Hi, my name is Kate, and I am a fast-fashion-aholic. The first step in my journey was admitting I was powerless over $10 shirts from H&M, Zara, and Top Shop. The second step for me was figuring out what the hell to do with the reams of clothing that overflowed my walk-in, my cloffice, and my laundry room. Then there were the shameful drops at the Goodwill of bags upon bags of my discards. I even took to throwing clothes in the garbage. Yep folks, on the spectrum of a fashion use disorder, I was severe. So, I am publicly announcing my recovery mission and digging in hard as to why I felt the need to buy massive quantities of cheap clothes.
My first Quit Lit was a book called Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas. In it, she describes the progression of consumer behavior due to advances in technology. The use of QR (quick response) made inventory management easy for brands to detect purchasing trends and thus crank out items in bulk. Thomas writes “consumers snap up five times more clothes than we did in the 1980s” and in a sense, “we have developed an addiction to clothing.” There’s a cheap form of instant gratification as we don our new Zara dress and snap pictures for Instagram. (Guilty AF)
I had rationalized that the money I was not spending on booze I could spend on fashion. Yet I was shopping every day and consuming more than I could wear. Why? Well, I like the dopamine hit of purchasing. Do you ever notice how when you step into a retailer such as TJ Maxx, or Marshalls your heart rate speeds up, and you experience a quick burst of energy? That desire to get a dopamine hit from “the ultimate deal” takes over producing a sense of euphoria. So, I began to educate myself on this phenomenon and change my ways.
New Arrivals, New Trash
To be fair, TJ Maxx and Marshalls are discount retailers that often sell high-quality items that are irregular or discontinued. You can find great deals on mid-level brands when shopping with intention. The term “fast fashion” is reserved for brands like Shien, Mango, Boohoo, H&M & Zara which crank out an absurd amount of clothing annually for the sake of quantity over quality. Recent fashion reports have shown the company Shien producing billions of garments a year. You read that correctly. Billions. Their website boasts “1,000 + New Arrivals Dropped Daily” This makes me sick. Can we say deadstock?
The true creatives in the fashion industry often hold fast fashion companies in contempt for copying looks from the runway to make cheap clothes. This leaves the consumer to contemplate the price point of a $250 Dolce and Gabbana blouse versus a $30 Zara knock-off. Most people would choose the latter. Me included. However, I would then go on to buy ten to twenty Zara blouses over the course of a year wearing each of them only a few times. Sometimes not at all.
Personally, this was a lot to think about. Not only did I question the motives behind my need to consume, but I wondered where all my waste was going. Research reveals that the average person wears an item seven to eight times before throwing it out. Literally, throwing it out. Do you ever notice how clothes are scattered all over the community in the form of trash? Recently I witnessed cleanup efforts on a homeless mitigation site and all I saw were piles and piles of garbage. Oh wait…it was clothes! Unfortunately, none of these materials biodegrade. Our landfills are so overrun with clothing that we have taken to shipping our trash to locations with poorer economies under the guise of “donations.” In other words, we send our discarded clothes out of sight and out of mind. Farewell to those Shien outfits I had to have.
Harm Reduction
My journey has taken me to thrift shops, consignment stores, and the Goodwill to buy clothes and repurpose discarded goods. I have always loved vintage items and now this practice serves a purpose. Circularity. I want garments to have a longer lifecycle and contribute less to the landfill pile-up. When I am done with an item, I donate it back to a consignment shop to live on in someone else’s closet. To me, this is a form of harm reduction. While still enjoying the buzz of a treasure hunt, I am lessening the impact and damage.
As Thomas in Fashionopolis eloquently explains “for a long time, consignment shops were filled with passe, dowdy, clothes- but no more.” She accredits Hollywood stars publicly appearing in vintage clothing and since “there has been a revolution in the secondhand market. Today you will find great deals on stunning quality garments in thrift shops and consignment websites.” And I couldn’t agree more.
Some of my favorite online luxury resale sites are Vestaire, Dora Maar, Tradesy, and The Real Real. Oftentimes I worry that “I can’t possibly afford those fancy items.” Then I remind myself if I abstain from fast fashion for a month or two and save my money. Poof! I score a gently used luxury item versus a pile of cheap garments. My goal is to pack the punch with sustainability and circularity while enjoying the satisfaction of a little restraint. (And a little Dolce and Gabbana)
My Mom Was Right
Another aspect of this I am working on is building a capsule wardrobe of higher-quality main staples I can reuse every year. A nice sturdy Burberry wool coat for the winter and a few reversible Johnny Was kimonos for summer. I know that when my mom reads this piece, she is going to thank me for publicly acknowledging that she was right. (And laugh at me for being late to the party.) However, there is something to be said about going back to the “old ways” of selectivity and picking out a few sustainable garments that will stand the test of time.
People used to have garments custom-tailored to their person and hold on to them for generations. Hence, your grandmother’s Chanel suit. Or the luxury handbag that comes with the original “dust bag”? Yep, that is included for a reason folks. We are supposed to keep items long enough for the dust to settle! This stream of consciousness is probably just a nod to captain obvious for some people, yet to me and my fast-fashion ways, it seemed novel at first. Nonetheless, I refuse to leave my carbon footprint on this planet in the way of hefty bags full of “Forever 21” tee shirts. (The irony)
I am working on overcoming the urge to click “add to cart” just to add fast fashion to my pile. Because that is what it is. A pile of garments I procured to get my fix. Temporary dopamine hits in the form of something new and shiny. Only to be left with guilt about spending money on clothes that fall apart after the first wash. But this is no easy feat. There is always a pull toward instant satisfaction, as most people in recovery know. Therefore, this will be a practice of intention for me. So, I will do my best to walk the talk.
Grace & Glam,
Kate
P.S. When Forever 21 went bankrupt, I thought of it as my judge nudge into fast fashion recovery. Also, let’s face it, DECADES have passed since I was 21. And I am so much better and wiser for it all.
WALK YOUR TALK: This section of the site, by Sober Curator & Fashion Editor Kate Vitela, celebrates fashion and the role it plays in our recovery. Getting ready for life can be just as fun if not more fun, now that we’re sober…because drunk never looks good.
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