NOA Episode 7 Fast Fashion and Sustainability
In this episode, the Narratives of Asia hosts are joined by Charmaine, Head of Design at UCL MODO and 2nd year BASc student in the conversation.
Sections
Do we, as consumers, consciously think of environmental impacts of fast fashion?
On who does the responsibility of sustainability fall? Consumers or fashion corporations?
What are some common misconceptions of sustainable and ethical fashion consumption?
How can sustainable fashion brands encourage size inclusivity?
Image source: Danijel James on Flickr
What is your story with fast fashion?
Jia Xin: Hey Charmaine, thank you for joining us today. So I think let's just get started with the first question and that would be what is everyone's story with fast fashion, or maybe just clothes in general?
Charmaine: I initially started out just liking fashion as kind of a typical, you know, girly girl thing. And I got into, yeah, just styling my own outfits like almost every day, depending on the occasion, and also just kind of chasing the newest trends. And eventually, I got interested in the industry itself in terms of design, and I make my own clothes. But with exposure to kind of documentaries and YouTube videos, I started to realise that there are a lot of problems within the industry and yeah, just with regards to exploitation and unsustainability. So to me, that just kind of almost ruined fashion for me until I realised there was a whole movement pushing for sustainable fashion. So that's how I got passionate about this.
Karyn: I think for me, from a young age, I used to scroll through like Tumblr, and I would see all these like really aesthetic outfits, or like those outfits that the really popular youtubers would wear and I would really want to wear the same clothes. So I used to shop from, now I know, a lot of fast fashion retailers like Cotton On, H&M who all make use of a lot of sweatshops and etc. But obviously, I didn't know about all these things when I was younger. But even now, I still really love fashion. And I think it's also a way for me to express myself. So, my last purchase of clothes was honestly like two weeks ago. It was because I felt like oh yeah, I’m missing this piece in my wardrobe and I need it to pair with other things and so that I can like wear different outfits every time when I'm out with someone. So yes, I do think that I buy into that fast fashion kind of industry and that idea as well, as much as I know now, how bad it is in terms of sustainability.
Is there a taboo on repeating the clothes you wear?
Jia Xin: And how do you feel each time like you have to wear the same set of clothes to meet the same group of people?
Charmaine: Oh, I know that there's definitely some sort of stigma around kind of wearing the same outfit, especially with, you know, kind of the rise in so called influencer culture, as cringy as that sounds, but to me, I started to really kind of build my own style on top of current trends, you know, so I actually think of repeated outfits as sort of my uniform; things that I feel really confident in, things that I just feel like the most me and also the most flattering for my body type. So yeah, I feel actually pretty good about repeating outfits and it saves time as a uni student when you kind of want to get ready really fast after you oversleep. You just kind of know what looks good on you. You grab it and you're like ah and honestly no one's really looking at you like in public as much as you think so yeah, I'm definitely for outfit repeating.
Karyn: I think for me personally, I am not sure where this social construct came about to not repeat the same clothes whenever you go out with the same group of people and I think it does affect the way that I feel about clothes as well. I never really thought about it as a way that wearing the same outfit would be something that you choose that makes you feel the most confident and it's perfectly fine to repeat that and it's quite interesting to hear about that perspective as well, because to me, it's always felt a bit… I'm not sure why, I don’t know where it came from but it felt a bit taboo to wear the same outfit and I think I was worried that people would point it out and they would be like “Oh, you’re wearing the same shirt from like, last week.” But now that I think about it, I don't think there's any shame in wearing the same clothes again, especially if you feel good in it.
Charmaine: And like washing machines exist for a reason, we're meant to rewear our clothes. [Karyn: That’s true!]
