Venetia Falconer | Producer, Presenter, Sustainability Activist

Every week, there’s a new ‘H&M did a good thin

Some thoughts after some falafel in the September

Some thoughts after some falafel in the September sunshine🌞🧆 Please read the caption... ⁣
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The fashion system is broken and it’s not going to be fixed by consumer habits alone. But after speaking to multiple garment workers and their unions over the past few months, they’ve expressed that they need our solidarity. They are standing up and calling out brands and factory owners. Why can’t we do the same?

We shouldn’t underestimate the power of social media. Especially when those with big platforms are making big money for unethical businesses… (NB: if a business is unethical - it isn’t sustainable🙃).⁣
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Brands spend millions curating their image and they care hugely about their reputations. If we collectively call them out on their unethical practices, they panic. This panic can lead to the change that we so desperately need: for the lives of garment workers to be put first. If garment workers are treated fairly, this will also lead to reduced production🌎 (because lord knows the workers can’t continue at the rate at which they’re being forced to at the moment). ⁣
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•Please note that I’ve signposted a specific bracket of influencer. I am aware of my privileges and I’m not in a position to pass judgement on anyone who does not have those same privileges⁣
•I am not here to criticise marginalised folks for the paid partnerships they take on, in fact I support them. Their work needs to be seen and it needs to be paid for⁣
•I purposefully don’t call out individuals on this page, so please don’t tag influencers in the comments⁣
•If you think an influencer needs to wise up on the harmful practices in which they’re participating, please do direct them (via DM) to the ample resources provided in my posts and highlights and to the @RememberWhoMadeThem podcast⁣
•If you are an influencer that ticks the boxes listed in the second slide and you find this post confronting, you are more than welcome to donate your fast fashion pay cheques to the @RememberWhoMadeThem Patreon, this money will go direct to garment workers 🙃⁣
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♻️#OOOTD (Old Outfit Of The Day): shirt is 5 years old, jeans are vintage⁣
#SecondHandSeptember

Let’s normalise not asking people about their re

Let’s normalise not asking people about their reproductive systems. You never know what they’re going through and you don’t want to add to their trauma. ⁣
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“Was it planned?” Also falls under this bracket. ⁣
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If they want to talk to you about it, they will. ⁣
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And while we’re here, I get a lot of messages asking how I feel about having kids in relation to the environment and “population control”. I too have been fed the same headlines about saying “the best thing we can do to tackle climate change is to stop having children.”⁣
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A few things to consider on this one:⁣
- Indigenous communities live in harmony with the planet, irrespective of the amount of children they have⁣
- instead of shifting the blame to the individuals’ decision on whether or not to have a child, perhaps we should be working to dismantle the systems that lead us this point of questioning? ⁣

Why should we support brands who don’t support t

I always see September as my New Year. Partly beca

I always see September as my New Year. Partly because I can’t seem to escape the UK school calendar and partly because it’s my birthday month, but mainly because I have zero time for January. ⁣
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If you’re looking to set some new goals or make some positive changes this autumn, something I would love for you all to get behind (I know a huge portion of you are already on this and have been for some time!) is @OxfamGB’s #SecondHandSeptember. ⁣
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I’ve said it 75,432 times, but the most sustainable clothes are the ones that you already own. So instead of buying a new wardrobe for A/W 2020, here are a few ways you could get involved:⁣
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•Celebrate what you already own and share your Old Outfits Of The Day on social media #OOOTD⁣⁣
•Vow to not buy new for the entire month ⁣⁣
•Pledge to upcycle items that would otherwise end up in landfill⁣⁣
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In case you needed extra inspiration: Michaela Coel is fronting the campaign! 🎯😍⁣⁣
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I’d love to hear how you’re slowing your fashion consumption in the comments ↓↓↓⁣⁣
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♻️#OOOTD: Jacket, hoodie and t-shirt: charity shop finds, skirt: vintage with a recently fixed zip thanks to the babes @sojo_app, shoes (from my wedding 😍) @vestiaireco, socks: 7 years old 😬

I was proud to edit an interview for the @remember

I was proud to edit an interview for the @rememberwhomadethem podcast titled “Fashion Has A Racism Problem”. The discussion takes a deep dive into the many reasons why fashion is racist and ends with a discussion about cultural appropriation. There’s a really important conversation about the western hijacking and whitewashing of yoga, and one of our guests mentions how when they travel to a new city, they do a yoga class and eat fried chicken. ⁣
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One listener got in touch to say that they struggled with the episode because the mention of chicken “invalidated” the activism of the speakers. This is by no means the first time something like this has happened. I’ve often been asked if I “struggle” to interview non-vegan guests on my podcast Talking Tastebuds. To some non-Black vegans, the connection between racism and speciesism might feel harmless, it’s all oppression, right? Wrong.⁣
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Here’s the crux of why we need to talk. Animal liberation is important, but when we’re having a conversation about racial justice, we cannot derail the conversation to put animal liberation above human liberation. Some people are dying and subjected to violence when fighting for their own justice and liberation; and convoluting that with animal justice is not ok. We cannot compare the plight of humans to the plight of animals.⁣
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Drawing comparisons to your own access and the privileges which allow you to make certain choices, to then negate another’s choices is misinformed. Holding animal and BIPOC liberation as equal is a tool of white supremacy because the comparison continues to be used to dehumanise people. White people are never dehumanised and compared to animals as a tool of oppression. ⁣
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Of course there are plenty of animal rights activists who also campaign for social justice issues. The point of this post is to explain that before bringing the “but they’re not vegan” card to the table, we need to reflect on our own privileges that allow us to make that choice, instead of weaponising it against others and their valuable work.