Venetia Falconer
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Big Fashion Can’t Recycle Their Way Out Of The W Big Fashion Can’t Recycle Their Way Out Of The Waste Crisis 🌎⁣ There is already too much clothing in the world. The mass output of Big Fashion means we simply don’t have the infrastructure to cope with consumerism and charity shops certainly don’t have capacity to cope with the disposability of fast fashion. Don’t be greenwashed, scale and the climate crisis are inextricably linked. ⁣ ⁣ Big Fashion has realised that waste is a huge issue, but instead of taking accountability with a commitment to clear up this waste and drastically reduce their scale of production, they boast about their ‘sustainable’ collections, which are made by garment workers who don’t have their basic needs met, whilst extracting from our planet’s finite resources to produce more clothing that we don’t need.⁣ ⁣ @theorispresent work at the intersection of environmental justice, education and fashion development and are @VestiaireCo’s chosen charity partner (we love to see it!!). They are shining a light on true circularity by communities like the ones in Kantamanto, Ghana, who have been trying to clean up fashion’s mess for decades. ⁣ ⁣ Don’t let billionaire fast fashion brand’s take-back schemes greenwash you into thinking they are ‘circular’. These are the same brands who throw returned garments ‘away’ because it’s ‘cheaper’, without acknowledging that  ‘away’ is still somewhere and their actions are costing the earth. ⁣ ⁣ Tomorrow at 4pm BST via @VestiaireCo IGLive, I’m going to be interviewing @Chloe_Asaam about waste colonialism, the true meaning of circularity and the solutions available to us. Chloe is the lead designer @bold_underlined (follow and support!), community organiser and the manager of Ghana Operations for The OR Foundation. I really hope to see as many of you there as possible. ⁣ ⁣ #CollectiveForChange
#ad | I’ve had the opportunity to rent a #Renau #ad | I’ve had the opportunity to rent a #RenaultZoe from @DriveOnto, the electric only, all inclusive subscription service where you can book an electric car for as little as one month.  It’s super simple to sign up, all you need is to have a driver's licence and be able to take a selfie. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Zoe is a dream to drive, with really high-tech features (hello automatic windscreen wipers!) and a banging sound system.⁣⁣ ⁣ Personally speaking, I know that I don’t need a car all the time as I can make use of public transport, which is why the option of renting a vehicle via Onto makes good sense for me. I love the flexibility of the service and how everything is included, it includes 1,000 miles per month and free charging at selected charge points.⁣ ⁣⁣ #RadicallySimple ⁣⁣ #DriveOnto
Another week, another planet-polluting fashion bra Another week, another planet-polluting fashion brand pays a celebrity to take part in a ✨greenwashing campaign✨⁣ ⁣ SPOILER ALERT: brands who don’t pay their workers will never “change the future of fashion” or solve the climate crisis. ⁣ ⁣ Individuals and billion dollar brands won’t save us. We cannot “evolve” without garment workers, their rights and their demands at the forefront of the sustainability movement.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ Recently I had someone comment that sustainability and garment worker rights are both important, but need to be treated as separate issues. Here’s where I draw a hard line. Fashion can never be sustainable if it’s not ethical. That’s like suggesting a fast and painful slap across the face is ‘sustainable’ because it was actioned by a hand that’s been doused in organic vegan hand cream. I don’t know abut you, but I’d rather just not be slapped. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣ Get involved: ⁣⁣⁣ •Support garment workers by tweeting / commenting / DMing @HM to #PayYourWorkers⁣⁣⁣ •Listen to the @RememberWhoMadeThem podcast (an entirely free resource to learn about truly sustainable fashion) and subscribe to our Patreon where all money goes directly to garment workers and their unions⁣⁣⁣ •Celebrate the clothes you already own by wearing your #OOOTD with pride this Earth month (and every month!)⁣⁣⁣ •Follow: @RememberWhoMadeThem @RemakeOurWorld @PayUpFashion @CleanClothesCampaign @LabourBehindTheLabel and @Asia_Floorwage.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ♻️#OOOTD: this dress is from @1111clothing and was a present from my dear friend and @rememberwhomadethem co-founder @SwateeDeepak. 11.11 know every part of their supply chain. They are renowned for their “seed to stitch philosophy” and indigenous cotton, using 100% natural dyes and heritage techniques. They produce small batch slow-made clothing in collaboration with groups of artisans located all across India. Each season the brand dissolves distinctions between geographic and gender boundaries and the pieces can be made to fit all sizes.