Jia Xin: That’s very true and whenever you buy new clothes, the moment of happiness really only lasts during the moment of purchase. And also, when you meet a group of people who have not seen this set of clothes on you before and after that it's just like any other piece in your wardrobe. So like, there's really no good reason to actually keep on purchasing new clothes when you haven't even utilised it enough to really bring out its own value. And I don't know, I guess before we dive deeper into this conversation on fast fashion and sustainability, I think it's quite worthy to define what fast fashion is. So fast fashion apparels are affordable options that imitate luxury clothing lines and fast fashion retailers have a very high turnover rate that is driven by this unsatisfiable consumption culture that endlessly seeks for the newest and the best. So as we all know, this is why the fast fashion industry is highly, highly profitable. And given how big this industry is with these huge consumer demands, this has led to the establishment of sweatshops or garment factories, most of which are located in Asia, in countries not limited to Myanmar, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand. And in fact, some Asian countries depend on this industry for a huge portion of their exports, which means that a lot of people in the countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia are employed in these industries. And so I think consumer culture is one of the key components driving profits in this industry and what do you guys think drives the need for people to make purchases, whether it is, not just limited to clothes, but also maybe to do with electronics as well?
Image Source: Screenshot from Youtube (Keyword search: clothes haul)
What drives consumer culture?
Charmaine: For me, I think the media definitely has a big part in this. I think, definitely, like I said before, the rise of influencer culture and I think haul videos on YouTube are like a very, very prominently watched type of category. And I just think, you know, when you're kind of, when you kind of see an inundation of all these like, images and advertisements for you to kind of buy into it, it just really affects it and like Karyn said, it creates like a taboo of re-wearing the same thing. And I definitely feel like some companies, they also kind of either play into consumers’ insecurities, or they play into... I don't really know what the proper term for this is, but they pretend to be relatable. If you scroll through fast fashion Instagrams, like Misguided or ASOS, they’re full of quotes, that they're like, “Oh, just woke up” or like “tired”... Just really cliche quotes, that somehow still appeal to their target audience and I think, you know, as human beings, we like connection ,so I think like, consumers definitely kind of see an idealised version of themselves in a lot of fast fashion brands that push the idea of a trendy, effortless kind of look that people always seem to be striving for.
Jia Xin: Like, for me, I think one of the main reasons why people like to purchase clothes specifically, is really to do with the self image, right? Some people think that it's shameful to not always be wearing a different outfit every time you leave the house and some people also just like this rush of adrenaline whenever they make a new purchase. And another reason is, like, for you, Charmaine, I know that fashion is a creative, self expressive outlet for you, as with a lot of people. And you know, some people embody the feelings and emotions in their outfit of the day and some people do rely on dressing up to find their confidence. I'm quite curious as to how you sort of balance out fashion as a creative channel for you and also against like, sustainable practice in general.
Charmaine: Oh, okay. Um, for me, whenever, like, people ask me this, I kind of just tell them about the same thing. Like you said, I've always thought of fashion, especially from a young age, like before I found out about how unethical the whole industry was, was that I saw it as an art form, something that you know, designers created and like, you know, it's like a craft because I feel like the misconception with different types of fashion like fast fashion and luxury fashion is that people somehow think that fast fashion is not handmade. I always see those more ethical stores pushing like the buzzword “handmade”. But I think people forget that fast fashion isn't actually made by machines. They do have like, larger scales of operations but every single garment is always hand sewn. Yeah, so coming back to that, I always thought about fashion as like an art form, as something very classy, especially when you're talking about luxury fashion. And, to me, there's nothing creative, classy or stylish about exploitation and unsustainability. So that's how I try to balance it. And I guess for me, because, like, it really is a passion. So I guess maybe that's what gives me the kind of extra drive to really challenge myself to not just buy things from fast fashion stores, because it's really, really easy to look so-called trendy and stylish when you just buy what's under the “What's New” category, or like a fast fashion website. So yeah, I mean, I do understand why some people just rather not find the extra time because, to them, fashion might just be, you know, a way to look nice if it's not like a particular passion. But I mean, like, if you do, you know, like fashion, I encourage you to kind of challenge yourself to find different ways to look your best, you know?
