Hi there! It's Alexia :)
Last year I asked Bliss, a young teen entrepreneur from the Sydney area their opinion on fast fashion. We all know that the most 'recommended' websites for clothing everywhere is cheap and affordable sites like SHEIN, Romwe and Zaful.
Although you're more likely to get a wardrobe filled with clothes, the biggest chances are that there's more to the story of that one tank top costing $5 or less.
So here is Bliss' take on supporting small businesses:
As a small business owner myself, I’ve really been able to see the importance behind moving away from fast fashion and investing in companies or individuals which focus on sustainability, innovation and practices that conserve the environment. There are so many aspects and variables that contribute to how, why, where and when we shop; but how many people are really thinking about the impacts of their shopping habits? Not many actually, and that's where just one of the first problems starts.
“Buying clothing, and treating it as if it is disposable, is putting a huge added weight on the environment and is simply unsustainable,” says Elizabeth L.
Cline, author of Overdressed:
The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. As consumers, we have our own responsibilities, so that future generations can enjoy, live off and benefit from the natural environment as much as we do today. It’s vital to protect the land as many people have fallen into the diabolical disposal cycle, rotating items in their wardrobes constantly leading to mass textiles waste, air, water and land pollution, increased emission of carbon and greenhouse gases, labour exploitation and disastrous impacts on the natural environment and ecosystems.
By supporting sustainable small businesses you are doing your part to protect the environment, support local communities, the economy, reduce the likelihood / possibility of labour exploitation, you create more job opportunities, you can often get a better understanding of where resources/products and materials are coming from as well as the manufacturing process, customer service is catered and focused on you, product diversity, options and quality are greater compared to chain stores. Investing in buying from a small business and moving away from fast fashion benefits everyone, there’s no reason not to.
If you’re still apprehensive, let’s have a deeper think about it; Say you’ve bought some leggings from H&M, you wear them twice and decide you won’t wear them again as they’re not in style. You decide to give those leggings to charity thinking someone else will wear them, but given the lower quality and cheap brand, they’re more likely to wind up in a landfill than on somebody else’s legs! Taking the time to actually buy items that will last is incredibly important to prevent this. Ask yourself, Will I make good use of this purchase and get multiple wears out of it? Is this something I will still like after the current trends die down? Does this go with multiple items in my existing closet? Was this item made sustainably? Can I repurpose it later on?
With my small business, Dreamgazee, I've made it a key focus to reduce, repurpose and recycle in absolutely any way possible. I create and sell a range of unique handcrafted jewellery and the majority of my materials, tools and equipment are second hand. I encourage others to donate materials or anything that can be reused rather than ending up
in landfill and contributing to the already growing climate crisis.
I'd like to add that we must learn to look at items we are going to throw out with new eyes, how can we create something from it?
That’s a big part of my design process, to promote this thinking and process of creation would see huge changes in not only the fashion industry, but many other industries as well.
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