There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
I’m not sure who first uttered this phrase, but I often hear it, usually accompanied by an exasperated or defeated sigh. The internet tells me that social media users are responsible for the phrase.
An ad popped up in my email today that elicited a defeated sigh from me. It is for a company that aims to, among other admirable initiatives, use recycled materials and make supply chains transparent. The ad included some kudos the company has received in the media, including this praise from Forbes: “The company’s committment to ethical production and social impact is embedded in their business, creating ethical fast fashion.”
Wait, what? Ethical fast fashion?
Indeed, the company’s website asserts that “pioneering Ethical Fast Fashion” is part of their core values. Obviously, workers’ health, safety, and well-being is an enormous part of the problem with the fast fashion industry. Any moves to bettering the situation of workers and artisans is praiseworthy. But there’s also the ideology of “fast” that’s a problem. Even using sustainable materials doesn’t address the underlying problem of waste produced when we change over clothing so quickly (and when clothes wear out so quickly, et cetera).
Challenging the ideology of the fast
This is a hard problem, and I don’t mean to beat-up on this particular company. Well, maybe just a bit. But I wish the ideology of over-consumption was more of a discussion point in these conversations. though I tend to avoid absolutes, perhaps we should dwell on the question of whether there can be ethical fashion if its fast. I’m more drawn to companies like Brave Gentleman or Everlane who attempt to create fashion in long-term sustainable ways. That I even have to bring “long-term” as a descriptor to “sustainable” seems weird. But that’s part of how the phrase “ethical fast fashion” masks injustices.
Of course, ethical fashion isn’t cheap. If clothes last longer, people aren’t purchasing as many, and maybe some financial burdens even out. But still, Brave Gentleman is more accessible to someone with my income than it is for many people. There is more work to do.
I’m mostly yelling at myself here.
As a person who owns enough Star Trek shirts to wear a different one each day to work for a week (and for the full week, if I can go to the beach on Saturday and lounge in my bathrobe Sunday), I’m preaching to myself here more than to anyone else.
If you too are worried about fast fashion or workers’ well-being, then you might be interested in my colleague Patricia’s recent “A Guide to Quitting Amazon from Someone Who Care” or slightly less recent “The Alternative, Lazier Person’s Guide to Longer-Lasting Clothes.”
You probably know about my jumpsuit love. If not, follow the Rational Dress Society and their counter-fashion project with jumpsuits!