Eyes Wide Open: Fast Fashion

Fast Fashion: here is the video that opened my eyes. Not that I didn't know some of this, but that I hadn't incorporated this knowledge into my own little bubble.

Busted: I am a consumer of fast fashion.  I have always been a huge thrift shop buyer, and have often altered clothing I find there.  But maybe that inexpensive taste for eclectic clothing morphed into a taste for more and more (cheap) clothing in general, with the result that I am buying tons of clothes--just like everyone else, it seems.

Quotes that broke my heart--yes, people, I got to researching; so should we all:

Today a fashionable dress is cheaper than a bag of dog food. How did we get here?
Our closets are larger and more stuffed than ever, as we’ve traded quality and style for low prices and trend-chasing. (Esty article, The History of a Cheap Dress)

The mass production of so much cheap clothing is an enormous waste of resources such as fuel and water. While many people donate their clothing to charities and consignment shops, fast fashion tends to be so cheaply made that no one wants to buy it... — generating the term "landfill fashion."  (NPR series, The Fast World of Fast Fashion)

A Cambridge University study reports that in 2006, people were buying a third more clothes than they were in 2002, and women have four times as many clothes in their wardrobe than they did in 1980.  (from Ethical Fashion Forum, a group working to change the paradigm of fast fashion)

How bad am I?

Well, my closet and dresser are stuffed, for one thing. 
I have bought numerous clothing items just this year, with my most recent retail purchases being at Marshall's/Ross/TJMaxx--in the clearance section!  (Clearly I was going for cheaper-than-cheap.)

Today's outfit demonstrates both the good and embarrassingly not-so-good in my wardrobe.  Jacket is one I stitched myself (Indygo Junction pattern; Me-Made May win!)  Camisole underneath is one of those $1.80 can't-pass-em-up fast fashion clunkers from Forever 21.  Jeans were purchased at a thrift store--a pair of just-barely-worn Old Navy brand (another person's discarded fast fashion).  Belt is from a discount retailer (Ross maybe?) but is already coming apart in the back, leading me to swear off cheap belts in the future.  Earrings are from a local artist/craftsperson who sells at Saturday Market, and were made from re-purposed computer chips.

Shoes (Naturalizers today) are the one area of my wardrobe that feels the best.  My bunion started insisting about 10 years ago that I not wear uncomfortable shoes, and I started paying attention.  Comfort brands became my thing, with my Dansko collection leading the pack.  I still have too many pairs of shoes (and sadly, am *always* drawn to looking at more), but at least they are quality shoes that are meant to last for many years.

What am I gonna do about this?

Sweetie reminds me that we, the little guys, influence our society en masse in 2 ways: our vote and our purchasing habits.  Well, my habits have gotta change.  I can't continue to buy clothes at this rate--even from thrift stores, even if I am getting rid of equivalent garments from my overstuffed closets.

I pledge no clothing purchases for the remainder of 2015.  This includes thrift shop purchases and clothing accessories.  Exceptions: underwear, athletic gear (if it is needed, like a new pair of running shoes), a costume for Halloween, and the possibility of a special need (like maybe a new belt?)

I also want to rid myself of those items that I don't really wear.  I feel like I declutter my clothing more often than any of my other belongings, and yet I know there are unworn items lurking in there.

Finally, I want to make my own clothes.  Garments that fit me, that are well-made, that are unique and flattering.  Sewing from my abundant stash!

How about you?  Do you have a "good closet"?  Are you a fashion gourmet...  or a fashion gourmand?

Media Diet

I listened to portions of the book "The Four Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss recently on a car trip.  Don't really know why I picked it out--just in self-help gotta-get-more-organized mode, I guess.

Several of the author's suggestions were familiar: along the lines of "Eat That Frog", get your most important tasks out of the way first.  But he also advocates eliminating ALL time-wasting activity, and severely limiting contacts.  The "severely limiting contacts" is what got me started on my recent unsubscribe mission.  He weans his colleagues and business associates off of the expectation of rapid email responses, in order to only have to check and respond to email once or twice a week.

Guess what he has to say about social media, blogs, and the internet?  Exactly: they are time-wasters.  (After all, his premise is that, without all these constant distractions and non-essential non-work-related activities, you could get your job done in only four hours a week.)

Well, the advice gets more strident: go on a media diet for a week.  This means don't spend time keeping up with the news on television or radio or internet.  In fact, avoid any and all media, unless it is critical to getting your work done.

This intrigues me.  As an adult with ADD, I often get sucked into the internet vortex, horribly distracted and off-task, even when I start with something as innocuous and simple as checking the weather before getting dressed for the day.

Maybe there is a lesson hidden here: severely limiting the inputs to my brain can be a helpful thing.  I know I love being exposed to a daily dose of new and interesting (and often nerdy) ideas by listening to NPR, but is this really causing me too much distraction?  Would I be more productive--or at least have an easier time focusing and feeling less stressed--if I severely cut back my media exposure?



My Social Experiment: we'll see how this plays out over the next week.  (Disclaimer: in looking for images to accompany this posting, I spent about 30 minutes actually reading and digesting other ideas on media diets, including a blog post that resonated with me.  But it also took 30 minutes away from what I wanted to do with my time this evening.  Damn.)

Unsubscribe

Sometimes I feel like I just discovered fire.  Or invented the wheel. 

Today I am proud of myself--even though what I have done is so simple that a *facepalm* might be the appropriate gesture (why, oh why hadn't I thought of that before?)

Unsubscribe

Yep, I just discovered that most of the annoying email newsletters and endless sales pitches from retailers and "educational partners" have a link on the bottom marked unsubscribe.  And that this magical button has the power to transform my email inbox.

Who knew? 

I was too busy slogging through the daily pack of emails, hitting delete before even opening over two-thirds of what came my way.  And it seemed that the influx was getting heavier over time.  Since when does Store M have a daily deal so awesome that it needs a daily email?  And how about C Online University, where I can finish my Master's degree program?  Do I really need to hear about every opportunity?  In a word: NO.

Do I feel sorry for the site that greeted my efforts to unsubscribe from their annoying emails with a sad graphic?  Not at all.

My gain: freedom from hundreds of artery-clogging, bank-balance-depleting, time-wasting emails a week.