Episode 260: Your beliefs are your superpower, with Malena of The Slow Era

Welcome to Clotheshorse, the podcast that knows that the future is human.

I’m your host, Amanda and this is episode 260.  So I’ve been doing Clotheshorse for almost SIX years now.  And every week of those six years I have received multiple emails from different startups, PR firms, and CEOs announcing a new thing that will “save” the world from fast fashion, “fixing” the industry once and for all.  Sometimes it’s an app.  Other times it’s a new miracle fabric.  Blockchain.  Virtual outfits (remember when the solution was that we would all just start buying virtual clothing for the Metaverse?) The conceit is always that technology will “fix” this problem.  

And yes, I think technology can be a part of the solution, closing some of the waste loops in the fashion production system. BUT…we know that the real “fix” to all of this is buying less new stuff in the first place.  

Shopping secondhand first. That means more people selling secondhand, helping other people find secondhand.

Shopping small and local.  That means more people starting small businesses, and more people showing up to support them.

Repairing what we already have.  That means more people doing repairs for others.  And others teaching us how to do these repairs ourselves.  Maybe even sitting together to repair our stuff side by side.

Mindfully rehoming our stuff. Getting our unwanted stuff into the hands of other people who want and need it.

And doing a lot of work on ourselves to unpack our own relationships with stuff and shopping and the clothes that we wear.  

I always say that slow fashion is a way of life that extends far beyond the actual fashion/clothes part of our lives.  It really is a lifestyle. And that involves a lot of changes in how we live our lives.

Of course, this also means getting out there and talking to the other people in our lives about why we are making these changes, why they are important, and why they should get involved, too.

The solution to the fast fashion crisis, to overconsumption…the way to “fix” the fashion industry is…PEOPLE.

And one way people come into play as part of all of this is via their small businesses.  So this week I am joined by Malena of The Slow Era, a vintage store in Ames, Iowa.  The Slow Era is also the hub for the slow fashion community in Ames.  And the entire business is built off of Malena’s values as a slow fashion crusader and art activist.   In this episode, we are going to talk about

• How Malena uses their own values as a decision making tool for their business
• Why writing a business manifesto made this a lot easier
• How they reconcile their own anti-capitalist beliefs with being a small business owner
• How they connect with and educate their customers and community via the business
• How to avoid compromising your values in business (and why/how it will open doors and bring in more customers)

And so much more!

Now, this episode was originally supposed to come out last week, when I was in Mexico City.  Well, let me tell you about that trip.

I’m sure you also want an update on Operation Snip Snip.

Okay, my conversation with Malena is long, so let’s jump right into it.  Afterwards, I’ll be back to talk about Everlane and the importance of our personal values.

Thank you to Malena for spending some time with us!  Fun fact, we recorded for two hours, none of it uploaded to the cloud, so we had to do it all again. Thank you Malena, for being such a good sport!

I will share how you can find Malena in the show notes.  Go give The Slow Era  a follow on social media. And if enough of you send in your own manifestos, maybe Malena and I can do a special episode where we read them together.

So as I mentioned at the top, this episode was supposed to come out last week.  And it actually worked out for the best because this week some news emerged that is so perfect to round out this conversation:  According to a report by Lauren Sherman published by Puck, SHEIN is buying Everlane. Now, in the name of transparency and accurate information,  I have seen no other official confirmation.  The zillions of posts you may have seen across social media and blogs this week all refer to Sherman’s article as the source.  So this *could* end up being untrue.  Take it all with a grain of salt until we get all of the final, confirmed details.

That said…am I shocked? Oh hell no.  I’ve been talking about Everlane’s greenwashing for years. For Everlane, “sustainability” and “ethical fashion” have always been a marketing message, not a belief system.   

