Enough of this Sh*t
The threat of ultra fast fashion is growing. Never has it been more important to shop your values.
The Chinese climate destroyer that has the world’s teenagers in its clammy, greedy, tech-powered grasp, is winning. Now valued at over $30billion, Shein has grown 20 times since it entered the US in 2018. The venture capital firms behind it are rubbing their hands with anticipation for a stock market float and a huge pay day, and they have been spending millions on lobbyists to try and convince the world they are not fast fashion (ha ha! Oh wait - that’s not a joke?).
Having tried its luck on the New York Stock Exchange, Shein has landed in London, where a post Brexit, dysfunctional government desperate for some economic buoyancy - any economic buoyancy - views it as just the fillip it needs. Yes, you read that right, London - the bastion of quality, craft, creativity and doing the right thing - wants to shelter the high volume, low cost ultra processed instant ‘fashion’ manufacturer Shein.
This is terrible news. As the Business of Fashion points out this morning, Shein “is accelerating a race to the bottom that celebrates privatising profits while socialising human and environmental damage.” You can read more about this fast fashion horror in my previous post The Shein Monster is Coming. Over two thirds of the garments Shein produces are made from polyester - aka non biodegradable plastic, are priced at an average of $14, and, according to Greenpeace, 15 percent of the company’s products contain levels of hazardous chemicals that breach EU limits. If you or anyone you know is buying from Shein, please issue them with a health warning. These chemicals make you very ill, (see the fate of the Alaska Airlines staff). This is before we even start on the cheap labour, coal fired energy grid powering this production and the mountains of landfill such disposable plastic rubbish is creating.
But it doesn’t have to be like this. As the Business of Fashion points out, there are two ways to tackle this monster. The first is regulation - and conversations in the EU are ongoing about how we tax or fine irresponsible over production and companies that have no interest in their social or cultural role. Let’s hope British chancellor Jeremy Hunt is on this memo. Or: “the zeitgeist with respect to fashion consumption shifts”. And that’s where we come in.
There are so many responsible, clever companies making beautiful things with ultimate respect to the planet and people that provide their materials and labour. Sustainability doesn’t sell - beautiful product does, and these companies are winning with that. Whether that’s Another Tomorrow with its exemplary supply chain, Navy Grey with its keep forever knits, Herd with its Blue Faced Leicester sheep, O Pioneers with its knitting Grannies, Olisitic the Label, Community Clothing, Mover, Reformation, Veja, Beaumont Organic, Wehve, Pangaia, Fanfare, Lemlem… and on and on. You would buy from all these companies first because they make great things. But also because the way they make them is how we should move forward in this world.
Yesterday I was shooting for Mother of Pearl, the brand directed by the activist and creative director Amy Powney. Amy doesn’t advertise, or follow the conventional fashion calendar of seasons and shows. She has limited production of impeccably sourced fabrics, and dresses women with conscience and style in beautiful, flattering, minimalist fashion. She has shot the team behind Earthrise Studios, the eco artist Thea Lovstad, SOJO founder Josephine Philips, the TV presenter Anita Rani. Her ‘Pearly Queens’ as she calls them. Invited to join them, I was asked what my Pearl of Wisdom was. I delivered the big learning from the Rule of Five campaign - the two week cooling off period. (Following the campaign, I discovered that to break my unfettered shopping habits, making myself wait two weeks between wanting to buy something and actually buying it, was miraculously effective).
But then I thought - no. My Pearl of Wisdom is actually ‘Shop Your Values’. Show your appreciation for the brands and products that do the right thing, that go the extra mile to be regenerative to people and planet. When you next want to buy something, first check how it’s made. Then you can make your joyful purchase extra joyful in the knowledge you are voting for the right future with your cash.
In protest, I’m staging a Sustainable Fashion Fair next weekend at Koko, in Camden, London, with some visionary fashion companies. The Fair will be in honour of Smart Works, the charity that uses clothes donations to get women back into work. Many well meaning brands like Victoria Beckham, Needle and Thread, Rixo, Hugo Boss etc, donate to Smart Works, and they will be there with out of season stock at rock bottom prices, (eat that, Shein). Also there will be Save Your Wardrobe: bring along anything you want mended, or a pair of sneakers for their cleaning service. There will be vintage fashion from Peekaboo and Sign of the Times, extraordinary one off pieces from Cercle for rent, and Isabella Tan will be upcycling pieces you may be bored with, with her fabric painting service. Tickets are limited and only open to Koko club members - and us! Hop below the line below and you can book in, (do you see what I did there? Attempt to get some more of you to subscribe! Worth it for the free drink, I say).
I’ll be there, hosting some talks with my favourite fashion people, and hope to see you there, too.
We will be shopping our values.
Tiff
There have been lots of new joiners to the It’s Not Sustainable community in the last few weeks. Thank you for being here, I hope you find this an inspiring place, (when I’m not blowing my lid on Shein et al). Most of these posts are free to read but if you want access to the archive and invites to events like The Sustainable Fashion Fair, then upgrade here. It costs the price of a coffee. Thank you.