i've been thinking lots, for a long time now, abt the problems of finding & establishing alternative practices of buying clothes that avoid or minimise the use of fast fashion https://twitter.com/oilyoils/status/1276506020156710918

with high end brands there's the immediate issue of exorbitant price; issues of caring for your clothes (many are dry-clean only) or having to get them tailored -- but i'm also aware that many of those brands are still engaged in 'fast fashion' means of production--

ie. they might say 'made in Italy' but 'made' actually means 'assembled'; the fabric or cloth may often be imported from areas where there is little regulation, pay or safety for garment workers

fairtrade / organic / eco companies that make clothes using eg. eco-friendly cotton (as far as cotton production *can* be eco-responsible) are often pricey & aren't, to be blunt, always the most beautiful design-wise ; they're good basics but often lack the joy love clothes for

for a few years now well over 50% of the clothes i buy are 2nd-hand / vintage -- & the majority are 2nd hand designer. obviously price comes up again here, but also *time* -- it takes time to scroll through ebay for a bargain, or trawl through a vintage shop

(i always think of reading _the road to wigan pier_ as a teenager & being astonished & struck by orwell's note that the thing people in poverty don't have is TIME ; a thinking-changed-forever moment)

& then ofc any engagement with the commercial fashion industry (partic. if you're buying 'high-end' stuff, even 2nd-hand) can feel very much like complicity with an industry that has consistently been sizeist, racist, transphobic & bullying

i haven't found any hard-and-fast solutions to the socio-economic imbalances that most fast-fashion alternatives seem to wind up colliding with -- BUT i like thinking abt it lots bc i like thinking abt problems that simply can't be solved

i will say that switching to buying either good-quality second hand clothes, or investing selectively in more expensive pieces has been the right thing for me, and i haven't looked back -- with a strong preference for natural-fibre clothes where possible

anyway. if anyone ever wants to talk clothes / clothes-problems / wants recs. or anything i think abt clothes literally every hour of the day & am always interested in puzzling out alternatives

(caveat that i'm an enthusiast rather than an expert & many more well-informed people have written more artfully abt these things than me --

i find this podcast series mostly very irritating & quite basic BUT it's good at facts & i rlly liked this episode where the host talks to Kalpona Akter, a Bangladeshi activist and advocate for workers right) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07shh9p

ALSO a massive problem with buying second-hand (esp. online, also in person) is sizing ; i'm straight-size so have always been catered for (and made to feel comfortable) by places -- & can afford to pay a local tailor to adjust if something is a size or two too big

this is a privilege i'm completely blind to bc it's so ingrained but getting pretty, affordable plus-size clothing that's NEW can be difficult enough as it is, so negotiating that in the second-hand market must be even more frustrating