism but embrace the creativity of it? “Can clothes be designed that help us develop an emotional attachment to them, that have stories and origins that make us want to cherish them and look after them” (Clark 441)?

(https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/hilary-nup)

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Who is the onus on? Why is the “blame” often targeted towards the consumer? “Young women are routinely singled out as key targets/protagonists/victims, in the era of fast fashion” (Horton  519). It is our options that have been lessened as consumerism tells us what we need is new but what we can afford is unsustainable. “Consumerism works in concert with neoliberalism, instructing citizens that they can reinvent themselves continually through the process of consumption” (Prothero et al. 154). “The agency of even the most well-meaning and mindful consumer is often perceived as somehow corrupted by fast fashion” (Horton  517). Consumers are seen to not be able to make the choice to ethical fashion than their morals are behind it.

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The idea of creating a greener model often follows the idea that capitalism and globalization being inevitable and growing instead of looking at neoliberalism as what is at the core of these issues (Prothero et al. 148).

‘‘It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism” - Jameson (Prothero et al. 148)

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“Questions of what might make consuming fashion an ethical choice do not transcend questions of economic and geographic privilege, let alone the sorts of social privileges accommodated by a perfect size 10 body” (Horton 527).

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“Young women are uncritically positioned as the main protagonists in the frenetic consumer culture of twenty-first century fashion, across both scholarly and popular discourses, while simultaneously being held (and self-identifying) as more responsible” (Horton  517).

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Why is it that the sustainable options that are offered up as examples of sustainable fashion luxury brands that spin out of the same system without any critique? Luxury brands are not necessarily fighting the capitalist model that fast fashion is using, they are just on a larger scale that is not accessible for the majority of the population

Brands often highlighted are Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney which in theory may be great.

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“There is a real connection between culture and climate change. We all have a part to play and if you engage with life, you will get a new set of values. Get off the consumer treadmill and start to think and it is these great thinkers who will rescue the planet” - Vivienne Westwood (Joy et al 290)

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If you’re aware of any of these brands, you’ll know the price range is not something everyone could pull out of their pockets. So what are the alternatives when we live in a capitalist society where we barely make a living wage ourselves? We have such a limited pool of what is sustainable and ethical but we can’t afford to spend $945 dollars on a shirt.

Who are these brands for? Ethical for who? Is it really ethical if the system that it exists in means ethical is inaccessible for the majority of the population? Are these brands left in a “‘if we can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’’ mentality (Prothero et al. 148)? How is suggesting people buy an Hermes bag a permissible option?

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How do we separate sustainability for PR and advertising from authentically sustainable to the core brands? Even if a brand is sustainable, does it follow that it is ethical and unproblematic? If Victoria Secret lived up to all these check boxes of a sustainable model, which it definitely does not, would it be an ethical source when it is outwardly transphobic? No.

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To be “Made in Canada” only 51% of the goods need to actually be made in Canada, meaning that label can still be put on items with a large amount of outsourcing of labour and materials (Ligaya). So how do we know what is sustainable? How do we measure that?

The transparency between a consumer and company is a large area of fashion that is still not at the standard it needs to be (Clark 427). Transparency means “practices that do not seek to obscure the origins of the products and producers with a generic “designer” or brand name (Clark 435). But how do we demand this and what does this look like? “Promotional messages frequently lack explicit meaning in the sense that they often do not provide consumers with information about their specific materials and manufacturing methods, and therefore consumers are left uncertain or confused about the validity of such marketing claims” (Haug and Busch 325).

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“Consumers indicated they wanted to buy a variety of green products, sometimes they found it difficult to identify the brands that are truly environmentally friendly” (Haug and Busch 323).

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It is so easy to look at a price tag and say ‘well that’s too much for a shirt’, but how much goes into that shirt? How much does that shirt really cost? I decided to do my own little experiment of what it would cost to make a shirt from the beginning stages. For material and pattern it already cost me $60. Cutting the pattern, pinning the material, and cutting the material took around a half hour plus an hour to assemble and sew the shirt together (it should definitely be considered that I am no professional so this took its time). Based on a living wage in Saskatchewan, the labour time cost $25 dollars. Without adding in any business fees this shirt cost $85. As much as I would love to spend that money towards a local business, who can afford that when minimum wage is not living wage?

