How to become a fashion activist with Greenpeace
Black Friday is coming up and we are together with Greenpeace Sweden highlighting what you can do instead of joining the sale. In the previous article, we talked about the fashion industry's problems and why you shouldn’t buy things on Black Friday. In this article, we are introducing you to the concept of activism. Here at A Sustainable Closet, we mostly talk about solutions and how to enjoy your interest in a fashion more sustainably. But sometimes one wants to do more and truly engage themselves in changing the fashion industry.
We have talked to the expert of activism, Greenpeace, and asked them how to work with activism and how to become one!
Greenpeace Sweden
It is important to make thoughtful decisions as a consumer - we don’t want the power of the consumer to be unnoticed. But, we also have power as citizens that easily can be undervalued. There are structures that affect our decisions, such as economic systems or political and social norms just to mention a few. These are structures that we can impact if we are enough people using our voices within the framework of democracy.
A lot of big transformations in society, such as the rights for women to vote and the abolishment of slavery, happened because people came together and started to speak up and take action. By organising ourselves on social media, participating in demonstrations and peacefully confronting injustice we are taking part and creating the change we wish to see and that our planet needs.
Photo: Greenpeace Indonesia projecting a message to a hill, before G20 Summit at Melasti beach in Bali, on 14 November 2022
5 things you can do as an activist
Use your consumer power: At Greenpeace, we have a campaign related to Black Friday that we call Unsubscribe Friday: the day we turn off the messages that lead us to overconsumption. We demand that the loudest companies lower their voices about Black Friday, otherwise we will turn them off. We un-subscribe from their newsletter, unfollow them on social media and we leave their member clubs. Of course, you can take this action any day of the year, not only to companies who are promoting Black Friday but also when it comes to companies having business models that are unsustainable - such as fast fashion companies. Tell them why you are leaving and spread the message in your network.
Share information: Large corporations have big budgets when it comes to marketing and they are competing with non-profit organisations that don’t have the same resources to reach out. It can be reports on important issues, scientific research, news or stories from people that need to be amplified. Use your voice and share that information! Tell your friends and family what you have learned, and use social media and other platforms to spread the message to. Your voice matters.
Confront: Put the spotlight on the companies or the institutions that commit crimes towards humanity, the environment or the planet. In the Greenpeace campaign Detox My Fashion, launched in 2011, we demanded the fashion industry to remove dangerous chemicals in their supply chains, especially the chemical group PFAS. After strong efforts, we managed to include 80 fashion producers in the journey to remove dangerous chemicals in their productions. One of them was Gore Fabrics, the producer of Gore-Tex that last year announced big positive changes in their producing technology.
These results would never have been possible if it wasn’t for so many people who supported the campaign and told fashion brands, politicians and governments to act, participating in petitions, information-sharing, demonstrations, direct actions and so on. Find campaigns or groups that focus on the topics and areas you find important and join them. Together we are stronger.Demonstrate: We have an important democratic tool and right, which is to demonstrate. Do you care about how your clothes are being made, how the garment workers are treated or what happens to the waste at the end of the clothes’ life cycle? Participate in a demonstration that addresses these issues. Legalisation and demonstrations can put pressure on policy-makers. Keep an eye out for the organisations you support and join their demonstrations!
Civil disobedience: When words are not enough Greenpeace use direct actions to put a spotlight on environmental crimes that are being ignored. In the Detox my fashion campaign we did several actions outside the clothing stores that use toxic chemicals. The actions variated, from standing outside holding signs, to using activists dressed out as mannequins that had escaped the store, to having vertical fashion shows with activists climbing along the walls of the store.
These actions are made within the framework of civil disobedience which is included in the right to demonstrate. We see these type of actions more and more, especially within the environmental movement. Would you like to learn more about these actions and how to join? Read more here!
Photo: Greenpeace activists from New Zealand and Mexico confront the deep sea mining vessel "Hidden Gem" off the coast of Manzanillo, Mexico, as it returned to port from the Pacific.