In the Mood for Sustainability

Hello my sweet kitties, I hope life is treating you splendid. As you all know, after me talking about it nonstop, I started to work at Dillard’s!! I needed a few days to remember what it was like being a working woman and how to manage my time to accomplish everything. In the works of trying to figure all that out, but in the meantime let’s talk about the real reason you’re reading. Fashion, with an extra emphasis on the efforts of sustainability. It has been a month into 2020 and guess who still has not contributed to the unjustifiable waste caused by fast fashion, ME!! This certainly does not mean that I have completely stopped shopping, I just actually care about the workers in this industry. In class my whole perspective changed when I learned about this garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed, which led to the deaths of at least 1200 people. The most revolting thing about this accident is the mentality of having to survive off of $63 a month and how inhumane these workers are being treated. It actually broke my heart to hear about these incidents happening all around the world and we are oblivious to seeing any negative that is not in our physical vicinity.

Typically, whenever you are online scrolling through pages and pages of garments, your initial thoughts are not going to be how much money a clothier actually makes. You are probability thinking how beautiful this shirt is for only $10!! Think about this side of the situation, the worker who spent maybe 2 hours making that top probably only made 50 cents. As average consumers, we do not pay much attention to all the different steps you must accomplish in order to have a completed article of clothing. This is ultimately the reason why fast fashion is such a popular and cheap concept, but no one actually knows the impactful effects this rapid design of clothing has on a large number of factory workers. In order for the consumer to have such cheap options for the trendiest clothing, product developer’s must cut back on their manufacturers which led to the fiber producers, then the fabric dyers and finally impacting the lives of factory workers. If consumers were actually made aware of these major flaws caused by fast fashion, than maybe individuals will be more conscious of the livelihood of others. It makes me sick how people are so unaware of the world that we live in and how simple it is to change someone’s life by changing yours.

I love to shop, I always have and always will. Just because I shop excessively, doesn’t mean I am an uncultured buyer. I always think about the influences my shopping will have on others and myself. Obviously, I like to keep up with trends and my clothing is an expression of what I think is popular at the moment. Some of you may be wondering how I stay on trend after buying secondhand clothing or not buying the cheap newest fashion looks, but I keep up in my own way. Recently, I embellished some old jeans I bought at a thrift store and created a whole new look with a half yard of fabric I got from the one and only, Mood. I added fabric to the bottom of the pants and replaced the pockets, so these jeans look completely new…even if they are from the 80s. It is possible to be a trendy shopper while also restoring Mother Nature as a sustainable consumer. This may just require you to think outside of the box and try to figure out how to redesign your over-worn clothing. There is an endless possibilities on how to create a new garment from a previous article of clothing. Everything can always be worn in a distinctly new way.

I want to encourage you all to think about other people and how your daily decisions can dramatically change someone’s life. Please just put in some extra love and be a more environmentally conscious citizen.