Not only is the material and labour is what goes into cost though, what about marketing, upkeep of materials?

(https://www.racked.com/2017/1/6/14157836/elizabeth-suzann-money-talk)

How do we interpret the fact that the cost of clothing gone down when nearly every other good had gone up?

(https://www.racked.com/2017/1/6/14157836/elizabeth-suzann-money-talk)

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“Sustainability is about much more than our relationship with the environment; it’s about our relationship with ourselves, our communities, and our institutions.” (Joy et al 274).

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What does sustainability look like? Is it paying $1000 dollars for a dress from a label in Paris. How do we measure sustainability and how do we ensure it? We need to not only look at the issue in terms of environmental sustainability but also social sustainability and economic sustainability (Moorhouse 8).

Sustainable fashion has been come to be known as “permanent fashion” or “slow fashion”. Clark identifies ways that slow fashion would need and should be modelled off of:

“challenge existing hierarchies of “designer,” “producer,” and “consumer””

“question the notion of fashion being concerned exclusively with the “new””

“challenge fashion’s reliance on image”

“present fashion as a choice rather than as a mandate”

“highlight collaborative/cooperative work—providing agency especially to women” (429)

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Haug and Busch formulate their own system of sustainability led by the consumers:

“Act more ethically than defined by regulations by their own governments (marked regulators)—i.e. since the regulators allow such products to be produced”

“Act more ethically than defined by regulations by local gov- ernments (supplier regulators)—i.e. since the regulators allow such forms of production”

“Act more ethically than local providers—i.e. the designers, producers, and marketers who create and promote these unethical products”

“Withstand the influence of advertising—i.e. go against what is defined as providing social recognition”

“Decipher information given by the media—i.e. identify the correct information about production processes, pollution, etc”

“Decipher information presented by providers—i.e. identify the correct information about production processes, pollution, etc”

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The demands of keeping fast fashion fast and affordable have undoubtedly taken a toll on our physical environment as well as the socio-political environment.

What are the environmental impacts of fast fashion?

Fashion is considered to be behind only oil in terms of being the most destructive industry for the environment (Moorhouse 8). This is due to the amount of water used, the chemicals needed, the use of pesticides, and plastic that is discarded. Cotton, especially, has been draining to our environment when considering the use of chemicals and water that is used (Perry).

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When polyester is washed, plastic microfibers are discarded into the wash and therefore end up polluting the ocean (Perry). Leather is another material that also takes a large toll on the environment due to the “amount of feed, land, water and fossil fuels used to raise livestock” as well as the chemicals needed to tan the leather (Moorhouse 8). Not only are these procedures harmful to the environment but also to the workers who are vulnerable when surrounding these chemicals (Moorhouse 8).

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More Information on leather vs. faux leather 

“Eighty percent of environmental impact that fashion leads to can be solved at the design stage” (Murray 2013).

What are the socio-political impacts of the fast fashion industry?

In order to buy a ten dollar shirts, we cannot expect that corners have not been cut. Where we see these cuts happening are the wages that workers are getting for their outsourced labour. These workers are often women for their “docility and dispensability" (Ahmed 38). This, however, is far from the truth as we see them organize and unionize (Amed 38).

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“They are very cheap-being paid $.25 an hour when American garment workers make $7.53” (Ahmed 38)

An first hand account from a garment worker:

“Soldiers dressed in combat fatigues and well armed with automatic weapons cast their eyes over the bus before waving us through. … The main industrial complex is surrounded by high walls and a wire fence. All workers have to carry identity cards and have to queue while there are security checks. … This industrial zone is governed by its own armed police force with its own intelligence service and network of spies” (Hale & Willis 455-456).

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“Cheap fabrics, low salaries, and worker exploitation continue to be both the products and also the casualties of the fashion industry” (Clark 428).