Karyn: Yeah, I think I really have to agree with the fact that fast fashion is... There's a lot of it that goes into making the clothes in terms of the manpower that's involved as well, even though we think of these as very large scale kinds of operations. But it's because they are very low cost and often the quality is like low to about average quality and that's what makes it so appealing to the larger audience and what appeals to a lot of consumers, because it's cheap, and it's fast, and it keeps up with the latest fashion trends and so that's why I think people are just so attracted to fast fashion as a way for them to express themselves or just for that kind of like retail therapy, that idea. So that's why they spend more money in terms of the fast fashion industry. And I also think that something very interesting about scrolling through these Instagram pages of these fast fashion sites like Cotton On or Boohoo and etc, is that they’ve started using a lot of size inclusivity in terms of the models that they use. But I think that while that is a good thing, you cannot perpetuate inequality in one way, but yet still use sweatshops that perpetuate another form of inequality. I think that's very hypocritical in that sense, from my perspective, yeah.
Do we, as consumers, consciously think of environmental impacts of fast fashion?
Jia Xin: Like we know that this industry is very, very damaging, like it's neither environmentally sustainable, nor socially sustainable, because of the conditions of exploitation, it goes into the production, right. But like, at the same time, do we ever consciously think of the environmental footprint of the labour that went into producing a piece of apparel whenever we make a purchase? Like let's just think about that for a moment, because like, to me brands don't advertise or make transparent the production process. Like it's hard to visualise the conditions that went into this production, when it's just abstracted from the entire production chain, right. So like, you really don't see the picking of cotton, the washing of cotton, the spinning of the fibre, the cutting and trimming of the threads and like quality inspection and all the shipping that goes into it. And like I think this just obscures the very destructive process that goes into fast fashion production.
Karyn: I think in terms of thinking about the impacts of fast fashion when making a purchase, I think becomes more of an afterthought, especially immediately once you buy the clothes, perhaps after seeing certain posts on Instagram, and articles written about it, then you think about, “Oh, maybe the clothes that I buy have a consequence to them”. But I do think there's a lack of understanding and a lot of lack of awareness and education as to the concrete consequences of purchasing fast fashion and buying into the industry. Because it doesn't seem like there's an immediate consequence after you buy a piece of clothing that you can see and visualise, so a lot of consumers are unable to see what kind of consequence just buying like a piece of clothing could make. So we don't really consider what exactly the impacts and the consequences are of fast fashion.
Charmaine: Yeah, I think that's actually a really good point, as compared to the low waste or plastic free movement. You can kind of see the effect once you throw away like a plastic bottle and you're like, oh shit, there's probably 10 other people gonna be doing the same. But for clothes, yeah, I think that's a really good point actually. It's really hard to kind of actualize the impact of fast fashion.
Jia Xin: And like for example, we don't see, you know, the 10,000 litres of water that goes into producing 1 kilogram of cotton that is usually used to make one pair of jeans and we also don't see like how 10,000 litres of water is actually worth 10 years of drinking water for one person, and then we contextualise it like this, I think we really see how how this industry is depleting natural resources at a very catastrophic rate. And, you know, polyester instead of cotton is actually the most popular textile using industry. And um, this plastic synthetic fibre, even though it uses less water to be produced, as compared to cotton, but it actually uses a lot of oil to produce. And I think regardless of the textile in question, whenever you make the fibre, in the process of production, wastewater will be generated and if the water is not processed and treated before being released into the water system, then this just means that toxic water in its really lethal form is being released into the water bodies. And you know, like when this is taken to the extreme, there's this river in Bangladesh called the Buriganga river that is now classified biologically dead, which means that there is no more dissolved oxygen and it's not viable for any form of aquatic life anymore. Because of pollution mainly from garment factories that release treated water that was derived from, you know, washing garments and also dying the textiles.
Karyn: So yeah, to add on to the point on environmental costs, I think, other than using cotton and etc., a lot of brands like Forever 21 use a lot of toxic chemicals, dangerous dyes and synthetic fabrics that actually go into the water supplies in foreign countries where the clothing is actually made, for example in countries in Asia especially, and also at home where we actually wash our clothes. So a lot of these toxic chemicals do go into our water supplies, which is really bad for the environment.
Image Source: Jaber Al Nahian on Flickr
What are the social impacts of fast fashion?
Jia Xin: I'm sure there's a lot more to the environmental consequences of this industry that is genuinely very devastating for the environment and it also comes with this whole set of social problems as well, isn't it?
