I have a complicated relationship with my clothes. I’ve decided it’s high time I expressed my feelings by penning a love letter to Fast Fashion…
1. I hate the way you come and go and change with every season. Why I bought those baggy overalls last summer: I’ve forgotten the reason.
2. I hate the way you’re hot and cold, I can never win. I threw out my flares in 2012 and now the 70s are back in?
3. I hate the way you make me worry about how I might be seen. ‘12 bras you need in your lingerie drawer,’ my god, where have I been?
4. I hate the way I depend on you to feel good through my day. Once I’ve picked my outfit the hardest part is out of the way!
5. I hate the way you cost so much, logic splits at the seams. Did it really cost $300 to make those leather-look jeans?
6. I hate the way you fall apart, cheap stitching comes undone. I say it again; ‘that’s the last time I’m shopping at Forever 21’.
7. I hate the way you hide your secrets, and never let me pry. Were there any toxic chemicals used in the way my handbag was dyed?
8. I hate how you treat your garment workers, their rights fading away. You pay them next to nothing as they labour seven days.
9. I hate how it’s the brands I love whose ethics I can’t stand: my fresh new pair of sneakers sewn by malnourished children’s hands.
10. I hate that this is how it is: child labour, poisons, pollution. Our brand-driven economy makes too much money to embrace sustainable solutions.
I hate how no one talks about you and what you truly are. Why should we care when our distance from those sweatshops is so far?
I’m just one person in a fast-fashion world, I guess I’ll just keep wishing. If only I could find a tool to inform my buying decisions and help me take action…
Want to know how to shop better after Fashion Revolution Week? You can use the Good On You app to check labour, environment and animal ratings for more than 1,000 fashion brands.
