Episode 225: Slow Fashion & Inclusivity Round Table

Thanks to everyone for spending so much time with me over the past two months, as we put together this episode and their individual conversations with me.  I am so grateful for Maggie, Itohan, Marlee, Donnelle, and Nico. If you are not following all of them on social media yet…well what are you doing? You’ll find links for finding all of them in the show notes.

I realize that this conversation did not capture all of the ways in which slow fashion can be more inclusive, and that’s okay, because I see it as the beginning of a much longer conversation that will continue well into the future. We will be revisiting this topic from different angles throughout this year.

It probably sounds silly at first pass, but conversations like this are actually pretty radical and revolutionary.  We’re pushing back on an entire ecosystem of business, marketing, and social norms that isn’t…well, it’s just not inclusive of most people.  I mean, we’re watching the dismantling of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies here in the United States that provide equal access to resources and opportunities. It’s so strange to see DEI as the new “moral panic” of the 2020s and it’s just as silly as the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.  But in this case, this moral panic is far more harmful. 

So yeah, talking about making access to clothing, good quality, ethically made clothing easier for more people…it’s pretty radical and political at this point. 

Earlier this week I received a comment on an instagram post that basically told me to stop talking about political things. The commenter actually said that they unfollow sustainable fashion accounts who don’t stick to their niche by talking about politics.  The commenter went on to say that these creators “use their followers as an outlet for their personal feelings.”

Jeez louise.

As Christine of Lady Hogg Vintage reminded me this week, one of the original Clotheshorse slogans was “the personal is political.” And of course, that remains true.  I’m here to tell you that most likely every aspect of your life is political in nature. As a nonbinary person assigned female at birth living here in the United States, everything about my day-to-day existence is political:

The control of my own body, the kind of healthcare I can access and afford, the kinds of jobs I am offered (and how much I will be paid), where I do and do not feel safe…and that’s just the beginning. So many seemingly minor moments in my life only radicalized me more: catcalls in the streets. Creepy dudes. Finding out I was paid 20% less than my male counterpart.  Being treated like crap at my low paying retail and service jobs. Being treated like crap at my slightly better paying corporate jobs.  My struggles finding healthcare as a cancer survivor.  The way I was treated as a single parent after my daughter was born.  To be honest, my life has been political since the moment I was born into a low income family to a teenage mother. 

When we talk about slow fashion being political…well, OF COURSE it is political.  Think about all of the issues it encompasses: water use and pollution, land use and agriculture, forestry oversight, wealth inequality, carbon emissions, waste colonialism,  plastic pollution, fossil fuels, workers rights, women’s rights, classism, racism, fatphobia (all the bad phobias and isms)…and of course, the need for policies and laws to regulate this currently largely unregulated industry.

So yeah, talking about slow fashion, being a part of the slow fashion community…it is incredibly political.

That’s why I am always reminding you every day that all of the things you are doing that seem small, sort of minor in their impact, are actually wildly radical and revolutionary: 

• Mending, repairing, making things last as long as possible…and that includes things like taking laundry very seriously and working on stain removal.
• Sharing these skills with other people!
• Making your own clothing and other items.
• Shopping secondhand. Or maybe you are a secondhand dealer, rescuing things from the landfill, repairing/cleaning them, and then giving them a new life with someone else.
• Resisting marketing messages that tell you to buy more, more, and more stuff. And instead, doing the work to untangle your own relationship with shopping and consumerism.
• Shopping small and local when you can.
• Learning…and then sharing what you have learned with others.
• Holding on to our hope and pragmatic optimism…and sharing it with others who need a little refill of it.

All of these things are important parts of driving resistance and change. They are revolutionary, radical, and…political!  I don’t know about you, but I am constantly being told by people who literally do not know what they are talking about that clothing is silly, unimportant, that I should focus my activism elsewhere.  As if it’s ever been “just clothes.” It’s all of the issues I shared earlier, and more.  It impacts everyone on this planet. And it’s tangled with so many other important issues that we all face every day that are most definitely political.

So yeah, I’m going to stay political and I hope you will too. Despite it feeling like the world is falling into pieces at this very moment, I still feel the faith, that strong belief that we will get through this and come out of the other side of it in a much better place.  I’m looking forward to seeing you next to me on that journey.