I was suspecting that SHEIN would buy a “sustainable” brand this year, inspired by Quince’s success at selling to a slightly older customer who was willing to spend a little bit more money for greenwashed “sustainable” clothes.  Btw, Quince is 100% fast fashion, but the prices are a little bit higher than SHEIN, the presentation is ostensibly more “premium” (the company even sells caviar for pete’s sake), and allegedly the quality is better (although Reddit tells me otherwise)

 Anyway, I thought that SHEIN would end up buying Reformation (another greenwashed fast fashion brand).

But like the Allbirds example that I gave in my conversation with Malena, Everlane is just company that saw sustainability and ethics as a branding moment and a marketing story. Everlane was founded in 2011 as a menswear brand that focused on PRICING transparency.  That was the gimmick.  Unlike other brands, customers could see how much something cost to make. But in the 2010s, that branding strategy didn’t have the same power as another growing marketing opportunity: SUSTAINABILITY.  And so Everlane started to pivot that way. But while bragging about making rainwear out of recycled bottles or promising to move solely into recycled fabrics (aka recycled plastic, its own greenwashing nightmare), Everlane also union busted and generally cultivated a toxic work environment.  It gave no true transparency into its supply chain. And for years, more and more voices in the slow fashion space were speaking up about how Everlane was essentially tricking its customers with claims of sustainability.

Once again, Everlane was not founded with sustainability and ethical manufacturing as its core values.  No, its core values were…making money. Lots of money.  Growing.  Becoming profitable.  

At the end of the day, no one becomes a billionaire from slow fashion or sustainability.  And when your real brand values are…making money, like, lots of money…well, you’re always going to compromise any commitment to the planet and its people in favor of profits and growth.

 I’m glad to see big “sustainable” brands take off their masks and reveal themselves as just another fast fashion brand with better marketing. It clears some space for the real slow fashion activists, brands, and small businesses that are out there doing the hard work of sticking to their ethics and building a better future. Because there are so many small businesses and activists out there (myself included) who yes, want to make a living, but also want to protect workers, create good, safe, jobs that pay a living wage.  Reduce waste.  Skip plastic.  Build a true circular economy.  Fight fascism.  Care for our communities, animals, and the planet.  People who are committed to building a better tomorrow.

The future is human.  We get to decide what the future looks like, even if it doesn’t feel like that sometimes. And step one is figuring out what matters to us. What that future looks like.  Putting words to all of it.  And remembering those words, those values, that future every time we make a decision.

As I mentioned at the beginning when I told you about my disastrous trip, Belle and Sebastian has been a favorite since I was a teenager.  And the summer that my partner Ryan died, a few months before Dylan, my kid, was born, I really struggled to find any music that didn’t just make my grief even worse.  So I mostly listened to gangsta rap and Belle and Sebastian.  And on Dylan’s birth announcement, I included some lyrics from one of my favorite Belle and Sebastian songs, “Like Dylan In the Movies.” And these words captured exactly how I felt about the last few months of my life: losing Ryan, losing my life in Chicago, the fear and constant pain of grief AND childbirth, and even how much everything in my life would never be the same.

And it was almost like, by putting these words on a document as tangible as a birth announcement, I was engraving them on my brain.  So every time things were just really, really hard. When I was worrying about money so much it made my stomach hurt.  Or when I was so close to giving up…I would sing these lyrics to myself to remind myself of WHY I had to keep going.  And I actually have found myself doing the same thing with Clotheshorse. When I’m tired.  Sick of dealing with horrible internet people.  Frustrated by the world as a whole. When I find myself thinking, “It’s too bad I care about things so much because if I didn’t, I would probably have more money and less problems.”  In those moments, I go back to these song lyrics.  So I’m going to end this episode by sharing them with you.  Maybe they can be a little mantra for you when you are struggling with how hard it can be sometimes (not always) to stick to your values, to stand up for what matters.

Yeah, you’re worth the trouble and you’re worth the pain

You’re worth the worry, I would do the same

If we all went back to another time, I will love you over

I will love you over, I will love you