A New Challenge

It's been forever and a minute since my last blog post hasn't it? A lot of personal events have happened in my life recently, so I took a small break from fashion blogging to brainstorm the type of content I would like to share with all of you. During my hiatus, I came across a documentary on Netflix titled "The True Cost" which discusses the negative environmental and social impact of the fast fashion business.  

'Fast Fashion' is by definition: "....a contemporary term used by fashion retailers to express that designs move from catwalk quickly to capture current fashion trends. Fast fashion clothing collections are based on the most recent fashion trends presented at Fashion Week in both the spring and the autumn of every year."

In order for brands to keep up with this high demand to sell new trends to consumers while maximizing costs, they seek out the cheapest resources for clothing production. Thus, most of it gets outsourced to garment factories in third world countries where employees are overworked, underpaid, and work under potentially dangerous conditions. One tragic example occurred in 2013, where an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza in Bangladesh collapsed and killed 1,129 people. The building housed a significant number of garment workers who were told to report to work despite known structural failures the day beforehand. You can read more on it here. 

Over the past two years of blogging, my clothing collection grew nearly 3x in size and yet I would open up my wardrobe wondering why I didn't have anything to wear. This struck me as very odd. How was it possible to have so many options, but feel the need to buy more? This couldn't be right. After watching the documentary and doing my own further research on the matter, I started reconsidering my choices as a consumer. 

I will no longer support these fast fashion brands. My current goal is to work with pieces I already have and hold off on purchasing any 'on trend' items unless they follow these two simple rules. 

1. Must be able to wear it at least 5-10 years from now 
2. Must be of excellent quality and from a company that values ethical practices 

I understand that I'm just one person...and perhaps I won't be making that much of a difference, but I want to help lessen the global impact of my choices in whatever way I can. Sure, my blog may take a hit in terms of sharing the newest fashion styles, but I also think it's an exciting new challenge for me to find out how I can use my creativity to mix + match my current wardrobe. I hope you can all support me in this journey! :) ​