Charmaine: Yeah, definitely. I think, um, there was a statistic last published that only about 2% of garment workers actually make a livable wage, not minimum wage, like livable, which means they can afford basic things like food, shelter, water and electricity, which, I don't know, I think it's just really sad that, you know, they're kind of producing all these trendy like so called first world items, making us feel like good about ourselves and yet, they're barely kind of making enough to live a decently comfortable lifestyle, not even comfortable actually, like a livable lifestyle. I think that's definitely… And a lot of them are kind of not allowed to be unionised. A lot of them get sexually harassed. And I know one of the most popular documentaries about fast fashion is The True Cost. I think it's available on Netflix. But there's actually another really good one called “Luxury behind the mirror of high end fashion” by DW Documentary on YouTube, so it's completely free. And I think in that documentary, they talk about kind of factory workers when they get injured, because the owners basically turned off, like the safety device in certain machines so there were actually a lot of accidents. And they managed to kind of interview one of the workers that got injured. And the owner of the factory basically told him to make a false report to the doctors saying that he did not injure it at work so he wouldn't have to kind of deal with like consequences and basically improve the safety of these working conditions, which I just think it's pretty messed up, like going that far to cover your tracks and how you produce your clothes.
Karyn: Mhm, yeah, and a lot of sweatshop workers are actually women. About 85 to 90% of the sweatshop workers are women. So some employers forced them to take birth control and to take routine pregnancy tests just to avoid supporting their maternity leave, or to provide them with appropriate health benefits, which is extremely dehumanising to people and it just flouts a lot of the labour laws that are present and I think there has to be a lot to be done to protect these people who work in factories like that, to raise the conditions that they're working in. And especially also in terms of child labour, which is extremely prevalent in agriculture, which is how the cotton is grown to make clothes So about like 98 million of child labourers work in agriculture, which is a startling amount, especially for children who are also not paid in proportion to the amount that they work. So a lot of these social costs means that the poverty cycle just never ends and becomes a very vicious cycle where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, especially from these multinational corporations.
Jia Xin: Mhm, I think it's even more devastating to think that like working conditions are extremely poor, but then garment workers cannot help but continue to work in these conditions because they have to find a means of survival somehow. And the only way for them is to work in garment factories, right. And like, I think at this point, we have only just really just scratched the surface of exactly how unsustainable and exploitative this industry is.
Image Source: Screenshot from H&M Website (Found under the “Sustainability” tab)
Sustainability or greenwashing?
Jia Xin: And these points that we have been raising are long standing issues that the industry has been facing for years, and I just can't help but wonder like, has anything been done to mitigate or change the state of affairs? Like in recent years, we see brands like pledging and making promises of adopting sustainable practices, but exactly how serious are fast fashion brands about environmental and social sustainability?
Charmaine: Yeah, I do think it can be quite disheartening to kind of think about how much needs to be done to basically change this industry for the better. But yeah, I think definitely one thing to look out for in terms of how we can improve this industry is to look out for so-called fake efforts in improving this industry. So to definitely look out for things like green washing or woke washing is kind of a new term nowadays, where, because fashion is a very media oriented industry, in terms of you know, a lot of their marketing promotion comes from social media, comes from very visual things, influencers, basically whatever you see online, and with this, it's also very easy to kind of paint themselves in whatever light they want based just on visuals and not statistics or actual information. So, I think greenwashing is basically a company kind of painting themselves to be an environmentally friendly or sustainable brand when they're actually not. I think a few key things to look out for can be kind of the overuse of buzzwords, like sustainable, eco friendly, handmade, and usually they stick to kind of very neutral tones. So even for like H&M’s sustainable collection, sustainable in air quotes, it's very, it looks kind of like a cheapened version of basically a really well made linen piece from an ethical brand. But then when you look at the rest of their store, like you can literally walk in and one corner will be all beiges and whites and like light pinks, and the rest of the store will be what they are usually selling. So in my opinion companies like H&M, they’re a huge like kind of multinational corporation. So if they can afford the scales of economy to produce, quote unquote, sustainably, why not do it for their whole store, their whole brand? And I think, also one of the kind of misconceptions when it comes to ethical and sustainable fashion consumption is that it's always a very particular bohemian style that I mentioned earlier, like linens, or like white and beiges but that's not necessarily the case. A very sustainable looking blouse, like a beige linen blouse, can also be made unsustainably. So I think, as a consumer, if you're kind of passionate into slowly easing yourself into more ethical and sustainable consumption, one thing to look out for is really how much the brand dares to disclose on their website. If it's just a slogan and a bunch of pictures of plants and like a beige colour scheme, it's probably not sustainable. And I think the part that angers me the most is that these unethical companies usually charge more for their, quote unquote, sustainable collections. Because, I mean, I personally believe that like human beings are innately good. And when they see kind of these marketing buzzwords, they're like, “Oh, you know, if I can afford it, I want to splurge a little more to kind of support a good cause”, which I just think is very exploitative of these huge companies to kind of buy into people's good, if that makes sense. Yeah. So what to look out for. definitely, if you want to check if a company is sustainable, go to their website, make sure they have an extensive “About Us” section. If it's just a slogan and colour scheme, like I said, it's probably not real and if you're considering splurging on a more expensive green-washed item, my advice is, don't.
