A Maker’s Circle is loving Slow Fashion…

So let’s talk about our clothes.  This may seem like an indulgent, privileged topic but we need to understand that our fashion habits have implications outside our little slice of the world.   

The state of our closets affects much more than our moods and our wallets.  How we choose to consume fashion has a direct impact on both workers in impoverished countries around the world and the earth itself.  Our appetite for more clothing at competitive pricing means it has to made cheaper and faster.  And so real people are forced into unsafe labor conditions and paid a deplorable wage.  The news is littered with shocking stories of child labor, massive death tolls after factory collapses and widespread harassment against female workers.  Fashion may appear to be a first world issue, but it creates decidedly third world problems.  

And don’t even get me started on the manufacturing of synthetic fabrics and dyes that are doing God knows what to our environment.  

Knowing all this, it begs the question…what can I do about it?

Enter Slow Fashion.  Slow Fashion is a movement focused on bringing us out of the “gotta have something new now” mindset to a more mindful approach to fashion.  Slow Fashion supports designers who provide safe working conditions for manufacturing and a living wage to their workers.  It’s a movement which encourages buying fewer pieces of clothing that will endure both physically and stylistically.  And when those pieces have been well worn and well loved, it’s a movement that encourages mending them to make them last even longer.  We have lived in capitalism long enough to know that money talks.  You and I have the power of our wallets.  If we change our spending habits, companies will change.  Full stop.

So all of this sounds really inspiring, right?  Well the truth is that my closet is not only a reflection of my lack of knowledge about the impact of my purchases, but a reflection of my emotional health.  Retail therapy is called therapy for a reason.  But let’s admit it here and now, it doesn’t really work.  Maybe for a few minutes but then get it home and it’s just another pair of jeans in a sea of jeans, right?   I’m guessing that more than a few of you out there will identify.  

I want to love my clothes.  I want them to make me feel comfortable, put together, dare I say, pretty.  But too often, they don’t make me feel that way.  I open my closet each day, closely followed by a heavy sign, a quick scan of the contents and invariably I reach for the same pair of jeans and one of the same three sweaters. It’s not that I don’t have more to choose from but I couldn’t tell you what fits or flatters because I haven’t put them on in a while.  I don’t put them on because I don’t want the inevitable disappointment when the zipper won’t zip or the muffin top is in full view or the color is yet another shade of grey.  And so 80% of my closet sits unworn, taunting me each morning.  Every once in a while I purge the closet, drop off at some clothing bin and buy more stuff that quickly joins the 80%.

So what the heck does any of this have to do with A Maker’s Circle?  Well, we are a group of makers who are determined to be a part of the solution.  The solution closet angst, to the attitudes we have about buying clothing, to the garment industry’s love affair with fast fashion and to supporting garment workers across the globe who are suffering because of our buying habits.  

To that end, A Maker’s Circle is creating a Slow Fashion Program to re-engineer our closets and our attitudes about clothing.  This program will include a series of blog posts, expert lectures in our studio, workshops on mending and sewing, knitting and dyeing, clothing swap parties (cause we love a party) and more.  

We would love for you to join the movement so stay tuned for details of the Maker’s Circle Slow Fashion Program coming in the next week.  In the meantime, watch The True Cost trailer and then head to Netflix for the full length documentary.  It will give you a sense of the facts and some of the answers.  And click on the links in the edit above for more information.

Once you’ve seen, you can decide if you are with us.  We hope you are…

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