Bonjour!
I am in France currently soaking up the sun and trying not to feel too sad or scared by the upsurge of terrorist activities plaguing the country. The unfortunate attacks that are taking place globally have somewhat become routine. For some, it’s not until it strikes home that they truly understand and feel the pain of such events.
I imagine that’s why it’s perceived as miserable, livable circumstances and people sometimes tend to move on quickly; or perhaps it’s the fact that we don’t even have a choice to sit and ponder on our emotions because before you know it, there is another one.
We have grown so accustomed to the Facebook country filters to show solidarity and sharing of the trending news articles that our actions are almost predictable. Sometimes I question the authenticity of it all. The consistency of the violence has become part of us, however horrifying it may be.
This is the same reality with fast fashion. Though it is difficult to picture, a fair amount of human physical and mental damage has taken place for us to be able to be sassily dressed in our cold shoulder tops and gladiator heels. In some cases, even horrific crushing deaths have taken place. A case in point is the Rana Plaza Factory.
As with the terrorist attacks, we learn to live with it and accommodate it. In the absence of the Facebook filters to show solidarity, we have world recycle week and expensive eco fashion lines to help cleanse our conscience of all the horrid realities that take place within the industry. This type of brutality is hidden to some extent, unlike the terrorist activities it rarely makes it in the mainstream media; it is also masked beautifully behind ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements. This aids in making the production reality much more difficult for consumers to envision and accept. In addition, consumers are generally frugal by nature; no one tends to think of poor wages when they are saving big.
Like in many places, July is the month of sales in Europe. This is where I would usually indulge in my fast fashion buys. The main reason why I don’t buy in-season is because I refuse to make the rich CEOs even richer after they would have robbed the poor and partially destroyed the environment. Also, unfortunately, I am no Bill Gates or Beyoncé so I can’t have my personal couture lady just a phone call away to whip me up something that is 100 per cent ethical. However, I can assure you that the latter is my dream and personal goal.
Sure, I can go without buying a new piece and I probably should. But it’s incredibly difficult to resist because the thought process that usually takes place in your head when shopping on a sale, is: ‘Yes!!! I just saved €30 on this skirt by resisting it at the beginning of the season. Yayyy!!! I can take that money and enjoy a nice meal out with my man this weekend. There
is a sense of achievement. The sale season culture has made us vultures, but beautifully dressed vultures. Plus with Instagram and Snapchat I find now, more than ever before, that we are desperate to project the most appealing and on trend personality.
The problem with cutting fast fashion out of the equation, lies with the motivation to consume. We feel pressured to consume to the extent that we can ignore other people’s suffering for vanity’s sake. How can we not notice or deny that the industry has turned us into greedy robots by capitalizing on needs and circumstances? Of course! Kylie Jenner and Rihanna are blocking us from seeing that.
It is often very difficult to decipher which brand is doing the most for the environment and its employees because they all seem to have woven good corporate social responsibility marketing into their websites. My advice is to shop on sales! But not every sale and never at the beginning.
The trick is to go two weeks after they have started. The sales usually start at up to 50% off and work their way down to 70%. Sites like Yoox.com go up to 90% off and Net-a-Porter usually adds an extra 20% off sale items when the sale season is close to its end. I know you may be thinking that waiting for the second week is a risk and most items may be gone. However, I am a firm believer in what’s for you, will always be there, plus this sort of attitude helps minimize the desire to buy carelessly.
Before the sale season starts, stay off Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, stop falling in love with everyone’s style and develop your own. You will feel less of a need to acquire.
Whether we choose to admit it or not, we have all played into the system of putting someone else in harm’s way for the purpose of our glamour.
Your wallet’s flexibility can be argued as a reason to clothe yourself with fast fashion and then there’s the argument that avoiding business with companies who treat their workers poorly will have a knock-on effect on future employment. But be conscious of the fact that there is evil behind our glamour. Slow change in profit margins and consumer behaviour will eventually urge brands to re-think their actions.
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