I kind of went into this book knowing that it was going to change the way I was thinking about clothes and I was right. I heard about Fashionopolis from the Dressed Podcast interview (which was great, except for an advert for Fabletics that felt out of place) and knew that this was going to be important, even though I don’t consider myself particularly fashion-forward. After all, I was already thinking about the most meaningful ways to consume and clothes are an inescapable part of our buying habits.

Fashionopolis is broken into three parts. Part one looks at the ways the fashion industry is harming the environment and its employees. After scaring me with the facts on how our consumption of fashion is not only environmentally unsustainable but based on dangerous practices (cancer-causing chemicals in jeans and locking workers up in rickety, fire-prone factories, for instance), Parts two and three of the book shift into a slightly more optimistic tone. Thomas looks at small businesses who are growing sustainably as well as other businesses who are trying to distrupt the fashion industry for the better. As she puts it in the end of the book:

“What we have in Fashionpolis today is a complex and epic-sized mess, and it’s going to take all these approaches, and many others, to tackle it and build a better, more just fashion ecosystem.”

Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas

She might talk about different approaches to solving the fashion problem that appear to conflict with one another, but we are going to need many more if we want to solve this.

As an the individual consumer, this is what I gleaned from the book: yes, big, lasting change requires businesses to change their practices, but in the meantime, we can lessen our impact by:

• Shopping less frequently
• Buying pre-owned or vintage where possible
• Washing our clothes in a better way to prolong its lifespan (apparently you’re supposed to wash jeans as little as possible)
• Shopping from ethical/sustainable brands where possible
• Learn how to mend my clothes – if you know how much effort is put into a garment, you’ll be less willing to throw it away because of a minor defect.
• Beware of greenwashing

When talking about the necessity of voting, a friend once told me a theory that as an individual, you don’t actually make an impact. It’s the group of collective, unamed individuals that are the ones responsible. I disgaree with this view. If we all shirk our responsibilities, then we will never reach the critical mass needed to effect change and/or persuade companies to effect change.

In that light, I highly recommend this book to everyone who’s going to need to buy clothes. I may not be able to put all the suggestions here into practice straightaway – for instance, a lot of sustainable/ethical fashion is pricey and not something that I can just get – but there are things that I can do, such as buying vintage or buying less. As a consumer and more importantly, as a member of this planet, I think it’s important that we know about the ways our choices affect the planet so that we can make better, more informed choices when we choose our clothes.

Brands mentioned in the book

This list is mostly for me. The book is a library book and I’m not planning to buy clothes now. But I do need a list of brands as a reference/starting point when I need shop:

• Levi’s – was ethical, lost their way a bit, but seems to be finding their way back by collaborating with lots of ethical/sustainability-focused businesses.
• Alabama Chanin – Slow, ethical, local fashion that employs local women in the US
• Billy Reid – Slow, ethical, local fashion
• English Fine Cottons – Bringing cotton spinning back to the UK
• Zero + Maria Cornejo – Bringing production back to the US
• Reformation – Environmentally friendly fast fashion that is also good quality
• Stony Creek Colours – Natural indigo dye for clothes
• Momotaro – Japanese brands obsessed with making the best jeans, not the most jeans
• Jeanologia – technology to distress jeans that can “decrease energy consumption by 33 percent, chemicals by 67 percent, and if implemented most efficiently, water usage by 71 percent.”
• Stella McCartney – Environmentally friendly, cruelty-free fashion
• Modern Meadow – