If you’ve ventured over here (again) from what ever corners of the Internet you’re on, hello! One thing I haven’t mentioned is that I’m an advocate of body neutrality, which I think goes well with my views on sustainable fashion, definitely more than the body positivity movement and I’ll explain a little later why. Body neutrality is the idea that you can exist without having to think too much about your body one way or another, positive or negative. You can simply exist and be worthy of respect without thinking about your body at all (WebMD has a similar definition and I’ll link it here) I want to highlight that body neutrality is very DIFFERENT from body positivity.

The body positivity movement celebrates all bodies but fails to address the crucial reasons WHY people hate or dislike their bodies. By avoiding those uncomfortable conversations, like how society has commodified women by reducing their entire worth to how their bodies look, how fat people are deemed unworthy of societal acceptance, and having to deal with a feminine beauty/body ideal that is constantly shifting, making it unattainable. I love that brands are trying to encourage people to love their bodies but if you don’t have an inclusive size range, what does it really say about your brand? You can only love your body if you can fit into our clothes. Which I think, is [insert swear word here].

Next up I wanted to talk a little bit about the Sustainable Fashion Movement. What is sustainable fashion? Sustainable fashion is a concept describing the opposite to fast fashion and part of the “slow movement”, which advocates for manufacturing in respect to people, the environment and animals. So much effort and love are put into sustainable fashion pieces, which is what fashion should be. It’s someone’s art piece! Many smaller businesses are usually sustainable fashion, coming out with limited stock and taking time and care to make beautiful pieces for their customers to wear.

I wanted to clarify, I know how much of a privilege it is to support and only wear sustainable fashion brands. I am not perfect. I bought a shirt from Zara before (big fast fashion European company), did I feel guilty? Slightly. Will I wear the snot out of it? Oh hell yes. What I’m trying to get at here is that, you don’t need to switch to sustainable fashion and never ever buy from Lululemon again. This is a huge adjustment to our very typical, capitalistic lifestyles, it’ll take practice and mindful thinking. I want folks to stop buying garments they’ll wear a handful of times and throw out or doing big clothing hauls to impress others.

Again, I want to highlight that shopping sustainably doesn’t mean you need to spend $100 on a shirt, it also doesn’t mean you should buy things because they’re on sale. I think when clothing shopping is done intentionally, you can really fall in love with your closet and who doesn’t feel good wearing clothes they love? So, the next time you go shopping (in person or online) ask yourself 3 questions:

1. Do I really need this in my wardrobe? – Do I already have something similar that’s still in good use? Would I be willing to sell the similar item for a new one? Or donate?

2. Will I want this a month from now? – Especially with fast fashion, they try to put out new clothes and styles weekly, so if I’m getting a piece because it’s the latest “trend” and I only started to like it after 2 weeks, I won’t buy it. I know that if I do, I’ll get bored of it and it’ll be wasted. I usually buy something when I know I’ve wanted it for a while. I got a Zara shirt because I’ve been looking for 3 months to find something like it.

3. How many wears can I get out of this piece? – This question is super important! If I can think of at least 3 outfits I can wear it with, then I know I’ll get enough wear out of it. You never want to buy something you’ll wear once. It’s wasteful!

I hope these tips and these definitions can help you understand why sustainable fashion, size inclusivity, and body neutrality are topics close to my heart. If you have some more questions about sustainable fashion or wondering which brands are sustainable, I have made a screen cast for you! I will show you a blog post defining sustainable fashion and fast fashion, as well as, a resource you can use to see how sustainable the brands you like or currently shop at are.

Kimiko

The heading image was taken from Google using Creative Commons licensing from https://www.plannthat.com/be-more-inclusive-on-social-media/