Fast Fashion

I could easily go several years without buying any new clothing, my wardrobe would be stale and boring but there is enough for everything to not require any purchases. I remind myself of this fact every time I consider getting something new. I wish it were commonplace to wear clothes for years and not just a season. The demise of fast fashion would do the world a lot of good I think. We would be better off paying for quality and workmanship and treating clothes well so we could have use of them for years and decades.

These new trade measures are shaking an increasingly fragile system. Ripple effects of the tariffs are exposing deep vulnerabilities in the unsustainable fast fashion model that has dominated global apparel trade for over two decades. Fashion’s low-cost, high-speed engine depends on a seamless, linear supply chain: produce cheap garments in low-income countries; sell and ship them to the West; Western consumers dispose of them after a few wears. Could this disruption be a chance to reimagine and build a more sustainable global textile trade system?

My grandmother had shawls and sarees that my mother recognized from her childhood. They were all very well taken care of, worn occasionally. She had cotton sarees that she bought or were gifted to her during Durga puja that were expected to last her for the year. At the end of the year, many of these would be turned over to a woman who made quilts with old cotton sarees. We could expect to receive one of these saree quilts when we visited and could take them home if we wanted. It took a couple of year's worth of old sarees to make a big quilt. That seems like a good sustainable way to wear clothes.