Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion should be accessible. As it is rising in popularity and seen as a necessary path forward, its definition is getting more muddled. With my current work and past business, I’ve worked to educate and de-mystify what sustainability really is. Here you’ll find the aggregation of my work around sustainable fashion and resources I’ve created to help make sustainable fashion easier.
Nuance Required
It’s impossible to separate nuance from a pursuit of a sustainability. When it comes to us, as individuals, we are all so different. We all have very personal experiences, needs, accessibility— there’s not going to be one right way forward as individuals. Then you take a global issue like the climate crisis & a global industry like fashion and you’re dealing with different approaches and geographies and demographics and socioeconomic positions. There’s no way you can have one right way forward or one perfect path to sustainability. All of these issues are complex and require us to approach them with nuance because there’s no other way to talk about them that actually addresses the full scope of the issues and the solutions. That’s why I’ve started a new website Nuance Required devoted to the exploration of sustainability. It is complemented by my bi-weekly newsletter of the same name that digs more in-depth into some of the more complex topics in the industry.
Content Creation
See my sustainable fashion Instagram account @secondhand.sustainability for highlights on industry happenings, education on the need for sustainability, and practical tips on a daily basis.
My Sustainability Background
I’ve been working in sustainable fashion since 2018 when I first opened a secondhand clothing store. In confronting the excess of fashion consumption firsthand through my store, I realized the importance of education in creating a cultural shift in fashion and in addressing the climate crisis. Since then, it has been my goal to make sustainability more approachable.
My first sustainable fashion business, Thrift 251, started as a way to make it easier to get rid of your clothes. As I learned more about the industry, it evolved into a mechanism to creatively reduce waste, divert clothing from landfill, and explore responsible clothing disposal. After 3 years in business, I decided to close the business due to moving states, the pandemic, and life transition. I now focus on climate-based writing and creative textile reuse solutions in my own sewing practice.