Jia Xin: Going back to what you said about this H&M sustainable fashion, I was just looking at that as well. And I was at their website, and I quote from them, “H&M is committed to a more sustainable fashion future through a sustainable collection, with pieces made from recycled materials or materials that have less impact on the environment”. And like from just this sentence alone, they have misrepresented what sustainability is, isn't it, because they're actually encouraging consumers to buy even more when that's not what sustainability is about. It’s about cutting down your consumption and making use of what you really have. And sustainability is also about paying your lowest ranked employees the wages, living wages, that they deserve. This industry will just never be sustainable if they are never seen as people with basic rights, rather than just like expendable machines that can be freely exploited.
Karyn: I think also to link it back to especially in Asia, where a lot of these multinational corporations, they use sweatshops that are in Asia, because of how low wages that they can pay these workers, and also how they can take advantage of the different governments in Asia and how they are unwilling to address the abuse of the workers rights in their countries as well. And also about the workers having a lack of awareness of their own rights in these places too which further exacerbates the situation. And I think that makes it even harder for us as consumers to identify exactly which retailers are not being truthful about their own sustainability. Because there's just so many layers to uncover, a lot of red tape and bureaucracy, that are just not known to a lot of consumers. I think one thing that really startled me about the fast fashion industry is about our denim, and our like denim jeans, about how this fabric actually gets that worn look, is through this method called sandblasting and sandblasting actually exposes workers to silica dust particles, which severely damage their respiratory passages, which causes silicosis, a really serious disease that would eventually lead to death if it’s left untreated. And this continues to be practised in Asia and in China, specifically, despite the serious health hazards that it poses, even though it was banned in 1966. So a lot of these corporations are able to avoid having to face accountability for these kinds of diseases and occupational hazards by just exploiting legal loopholes, especially in Asian governments, where a lot of these cases go unchecked and a lot of these official states don't have workers unions that fight for workers rights. And so therefore, all of these corporations don't actually have to be accountable to us as consumers and be accountable to the workers as well. So I think it's really hard to be able to notice which companies are actually for environmental sustainability, or merely greenwashing.
Image Source: greensefa on Flickr
Jia Xin: I feel like we can really find our answer for whether fast fashion brands are truly committed to ethical practices in general, when we have a look at how they responded to the economic fall of the pandemic, when they faced this huge dip in sales, right, like, you know, many incoming factory workers were laid off without going through the proper layoff procedure, and for garment factories that converted to producing the Personal Protective Equipment, the low level employees are in this huge irony of life when they are not provided with the PPE while they are working in the factory, and then they don’t observe social distancing measures as well. And also like fast fashion brands, they were cancelling orders, even those that were already made and like, they just don't think about how that will cascade down to the lowest level employees because when they don't pay their suppliers the money, the factory owners, they can’t pay the garment workers and the garment workers, they don't, they usually do not have the economic ability or capacity to tide through this loss of income when the companies themselves can, but they're just doing it just so that they can save their economic losses, which is... It's not good. I think as long as fast fashion brands operate on this capitalistic business model that drives to seek maximum profits, then it will just never be sustainable, because like if sustainability is antithetical to your business model that drives profits.