It’s Earth Month 🌎 So brace yourself for a to It’s Earth Month 🌎 So brace yourself for a tonne of ruthless fashion brands doing the most to make us believe that they’re part of the ‘solution’, when really they’re just up to their same tricks: exploiting their workers, perpetuating gender based violence in their garment factories, filling up our landfills, polluting our oceans, and colonising lands with textile waste.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ If these brands are using a tiny percentage of organic cotton this month, but producing just as much clothing as they did last month, then, you guessed it, they’re just greenwashing us. ⁣⁣ •Clothing cannot be ‘sustainable’ if it’s been produced on a vast scale.⁣⁣ •Clothing cannot be ‘sustainable’ if the people making those clothes aren’t paid fair living wages. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ This Earth Month, I’d love to challenge you to re-wear the clothes that you already own, instead of buying new. By celebrating these pieces, we honour the people who made them and show respect for their craft. By looking after these clothes, we keep them out of landfills and prevent them from polluting developing nations (please see @TheORisPresent’s work on waste colonialism). I’m all about mental health benefits when it comes to the clothes I wear and in my experience, there’s so much joy to be found in celebrating what you already own, solace in looking after those piece and clarity that comes with having less.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ To join the challenge, just upload a photo of yourself with the hashtag #OOOTD (old outfit of the day), telling us a little bit about the story behind those pieces, how long you’ve had them and why you love them! This is also a fantastic way of finding other folks in the slow fashion community to connect with 😍💕⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Here’s my ♻️#OOOTD: vintage shirt with the best sleeves I’ve ever seen, vintage patchwork skirt (with alterations made last autumn by @Sojo_App), second hand shoes @VestiaireCo. Cactus leather bag @Tea_and_Tequila 🌵⁣ ⁣ Will you be taking part in the #OOOTD Earth Month challenge? Introduce yourself in comments 👇🏼
📚I’ve found so much solace in books over this 📚I’ve found so much solace in books over this past year and I know a lot of you are avid readers, so I wanted to share a selection that I think you’ll enjoy. ⁣ ⁣ •Bringing Up Race by Uju Asika (non-fiction)⁣ Probably one of the most important books I’ve read this year. It is absolutely not just for parents. This book can help us have zero tolerance to racial prejudice, and grow up understanding what kindness and happiness truly mean. Campaign for it to be on the school curriculum? Yes. ⁣ ⁣ •Love In Colour by Bolu Babalola (fiction) ⁣ I got completely lost in this rich and dreamy book of love stories, based on myth and folklore from West Africa to Ancient Greece, vividly reimagined. Vibrant and delicious. ⁣ ⁣ •We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (fiction) ⁣ Recommended by today’s @ATSTpodcast guest @PandoraSykes, this totally addictive debut novel crosses continents, cultures and generations and explores identity, family bonds, racism, colourism. ⁣ ⁣ •The Unexpected Joy Of The Ordinary by Catherine Gray (non-fiction)⁣ A soon as I heard about this book, I knew it was for me! A love letter to an average life beautifully lived. Perfection. ⁣ ⁣ •All We Can Save edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson (non-fiction)⁣ I lost count of the amount of DM slides I had about this book, so had to buy myself a copy. A selection of essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement. A must read.⁣ ⁣ Some places to buy books that don’t involve Jeff Bezos: ⁣ •Hive⁣ •Bookshop.org •Blackwells ⁣ •Waterstones ⁣ •Roundtable Books⁣ •Wordery⁣ •Foyles⁣ •The Guardian Bookshop ⁣ •Daunt Books⁣ •World Of Books ⁣ What are you reading at the moment? I’d love to hear📚
Tired of the exploitative fashion brands pretendin Tired of the exploitative fashion brands pretending they’re part of the fair fashion solution when they are the problem. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I’ve been thinking a lot about interconnectivity following last week’s @ATSTpodcast with @GelongThubten. In it, we talk about how the planet cannot sustain our greed and how important it is to make the connection when it comes to the hands that toiled to make our clothes and grow our food. If it’s exploitative for one of us, it’s exploitative for all of us. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Sustainable fashion looks like garment workers being paid fair living wages. It looks like brands sharing their profits. It looks like the big money for the big influencer contracts going to garment worker relief funds instead. It looks like understanding that an individualistic attitude won’t save us. It looks like a re-imagination of the system. Garment workers are already doing the work, let’s work to meet their demands.  ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Shout out to all of you fighting the good fight and holding brands to account. You are sunshine 🌞⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ •For more, check out the @RememberWhoMadeThem podcast⁣⁣ •Watch: “The White Saviour Complex in Ethical Fashion” on @WowSancho’s IGTV⁣⁣ •Read: @AjaBarber’s latest post about fashion and affordability⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ♻️ #OOOTD (jumpsuit is @maggiemarilyn - gifted last year). ⁣⁣ #PayYourWorkers⁣⁣ #ShareYourProfits⁣⁣ #PayHer⁣⁣⁣ #ProtectLabourRights
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