Slowing Down Fashion

Let’s just get this out in the open – We are all part of the problem. We’re all part of the problem that is the environmental crisis that’s facing our planet. Some more than others, to be sure, but we are all nevertheless participants in a society that is so often wasteful, negligent, and indifferent to what’s going on around us. But do not despair! There are things we can do to make change.

If you’re a customer of ours and you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance that you like clothes more than the average person. We’re fortunate here at Strawberry Mountain to have an awesome group of customers who care not only about fashion, but also about sustainability – because in our current world, those two things must go hand in hand.

Right now, the fashion world is dominated by what’s called “fast fashion”. Online brands like Shein, Boohoo, and Fashion Nova, as well as stores like H&M, Forever 21, and Zara are producing an incredible amount of clothing every day, very little of which is produced sustainably.

But what does that even really mean? “Sustainable” is such a broad and often ill-defined term that comes up so frequently that it’s lost some of its meaning. There are all kinds of definitions for what “sustainable fashion” means, but my favorite comes from Redress Raleigh, a sustainable fashion non-profit whose website is a treasure trove of resources on the topic. They say that sustainable fashion “uses textiles that are manufactured, constructed, and marketed in a responsible and conscious way that acknowledges and accounts for their environmental and socioeconomic impacts.”

And that’s important because an enormous portion of the clothing that we buy eventually ends up in landfills. Like, literal garbage dumps. The average person throws away 70 pounds of clothing and shoes every year, which means that of the nearly 100 billion garments produced yearly,  64% of them will end up in a landfill. You read that right, every year the fashion industry produces over 60 billion garments that will eventually just get thrown away.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the amount of unsustainable textile waste is simply to buy less. Some of us, myself included, have some unhealthy habits when it comes to shopping, buying, and consuming fashion. You’ll often hear me say around the store, “If you have too many clothes, you’re in good company here.” And while that’s true, it’s not necessarily good. 

One way you can reduce your fashion consumption is to ask yourself, “Would I have been excited about buying this three months ago? Or three months from now?” We all love a deal, but just because something is cheap, that does not mean you need it. This is especially true when it comes to secondhand shopping, because the prices are ideally lower than those at a standard retail store.

So, why do these fast fashion companies insist on producing so much disposable clothing? Well, capitalism, mostly. They’ve tapped into our taste for consumerism by marketing to us constantly through influencers and social media, which creates groups of “haves” and “have-nots” in an attempt to create higher profits every single quarter. By creating a heavily trend driven fashion market, they can manipulate and drive the trends towards what they’re selling. 

Many brands do this by releasing 52 “micro-seasons” every year in order to keep up with ever-changing trends. That’s a new collection every single week. An estimated 55% of Gen Z and 50% of Millenials reported that they made their most recent fashion purchase because of something they saw on social media, and that probably won’t drastically change anytime soon.

If a big company doesn’t produce greater and greater profits for its shareholders and investors every year, it’s seen as a failure. So, they keep looking for ways to make clothing cheaper to produce which includes using unsustainable materials like plastics (thanks petroleum industry!) and unethical labor practices in overseas factories. These cheap goods can be sold for next to nothing with very high margins, increasing profits by sheer volume of goods sold. It’s a really twisted system wherein we as consumers feel the need to follow trends in order to stay “cool”, and the only affordable way to do that seems to be buying items from unsustainable, fast fashion companies.

So, how do we slow down fashion? There are lots of ways! You can focus on purchasing ethically produced goods, you can buy higher quality clothing that will last, and you can shop secondhand. We covered this topic and more in our previous blog Clothes Aren’t Trash, which contains more facts about sustainable clothing as well as a list of brands doing a great job in this area. 

For me, shopping secondhand is the best way to do this because it’s the easiest way to gather unique pieces that stand out and reflect my personal style and it’s more economically viable for a greater number of people. At least, we believe it should be.

Have you ever been shopping at Strawberry Mountain and thought, “dang, these prices are like super affordable”? Well, that’s on purpose! We believe very strongly that in order to slow down fast fashion, secondhand clothing must be affordable. Otherwise, both trend driven consumers and working class shoppers on a budget will just keep buying cheap, disposable stuff from Shein, Walmart, or wherever they can afford. Those groups must be incentivized if they’re expected to shop secondhand, and the way we do that is through affordable, fair pricing. 

Over the last decade or so, thrifting and secondhand shopping has become cool and trendy. So trendy in fact, that the market for vintage and retro clothing has created its own set of unsustainable problems. If you like thrifting, I’m sure you’ve noticed it. It is just not always cheap anymore. As an industry, we are pricing out the very people we need to be supporting the most. The Goodwill’s have become so picked through, that the clothes remaining rarely resemble “fashion”, and assuming that people who can’t afford to shop elsewhere will just buy whatever is left is classist and mean spirited. 

Secondhand dealers, haulers, and easily accessible online markets like Depop and Mercari have driven their own prices for secondhand clothing through the freakin’ roof. It’s pretty insane, frankly, and it’s 100% a choice. Secondhand clothing does not have to be expensive. Sure, there are reasons something can cost more after it’s been used, like collectability or rarity, but aside from that there are few other reasons a piece of used clothing needs to cost multiple times what it did when it was new. 

Even when you’ve factored in the time spent sourcing, washing, and listing a piece of clothing, a tee shirt that someone bought at the Goodwill Outlet (where clothing is priced $.99 to $1.39 per pound) doesn’t need to cost a fortune. The idea that something is worth whatever someone will pay for it is a free-market fallacy that’s been pushed on us by a money obsessed, consumption driven, profit based society. 

And that’s not to say that sourcing clothes at “the bins” is bad in any way! There are lots of people, and many good friends of ours, who make a living sourcing and reselling clothing at the bins, estate sales, dusty barns, rag houses, and wherever they can find them. Many of them have developed their eye for clothes by studying labels and fabrics and brands and customers for years now and are incredibly good at what they do. They’re important members of the fashion community.

Clothes can be complicated and sometimes deeply personal objects. We all have certain attachments to our things, and assigning value to those objects can be tricky. I’ll be the first to say that I’ve “overpaid” for pieces of clothing that I really, really wanted. A 25th Anniversary Magic Kingdom cake castle tee that I bought on eBay for like $80 comes to mind. And that’s totally fine! I’ve also found some incredible pieces at traditional thrift stores on 50% off day that I can’t believe I only paid $1.50 for, and owning those pieces feels just as good, if not better. Right? 

Like I already said, we are all part of the problem, but because of that, we all have an opportunity to be a part of the solution. To all of the other secondhand dealers and businesses out there: Help us slow down fashion by prioritizing people over profits. Maximizing money will not make you happy, but existing on a healthier planet where your business is part of the solution and not the problem, will. 

And for the rest of the fashionable folks out there, the challenge is this: Educate yourself about brands that behave ethically and responsibly, and shop secondhand more often. Reject the fast, cheap, easy trends that are being pushed to you, and instead work to develop a sense of style that’s driven by your own personal tastes. We all, as individuals, have the power to control what we consume and how we conduct business. So let’s be the best we can be!

And for us here at Strawberry Mountain, we’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing! We’re the first to admit that we’re not perfect, but with distinct goals in mind we really do believe that we can be a part of the solution. We’re going to keep our selection well curated and our prices affordable because that’s truly what we believe in. It’s working for us so far!

We are so thankful for each and every one of you. Our customers and our community mean the world to us, and we are so grateful that you’re joining us on this journey.

Until next time,
“Be excellent to each other”
- CJ