On who does the responsibility of sustainability fall? Consumers or fashion corporations?
Jia Xin: And in this case, an interesting question is, does the responsibility for adopting sustainable practices fall on just the brands themselves? Or do we, as individual consumers have a part to play too? What do you guys think?
Charmaine: I think it's definitely a good mix because after all the consumers are what kind of drives the demand for these products. But I think like with a lot of social movements, for the sustainable fashion movement, we kind of have to consider a form of intersectionality in this because, you know, one of the obvious factors in consumption is wealth or socio economic status. And I think it can be quite jarring for someone of a lower income level to think about completely switching up their consumption habits into buying, you know, more expensive but more well made pieces. Yeah, so I think definitely for quite some time, a lot of the pressure has fallen on the consumer, but I think we kind of need to keep a balance, I think we need to remember that we do vote with our dollar, you know, every purchase made is a statistic to these companies that kind of use it as “Oh, you know, people are still buying, so let's just continue with this exploitative business model”. But at the same time, if you can't vote with your dollar, which means you can't, you know, afford to not support these brands and better brands instead, I think social pressure is definitely a good factor. So in terms of holding brands accountable when it comes to... when they're basically exposed for exploitative measures. I think there's a movement called Pay Up on Instagram, where this account has been kind of releasing information and statistical breakdowns of companies that haven't been paying their garment workers with regards to the pandemic. So these super trendy fast fashion brands do have social media analysts working for them, so comments do help. I know it can seem a little cringy and like, you're not really doing anything. But like I said before, fashion is a very media oriented industry. So definitely, social pressure helps.
Karyn: Yeah, I definitely think that in terms of purchasing items, there is a shared responsibility between these large corporations and the regular consumer to understand more about the clothes, from the corporation's perspective, it will be the clothes that they are selling and producing, And from the consumers perspective, it will be the clothes that they actually actively purchase. And part of the responsibility does go to consumers to find out where these clothes come from, and exactly what they are paying for. Because a lot of the time we pay for something, but we don't know who's the person making it and what goes behind making these clothes as well. I think if we were to realise that a lot of these clothes are from sweatshops, there will be a large proportion of people who wouldn't be willing to purchase these clothes anymore, but because of that lack of awareness and that lack of education as to what fast fashion is, what sweatshops are, how exactly sweatshops produce their clothes, therefore, a lot of consumers are unaware of these consequences. So definitely a lot of education has to be involved in terms of allowing that kind of individual responsibility to come about from consumers also.
What are some common misconceptions of sustainable and ethical fashion consumption?
Jia Xin: And like, I think with all these greenwashing marketing tactics, have you guys come across any misconceptions of people who try to consume ethically but actually are not consuming it ethically?
Charmaine: Yeah, I get that. I think one of the biggest misconceptions in terms of sustainable and ethical consumption is definitely that it always has to be expensive. But honestly, ever since I completely switched my buying habits, I spent a lot less. I think I've only spent about $40 last year in clothes, because yeah, this part might be a bit lengthy because I do have a lot to say about this. Like, I'm very big on kind of encouraging, like giving people tips on how to slowly transition. I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that kind of, yeah, like I said, it has to be expensive, because people think about, “Oh, you know, I usually buy maybe five different items from H&M in one go, now I have to buy five different items from a sustainable brand”, so the cost is obviously going to be a lot more, you know, maybe let's say when you go shopping and pick up like three items from H&M and two items from Forever 21. So people kind of imagine that lifestyle, except with more expensive, sustainable brands. But I think people forget that sustainable consumption is less consumption. I think this whole throwaway culture of how we don't really kind value our clothes, definitely needs to be re-evaluated. Like, I find it really bizarre that a dress from maybe like in Asia, I think Taobao and Shopee is very, you know, prominent, so like maybe a $10 dress from Shopee costs, or even a $7 top, costs the same as like a drink from Starbucks, or maybe even Boost. So how can an item that's supposed to last you for years and years cost the same as a perishable, like a drink? I think this definitely kind of ties in with throwaway culture, and the need for not repeating outfits. Like if you go into Carousell, which is a Singapore reselling platform, a lot of the times in descriptions