One of the latest and most enduring trends in consumerism is the cultivation of an image of sustainability and environmental awareness. Brands, within and outside of fashion, have especially tried to capitalize on this for millennial consumers. Even those particularly known for mass production, like Zara and H&M, have “conscious” clothing lines. But as we’ve mentioned in past posts, there are a lot of performative gestures that go without actual behavioral changes or sustainable consequences. When a brand claims to be conscious, what does that actually mean? How easy is it for us to find an answer to that question for a given brand? And what can we do to be more conscious consumers?
All items worn are second hand.
- Goodwill finds: Joan Leslie Wool Blazer (2011), Lattice detail silk top (?)
- Buffalo Exchange: Gap Jeans (from 2010!)
- From a friend's closet: Franco Sarto Patent Leather Heels
As an academic, it’s easy to assume performative gestures because there are certain expectations of how a so-called ‘informed’ person should act. But I’m not going to pretend that I’ve always had sustainability on my mind as I’ve shopped, nor try to impose a certain regime on other people. So much of my own consumption has to do with how I grew up with my mother. It seems then that each and every one us has a different understanding of our relationship with the earth. Our roles and practices in the world, in eco-critical terms, can be very complicated.
In my family, we did not waste. From food, to clothes, to knick knacks, we simply did not “throw things away.” In recent years, as I’ve returned home every year or so, and as I’ve grown less attached to my possessions from my teens and twenties, I would gather things to donate. Each time, I would have to hide the bags from my mother. She would always want to rummage through those bags, to keep things for later, for other people. “Can’t you still wear this sweater?” “We can bring this back to Vietnam.” Her fear of not having enough from those early years in America continue to shape her relationship to the stuff that make up our home and our life, as well as my own relationship to the stuff that make up mine.
I grew up shopping at places like Old Navy, Everything for $5 or less, and discount department stores like Ross and Marshalls. We went to these places especially for everyday basics, pajamas, t-shirts, jeans. Ironically, we would save and splurge on things that we didn’t wear often at all, a nice coat (worn maybe twice a year in warm San Diego), a leather bag, leather boots. These were investment and trophy pieces we kept in our closet to admire in our collection of “nice things.” I would always find myself wearing the same few cheap t-shirts over and over because they were more dispensable. The marketing rationale nowadays to spend more money on items you would use every day doesn’t really speak to me because for a long time I couldn’t fathom spending more than $15 on a shirt, even if I were to wear it more often.
We were sustainable in our way, but it wasn’t like we were consciously trying to save the earth. There wasn’t much choice but to be ‘sustainable’ because those were the items we could afford, and there wasn’t need for more. Today, I can afford a few extra things, but this practice has helped me be especially ‘picky’ when it comes to purchases. Still, that doesn’t mean that I have always been a responsible consumer, or that I will always be in the future. When fast fashion boomed in the 2000s, I was in college in an age where following trends was the key to fitting in. I liked variety but also didn’t have much money, so H&M and Zara were luxuries within my reach.
Thanks to my mother’s influence, for better or for worse, some of these items are still in my closet today. More than just getting better at letting go of things, I have also gotten better at not bringing home items that won’t last more than a season or two. Trends, prices and convenience can be tempting, but it’s worth asking yourself: can I still use this in three years?
When it comes to making sustainable decisions, an important reminder is in the word itself: can you sustain, that is, maintain certain behaviors? Pretending that my closet consists of all conscious choices or that I know where my clothes come from is not sustainable, nor honest. Sometimes, in these discount department stores where excess thrives, you might find that good quality suit that lasts you 10 years. Being a responsible consumer can happen in different ways, even when public discourse makes it seem more black and white (sustainable or not). In some ways my mother’s practices, without being necessarily conscious of her decisions every day, are more impactful than pretending without making actual efforts. Her attention to waste is not a trend, it is enduring, even if it has more to do with her economic disposition than with her consciousness of climate change. In this same vein, brands that claim to participate in a trend of sustainability could do better by just doing the thing without marketing it to the world. This is why it’s important to be skeptical and look for additional information if a brand does make that claim. This could also be said about people.
There is still so much I can learn about being a responsible consumer, especially when it comes to cultivating a sustainable (in the eco-critical sense but also in the literal sense) closet. Here are a few resources I found helpful and hope they are for you too. Feel free to share more in comments below.
1. The fashion transparency index: https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/
Please note that transparency does not equate accountability or best practices. The H&M group does especially well in this report on transparency, but their clothes can often be too trendy to last, or made of synthetics that are harmful to create.
2. This NY Times article “How fast fashion is destroying the planet” talks about the actual make-up of textiles of fast fashion and why they are not durable.
3. The True Cost (2015), a documentary on the effect of globalization and the factories that supply much of the clothes available for purchase in the US.
4. Lastly, this diagram, from blogger and writer Anushka Rees, has been a super quick reminder for me to be more conscious about my clothing but also less guilty about past purchases.
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