Recovering South Korean shopaholic-turned-climate activist Lee So-yeon used to buy new clothes almost daily – until a $1.50 winter coat triggered an awakening that stopped her shopping entirely.
While looking at the ultra-cheap padded jacket at an H&M shop in the United States, where she was working at the time, Lee asked herself how any item of clothing could be sold so cheaply.
The 30-year-old embarked on a deep dive into fast fashion production methods and was horrified at the human, social and environmental toll hyperconsumerism is having on the planet – and on the mental health of women who make and buy cheap clothes.
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The reason the clothes are so cheap, Lee learned, is because the women who sew for companies are paid little, while the business model itself is causing significant environmental harm.
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Lee now organises clothing swaps with her friends and family, and has written a book to promote the idea of valuing garments for “the story behind it”, rather than chasing ephemeral trends.
She is part of a small but growing global movement seeking to promote second-hand clothing and help people – especially women – opt out of the cycle of over-consumption.
The app Lucky Sweater provides a platform for users to trade items from their closets with each other, focussing on sustainable brands, founder Tanya Dastyar [said].
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I get almost all my clothing from the thrift stores around here. Been working well. But I’m pretty average sized and not picky, so that helps.
“I used to buy one new outfit each (working) day of the week,” Lee told AFP,
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fast fashion items, which are often designed to be thrown away after just a few wearsWtf. This is batshit crazy.
If you buy new clothes or electronics, you’re an asshole.
I’m honestly very happy and proud of her that she managed to have such a huge value change at 30. So many people struggle to change past their early 20s, it’s always endearing to hear ☺️
The fast fashion industry is terrible. You tube has an entire category of people who try on clothes for videos. They always buy them in bulk, theyre all cheaply made and i guarentee they wear them once and return them saying, “oh it doesnt fit” and the economics of scale and general money say its easier to just trash those returns than to try and clean them and resell it. Ive got gift cards piling up for clothes store because i only buy clothes when they absoluetly need to be replaced
Good thing in the uk is most main streets have multiple charity shops where you can go in and buy second hand clothes and the proceeds go to charity. Not really any stigma around doing this and fairly common! Google says 80% of the uk visit them, vs 20% for thrift stores in the states.
So much fast-fashion clothing is future microplastics. Polyester, acrylic, spandex, nylon. It’s sad that plastic clothes are cheaper than natural materials. Then again, natural materials probably need nitrogen fertilizer, made from fossil gas.
Yeah the spandex is especially bad as that stuff looses its elasticity in about a year.