you can see people saying things like oh “worn once for a photoshoot” or “worn once and something something”, which I just feel needs... I don't really want to preach on anybody but I just feel this really needs to be evaluated because like I said, clothes are not made to be a disposable item. Yeah, I think one of my biggest tips is to just consume less in general and look at your clothes and then you... like... they're meant to be something that fits you really well, that makes you feel confident, makes you look good, look pretty and it's meant to be kept this way for as long as possible, as opposed to just a one-off use kind of thing. Yeah, and my second advice is to kind of buy secondhand and I know this has a lot of limitations in terms of sizing available and also the style of items available. But I think thrifting is definitely a way for you to kind of express yourself in a more unique and creative way as opposed to, like I said before, buying items that are under the “Just In” category on a fashion website. And especially if you're someone who really likes fashion, I think a kind of bonus point would be the items you buy, more often than not, nobody else will kind of own the same thing or less people will own the same thing. So you know, if you consider yourself like, really interested in fashion, I think that could definitely be a bonus point. And I do think thrifting is like a really fun activity just to do with friends as well, so that's also another bonus point that's kind of a social aspect to it. And thrifting isn't just limited to physical stores, you can thrift online as well, like I said, Carousell, or other reselling platforms that you prefer. I've gotten some of my favourite pairs of denim from Carousell and like a shirt as well. So yeah, I definitely advise that. And my third advice is to always kind of... Okay, I know this is gonna take a while to break down. But you know how like, the current jeans that are in style now are more baggy and wide legged and just three years ago, it was skinny, like skinny jeans. And everyone would just never dream of wearing these huge baggy jeans. One thing about the fashion industry is that it's trends are very recycled. So I know at one point, there was this kind of trend of decluttering and minimalism with Marie Kondo, that kind of… I feel like a lot of people falsely linked with sustainability. Because they basically get rid of items, and they're like, Oh, you know, like, “Ah, I'm so clutter free now”, but then they end up buying back what they have. So I'm a really big reseller on all these reselling platforms, but I started to kind of keep very staple items. So like, I still have my skinny jeans kind of tucked away now and now you know, I’m just wearing whatever is in trend. And the same goes for almost any item. So for example, if you find yourself liking specific pieces when things are in trend, but then you remember yourself really loving them during this phase of time, and then when something else comes into trend, you're like, “Oh, I don't really want to wear that anymore”. I mean, I definitely discourage against that, like wear whatever you want, you know, it makes you more stylish, but I get the whole wanting to follow trends. So I think people could kind of try and learn to hold on to items that they really remember genuinely loving, because chances are, I guarantee you, in three years, it's going to come back. You're going to save yourself a lot of money, you're going to save yourself a lot of you know time like going on the hunt for these items again, when they do come back. Yeah, if you look at pictures from 2005, 2010, 2015 and now 2020, you do realise that fashion literally just gets recycled every couple of years. So hold on to your items.
Karyn: I think from my perspective, I also had this initial misconception about ethical consumption in terms of how it's pricier than our regular options and I would see all these ones that use bamboo fibre to make their clothes because it uses less water or something like that, and I would really want to buy into that idea and look for sustainable options. But like when you mentioned about how sustainability in fashion is about less consumption, I think it does make a lot of sense about how we should not only be looking at what we buy, but also how much we buy as well, and what we need versus what we actually want. And that's not to say that people should necessarily be like, “Oh, I should only buy what I need and never what I want”. It’s not really about that, but it's about taking a balance and basically making a balance between how much you buy and what you currently have in your wardrobe as well and seeing how much of what you have in your wardrobe are things that you can use again in different ways rather than buying an entirely new outfit just because you want to match it with something else in your wardrobe.
Image Source: Universal Standard website
How can sustainable fashion brands encourage size inclusivity?
Karyn: And I also think a very big question in terms of sustainability would be about size inclusivity and how that ties in with sustainable fashion as well, because a lot of the sustainable fashion retailers, they normally cater for a smaller range of sizes, whereas those people who are more plus sized are unable to get sustainable clothes if they want to buy into that. So I was wondering whether Charmaine, you had any opinions about this?
