Few days ago I accidentally came across an advertisement for a Q and A panel for Fashion Revolution Week, and I made it my mission for my lazy, unproductive week off from work, to get my lazy, unproductive ass down there.The panel was held at the Nano Nagle Place, an oasis of tranquility right in the centre of Cork city.
For the first hour and a half we were shown a documentary called The True Cost, somewhere through the first half I realized I had already seen it, but it's one of those docs, that has good bit of information packed into it, so it won't hurt you to watch it over and over again.Also I find it, the more you watch it, the more uncomfortable it makes you and more likely you are to actually take some form of action.
The film itself shows how fast fashion, a phenomenon only to have appeared a few decades ago, is rapidly increasing in it's size, causing some serious ethical questions.Who made my clothes?How is she and he (but mostly she, around 80% of manual labourers are women) doing? Are they getting paid what they deserve? and another bigger part of the film asks Are my clothes safe? Not only Are they made in a safe environment but Are they safe to wear?
The discussion panel consisted of 5 women.
L to R :Carolyn Moore, Carol Doyle, Liz O'Meara, Bronwyn Connolly and Emma Pearce
Short introduction to who these women are:
Carolyn Moore is a fashion journalist with a fashion designer background.She spent 10 years running her own label, from a market stall to a Topshop concession, latter gave her a greater insight into how fashion operates behind closed doors.She later turned to fashion journalism, after starting her blog The Dress Down.
Carol Doyle is the founder of Cork's first ethical boutique Belle Etik. She has a wide range of experience with ethically sourced and sustainable goods, and has worked with some of world's innovative sustainable fashion brands for more than 10 years.
Liz O'Meara is the founder of an online boutique Ethical Souls, that sells sustainable and ethical fashion for women and children along with natural beauty products.
Bronwyn Connolly is the founder of ethical fashion brand Wear We Wonder and also runs the little shop called Wild Design in Paul street shopping centre.
Emma Pearce is from Positively Eventful, your go to gal for anything to do with ethics and sustainability in fashion.
The panel touched major points in the documentary and how it affects us on a more personal level and what we in return could do, to change things.
This pyramid is a simple way of putting how our thought process should be, if we ever feel the urge to buy something.
You start from the bottom and ask yourself Do I REALLY need it? And I am the first to raise my hand and admit a lot of the times my answer would be: NO, but it's so cute, I might use it some other time.
2- Borrow, I'm all for it, it's a great way to save money and environment etc., but personally I have never been a borrower, I hate borrowing money, and I would hate borrowing clothes, because I feel it comes with too much of a responsibility and I just get stressed out knowing I owe someone or I'm wearing something that isn't actually mine.I mean I used to borrow from my sister and she borrowed clothes from me, but I think we all know between siblings "borrow" means, you can kiss this goodbye, because it is now mine and mine forever (enter evil laugh here)...or is it just my family?
3-Swap, now while this was mentioned at the panel today , the first thing that came to my head was, that would be brilliant, but how? I do come across every now and then, events, where you bring your own clothes and go through everyone else's, but there isn't that many of them, and they might not be accessible to you, plus my fear has always been, what if I go there and nobody want's my stuff.And on websites like Adverts or Depop where you can sell your clothes, people occasionally pop up asking for a swap, but it's not always a match.
So how about an app......wait for it-Tinder for your clothes.You list your likes and criteria on your profile, and post the stuff you want to get rid of with appropriate key words, that other users might be looking for for themselves, and off you go swiping whatever like and if the owner of the item likes something of yours, you swap. Now can anyone make this app for me?Or does it already exist?
4-Thrift....yes I do, my main way of shopping for clothes, although I've made conscious decision, only to do it, when I actually need something.
5-Make...but I'd also like to add mend and like one of the women in the audience pointed out, take care of your clothes properly, know how to wash them, know that you don't have to wash them as often as we do and don't treat them as disposable items.
And last, if all else fails, buy.But buy ethically.
Coming away from the event today, I wish we had touched a little bit more on the subject of us actually feeling the need to buy so often, because I think, that, today is a major issue.I count myself into that large group of people, who feel the need to buy, almost for the sake of buying, or at least not thinking before doing it.
I buy, therefore I am.
And it shouldn't be like that.It has become an addiction, and working in retail, I've come across people literally saying:"Look at this, I don't need it, but it's only 20 euro".Or coming up to Christmas there was a family doing their last minute present shopping and the mam of the family was like "What's the postman's name?Paul?Ben?Who's Ben?Ahhh I don't care, this will do him." That described exactly what John Oliver had said in the Daily Show...We buy things, with money we don't have, for people we don't even like.Be more thoughtful.
I had taken a great unplanned break from my blog only after starting it, so I'm going to get back on track with it and continue my zero waste saga, I've some experiments and recipes to try out, and hopefully post the results here soon :)