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Fast Fashion is the more recent method of how clothing is made and distributed which depends on “cheap fabrics, low salaries, and worker exploitation” emerging in the last three decades (Clark 428). The fast fashion industry relies on the disposability of clothing by spinning out new batches every month rather than following the typical fashion calendar of twice a year (Joy et al. 275 and Joung 589). The clothes coming out of fast fashion brands are not designed or made to last for long periods of time. These clothes are designed in order to get the consumer to come back as soon as possible. This market is sometimes referred to as the “throwaway market” even when clothes are in reasonable shape as we have the opportunity to go back and get something “in fashion” (Joung 689).

(https://www2.hm.com/en_ca/women.html)

“Fast fashion has been referred to as ‘McFashion’, because of the speed with which gratification is provided” (Joy et al. 276).

(https://i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/59dzg3/jeremy-scott-celebrates-20-years-in-fashion)

Hazel Clark argues that “… fashion by its very definition isn’t designed to last long. Consumers often wear garments too little, wash them too often, and at too high a temperature. All bad news for the environment. Can designers help to change the situation? Can clothes be designed that help us develop an emotional attachment to them, that have stories and origins that make us want to cherish them and look after them?” (411)

(https://amberpattersonfc.tumblr.com)

For these lower costs to be available to the public, that means that cuts are being made in the designing and manufacturing process and labour costs have been lowered significantly (Joy et al. 274). “Fast fashion companies thrive on fast cycles: rapid prototyping, small batches combined with large variety, more efficient transportation and delivery, and merchandise that is presented “floor ready” on hangers with price tags already attached”  (Joy et al. 274)

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Bibliography

Ahmed, Fauzia Erfan. “The Rise of the Bangladesh Garment Industry: Globalization, Women Workers, and Voice.” NWSA Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, 2004, pp. 34–45. doi:10.1353/nwsa.2004.0042.

Baldwin, Cory. “Here's How Much It Actually Costs to Make Your Shirt.” Racked, 6 Jan. 2017, www.racked.com/2017/1/6/14157836/elizabeth-suzann-money-talk.

Clark, Hazel. “SLOW FASHION—an Oxymoron—or a Promise for the Future …?” Fashion Theory, vol. 12, no. 4, 2008, pp. 427–446. doi: 10.2752/175174108X346922.

Hale, Angela, and Jane Wills. “Women Working Worldwide: Transnational Networks, Corporate Social Responsibility and Action Research.” Global Networks, vol. 7, no. 4, 2007, pp. 453–476.

Haug, Anders, and Jacob Busch. “Towards an Ethical Fashion Framework.” Fashion Theory, vol. 20, no. 3, 2015, pp. 1–23. doi: 10.1080/1362704X.2015.1082295.

Horton, Kathleen. “Just Use What You Have: Ethical Fashion Discourse and the Feminisation of Responsibility.” Australian Feminist Studies, vol. 33, no. 98, 2018, pp. 515–529.

Joung, Hyun-Mee. “Fast-Fashion Consumers’ Post-Purchase Behaviours.” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 42, no. 8, 2014, pp. 688–697.

Joy, Annamma, et al. “Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands.”

Fashion Theory, vol. 16, no. 3, 2012, pp. 273–295. doi: 10.2752/175174112X13340749707123.

Ligaya, Armina. “Is That 'Made in Canada' Product Really Made Here?” Financial Post, 15 Feb. 2014, business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/is-that-made-in-canada-product-really-made-here.

Moorhouse, Debbie, and Moorhouse, Danielle. “Designing a Sustainable Brand Strategy for the

Fashion Industry.” Clothing Cultures, vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 7–18. doi: 10.1386/cc.5.1.7_2.

Perry, Patsy. “The Environmental Costs of Fast Fashion.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 8 Jan. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html.

Prothero, Andrea, et al. “Is Green the New Black? : Reflections on a Green Commodity Discourse.” Journal of Macromarketing, vol. 30, no. 2, 2010, pp. 147–159.