Charmaine: Yeah, I definitely think size inclusivity is just something that the whole fashion industry still has like a lot of steps to take into improving this aspect. Even sometimes I feel like some brands kind of use plus size as more of a token than actually integrating it into their brand. So yeah, sorry I forgot to mention but one of another sustainable practice you can adopt is clothing swaps with friends. I started doing that but I also know that once again size is another kind of touchy topic with that, you don't really want to make someone, you know, like that for not being able to, like fit into certain pieces, stuff like that. So yeah, I definitely think when kind of talking about sustainable fashion, and when you're kind of advocating for it to other people, you have to be mindful that some people in terms of sizing may just not have the option to do so even with thrifting. Because once again, like what ends up in thrift stores comes from companies that produce them in the first place, whether it's from an ethical brand, or a fast fashion brand that ends up in a thrift store. And the fact that the industry is already producing a very limited range of sizes, this will also translate to thrift stores. So once again, if plus size people don't even have that many retail stores to shop from in the first place, they're going to have even less options in thrift stores. Yeah, so with regards to sustainability, another big trend is upcycling and kind of thrift flipping. So another point that take note, and once again, I'm not like preaching to anyone to dictate what you buy, but especially if you're on a smaller side and you're kind of getting into this whole upcycling thing, try, try not to buy sizes that are like many sizes too big for you, you know, like don't buy one plus sized item to make two outfits for yourself. Because once again, this really does take away from plus size people who are as big of a fashion enthusiast as you are and also want to get into more sustainable fashion. This doesn't really apply to Singapore but I think other Asian countries with a colder climate as well. When you thrift in cooler countries, try not to do thrift hauls of winter clothing, because I think thfiting has become gentrified in a sort of way. And when prices jacked up, it takes away from their demographic that usually shops at thrift stores, which is usually lower income people that can't even afford to do fast fashion hauls, so they can’t afford to buy a single piece from a sustainable brand and they also can’t actually afford to feed into the whole overconsumption culture that maybe like middle income class people have. So yeah, I think an important point to note as well as when transitioning into ethical, sustainable fashion and thrifting, secondhand shopping, try not to do hauls, because you know, the whole concept of hauls is antithetical to sustainable consumption. So yeah, that's something else to note as well.
Jia Xin: So at the end of the day, I think the real focus shouldn't be on whether the responsibility for sustainable practices falls on either the brand or the consumers. Rather, I think issues in the industry fall on both parties, because everyone is a stakeholder of the industry. In a way, I think one way that the industry can move towards is towards this circular fashion economy, because currently, a lot of economies not just the fast fashion world, but also maybe electronics that is operated on the linear model, that is re-directional starting from extraction from the environment and then straight to being discarded as waste but in the circular model, it emphasises reusing, recycling, upcycling. It's just much more environmentally sustainable by making sure that once raw material is extracted from the environment, it is kept in use for as long as possible.
Charmaine: Yeah, I think the whole, I think that's exactly what this movement is aiming towards, basically, at the end of the day, I think this also kind of ties in with the whole that the responsibility for consumers or corporations, I think, ideally, the end goal is to kind of reach a circular fashion economy, like you said, where raw materials are extracted in a more sustainable and also ethical way where workers are being paid and the environment isn't being damaged and kind of like, consumers also take on this responsibility by making the purchases last as long as possible and maybe things like recycling or return systems are put into place with these companies where consumers can return their well worn out pieces to kind of be either broken down or recycle and spun into new fabrics. And essentially, it's just about what you kind of extract from the environment, it eventually returns back to like the biosphere in the best way possible.
Karyn: We would like to thank Charmaine so much for coming on to our podcast episode and sharing with us more about alternatives to fast fashion and how we can be responsible about our own practices in terms of fashion. I know for sure, for me, I've definitely learned a lot from here and I will definitely want to be more focused on looking towards more sustainable ways of increasing my passion for fashion as well and still being able to express myself through clothes. So that's it for our episode for today and thank you everyone for listening.