I Used To Love Fast Fashion. Not Anymore.

Image credit: Matt Callow

As a high school student, I completely loved fast fashion, mostly because it was all I could afford with my limited budget. I was obsessed with Australian, international and luxury designers too but since they were out of my budget (understatement of the year), I kept on telling myself that my future older, richer self would splurge on them then. My wardrobe in high school was overflowing, filled with hand-me-downs from my older siblings, clothes I bought for a bargain during sale time and other bits and pieces. I didn’t wear 90% of what I owned, and I kept on adding more once sale time came around again. Fast forward to a few years and I can say that I’m not like that anymore. I’m trying to follow the slow fashion movement, and even though it’s hard and I slip up all the time, I can confidently say that I’m a better shopper now. I aim to buy quality, investment pieces that will last me years instead of trend-driven fashion fixes that last one season, and consider the designer, their philosophy and the fabric/detailing more closely. I love buying from sustainable and ethical designers when I can, and supporting local talent too! You can see the huge difference in attitude there.

Even though part of the change is due to growing up and having more money to play with, my attitudes towards shopping and conscious consumption didn’t come out of nowhere. Honestly, they didn’t even come from an awareness of the ethical and environmental issues surrounding fast fashion. No, my attitude towards fast fashion started changing as soon as I stumbled upon fantastic minimalism blogs, and bloggers who had dream wardrobes and lived the ‘quality over quantity’ philosophy. Then I started reading about the fast fashion industry – there is so much information available online and there are so many great books too – which really opened my eyes and made me realise that while I couldn’t do much to change anything, I could definitely stop or at lease decrease supporting them through sales.

So what did I do?

I did a massive wardrobe cull and removed a huge portion of my clothes, which instantly gave me a lot more wardrobe space. Anything I didn’t completely love had to go, and off they went to a charity bin or to eBay, which was another wake up call. Anyone who has sold pre-owned clothes on eBay will have experienced that moment of horror when you realise that you’ve wasted a lot of money buying clothes you didn’t love and then can’t earn that money back, I guarantee it. Then I made a conscious effort every time I decided that my wardrobe was missing X and Y piece, that I would spend time looking for the ‘perfect enough’ item to buy. It”s hard and I don’t always stick to the plan, but I can bet that I’ve saved myself a lot of money in the long run and it definitely feels good knowing that some of my clothes aren’t contributing to the fast fashion problem.

What are your thoughts?

TTS x