How can we create more change together? Reflections from our first Zoom-hangout
About the our Zoom-hangout
Last week several enthusiasts and beginners to sustainable slow fashion met to discuss these four major questions. The invitation is A Sustainable Closet initative to bring more people together who wants to create change or who would like to learn more. We see that there’s a lot of activities going on, more and more slow fashion influencer popping up, more brands making bolder goals and more industry initiatives that seeks to assist and help in this transition the society and the fashion industry desperately needs. These four major questions comes from our A Sustainable Closets personal concerns that the sustainability work might only reach an already dedicated crowd.
We also believe that not talking about not consuming is not a good motivator for change, rather we should talk about people and their relationship with clothes. But what are the story’s we want to tell and which ones would you like to hear?
The fourth comes from the fact that consumers (at least in Sweden) might have information about consuming new clothes, produced in a way we have no information about, isn’t the best choice for people or the planet. But what are the barriers for consumers to make better choices? What is it that they lack to feel happy about their closets and not contributing to environmental degradation and social injustice?
Our fourth question comes from the fact that individual changes won’t be enough to change an industry, therefore we would like to hear what you believe needs to happen and how we can come together to create that change?
What was said?
Several of the participants talked about the high critical judgement that’s going on social media. People might be afraid to communicate or take a stand since they might not live “perfect sustainable lifestyles”. That the negative messages leaves the beginners, or the not already devoted, outside and it rather polarises then include and invite people on this journey. We need to stop making people feel guilty.
We agreed upon that to reach more people the message needs to be inspiring. That it almost should be considered cool to make a good choice, anything from buying second hand, fair-traded or mending. The message should be positive where peoples struggles and difficulties can be met with knowledge and support. Many of us seeks to belong to a certain group and if we can’t identify our style or way of communicating we might not feel so welcomed. Diversity is the key.
Another challenge related to making a good choice had to do with what is available where you live and who you are. Not everyone can easily access second hand shops and not everyone can afford to invest in high quality timeless items. There needs to be a sensitivity to the fact that people have different possibilities. That is also related to time. If you have a full-time job and children, sewing might not even be a possibility if you already have other projects or areas where you seek to contribute to good in the world or for the sake of your family. In some cases you might just have a clothing problem related to children that must be fixed as easily as possible.
We also touched upon teaching kids and children today so they can develop new ways of thinking and new behaviours since they are more open to these changes. It is more difficult with older people who are stuck in certain behaviours. At the same time teenagers are also very sensitive to social norms around them and can sometimes have very destructive behaviours such as very cheap online shopping. It is a problem since cheap products are so available and second hand markets can’t really compete with that experience, yet.
The idea of something that is new, something that needs to change, is very strong. Not at least when it comes to our style and our closets. We are very sensitive to that experience even though the truth is that we might not need anything new. We have also lost knowledge about textiles and quality, so we don’t really know what is a good investment or how to look after our garments. Education is the key for more sustainable practices.
And let’s not forget that we are emotionally connected to our clothes but we have learned to live fast where the whole pace, from consumption to being needs to slow down. These insights needs to reach the big news, the headlines, if we truly want to make more people think about the planet, it’s people and their relationship with clothes that needs to be the focus.
We said that a good idea might be to focus on one of these questions and come up with practical projects or initiatives that could help to answer the question. All of us thought it was inspring to listen to each other and reflect and talk abstract about it but all also wanted to engage in something practical.
Next hangout will come with a new or more in-depth question to reflect upon together and hopefully with a high diversity of people coming together, we can truly start to create impact together.
Who participated and who can participate?
We had a diversity group of people with different background. We were sitting in four different countries. Some came from the textile industry with bad experiences, others were students, some consultant and several of us entrepreneurs. Everyone who was invited got to know about it through our Newsletter or through Her Online Network.
Anyone can join these hangouts! We send the invitation in our newsletter, so sign up for that and you’ll get an invitation to the next one. We definitely welcome people who doesn’t work with sustainability or doesn’t think they are living in a very conscious way. We would never judge your personal lifestyle and welcome people with different perspectives. We don’t represent any political party or any other organisations agenda, this is truly a way for a diversity of backgrounds to meet and talk about how to create a more sustainable world by changing the textile industry and our relationship with our clothes.