Part 2: Us

Last week I published Part 1 of this piece, called Positive Feedback Phenomenon, which was a quick dive into the way that the business end of the fashion system impacts (and exponentially expands) consumption. I don’t think you need to read Part 1 to enjoy Part 2, but especially if you don’t work in fashion and don’t understand the back workings of what happens between a designer thinking of a thing and that thing ending up on a rack (or a browser?) for you to buy. The number of garments produced annually has doubled since the year 2000, but aside from being connected to the internet all the time, very little about our day to day lives have changed to facilitate demand for such a surge.

The global fashion industry produces more than 100 to 150 billion items of clothing per year, but we only have a little less than 8 billion humans on earth. The math on that means that every human on earth could be fully clothed and also acquire 20 new garments per year, were the purpose of this clothing production to simply clothe people and not to feed the insatiable consumption demand monster.

When I went searching for the article I read this weekend about the mountains of used clothing washing ashore in Ghana right now so that I could include it in this article, I found a blurb on the Times Machine from the year 1958:

64 years later, at Accra’s Kamanto market, around 15 million items of used clothing from Western countries arrive every week, in contrast to the nation’s total population of about 30 million people. It is estimated that around 40% of the clothing that arrives is unusable and ends up in landfills, and, by extension, the ocean. However, most Americans are under the impression that the comparatively enormous amount of clothing that they acquire and then donate each year is desperately wanted by the marginalized and underprivileged people of developing or post-colonial nations.

I have mentioned Kamanto market a lot in previous newsletters and encourage everyone, as always, to support The Or Foundation to find out more about this dire issue. But I also wish I would have brought this up last, rather than first, because what I wanted to talk about in this Part 2 is Us. And when I say Us, I am going to start with Me.

I have been very lucky, in my two decades of working in fashion, to have not only forged relationships with some of the most incredible brands in the emerging designer landscape, but also to have started out with years in the luxury market. I have, since a very young adult age, had access to the best clothing available, and I recognize that this access and this perspective is a privilege and has changed the way I manage my wardrobe versus many others. An additional extremely important point of privilege is that my body has not changed shape in any meaningful way since I reached full adult form, which is not true for most people, and thusly their wardrobes reflect an array of sizes that may not fit appropriately depending on their season of life. There are actually myriad of reasons I am extremely advantaged in my wardrobe, which I will not painfully list here but must acknowledge amongst the vast horizon of experiences held by us all. The playing field is not, and has never been, level, and it’s gross and icky to pretend it ever has been.

The reason I am mentioning this is because Aja Barber said something very poignant last week in an interview, to the effect of: at some point, people that consume in this Western world way came to see “being on trend” as their unwavering human right. To own whatever was just released, to dress exactly the most popular way to dress, whatever the whim of trend may be, many people see as something they should have access to, always. And of course, the marketing machine of fashion has done nothing but reinforce this perception for everyone, saying “yes, of course this is your right, you deserve all of this and you deserve to receive it in 48 hours or less at the expense of life on Earth”.

This means consuming an enormous amount of new clothing and accessories at all times, which are increasingly lower quality because they need to be produced quickly, and increasingly become out of trend more quickly, to move you along to the next purchase. However, we have to assume that there is some social capital to be gained (even if we don’t know or understand what that is) by the people chasing these trends, and increasingly as more people live their entire lives online and document every waking moment of their existence, they feel that each moment needs a new outfit, a new look, a new EVERYTHING. And the internet responds to it swimmingly, algorithmically planned to celebrate those who share selfies, outfits, images of acquisitions above all else.

I am INCREASINGLY - at light speed, even - becoming more and more out of step with trend with each passing moment. The pandemic was a black hole portal; we all stepped through and came out on this other side of being properly locked down and every single trend has changed. An earlier version of me, maybe a decade ago, might have rushed to update my wardrobe, capture a few key pieces, jump on the trend wagon. Present day me does not care. I cannot keep up. I am exhausted. Almost all trend at the moment revolves around two concepts right now, which are:

1. 90s fashion, which I lived through the first time and frankly this time they’re not doing it the right way, and

2. exposing inconvenient/impractical areas of your body, emphasizing both body perfectionism as well as the subtext of “I do not do labor”

I can’t do it! I am spent! I love - LOVE - fashion as expression so much, but I cannot set money aflame to keep up with some imaginary omnipotent cultural assessor who will or will not approve me based on looking like literally everybody else.

And this attitude is in and of itself a privilege, because being emotionally free of that ouroboros means I naturally do not consume as much, because I do no feel the acute pressure to do so. But - and this is the reason I mentioned the privilege and advantage that I come from - I can be free. I have spent years accumulating high-quality albeit basic garments, my wardrobe already abounds with options that don’t need replacement. Those options may not be on trend, I may leave the house looking more and more like the 65-year old version of myself every day, but…. I’m ok with it. And I can be, because the quality of the items I already own dictates that I do not have to constantly replace them, and what I do add feels incredibly special, precious, meaningful. By contrast, most people are somewhat forced into this cycle of wardrobe updates because fast fashion quality dictates that you will only be able to enjoy something for a limited amount of time before it falls apart.

In Part 1 of this piece I tried to demonstrate the way that the actual system of fashion is creating a Positive Feedback Phenomenon that is destroying the planet. But guys…. they’re not producing things for no reason. We, as a culture, have responded to each year’s increased production with increased “demand”, even if “demand” in this case is not linked in any real way to “need”. What would it means to divorce ourselves from this disease, which is increasingly spreading to all areas of the industry?

Per capita, Americans now spend +38% more per year on clothing than they were in the year 2000. But 2/3rds of Millenials have nothing saved for retirement. Non-housing debt (meaning debt related to credit cards and student loans rather than mortgages, which at least create equity), has more than doubled to $4.34 trillion dollars. The average American is carrying more than $6,000 in credit card debt.

There is not only one reason for overconsumption, and it is certainly not squarely on the shoulders of the individual. It should never be phrased this way, and to do so is to ignore the diversity of experiences happening at any given moment across the world. But what I am asking you in this Part 2, in Us, is to look at your individual habits and ask yourself where you can buy less. How can you DEGROW your consumption? And what does that look like in community? Do you know how to mend? Can you teach others? Do you have an amazing tailor? Can you share that resource? Do you have something you don’t want anymore? Who do you love that you can you GIVE it to. Not sell. GIVE. And this is my other favorite, and where I will ask anyone who has read along this far to please comment and share: who are the people you follow in the social sphere that help you understand how to feel great and look stylish by using mostly what you already have? That doesn’t mean they buy nothing. That means that they repeat outfits, mix old with new, and give new life or great style to what they already own. Please share!

I really want to see you retire, and feel safe, and have emergency funds. But more than anything, I want you to not find worth only in what’s new. I would love for you to have a storied relationship with each piece of clothing you own. I would love for you to put something on and not focus on the new item on your body but instead see what has grown and changed about the person inside the clothes.

Again, a lot of this behavior assumes privilege, and therefore is not globally applicable to every reader. But where do you fit? Where can you find your space in this in a way that unchains you from feeding the beast of newness?

Good luck! I am right there alongside you.

I also would just like to thank everyone who has been reading this newsletter for the past year and a half - I don’t take your attention lightly and I know there is an ever-expanding available catalogue of great writing being delivered straight to your inbox from an enormous variety of people. For this reason, I try to keep these well-spaced, and respectful of your time, and for everyone who likes, comments and engages with these posts, I just want to say thank you and let you know I see you and appreciate you. <3 Anja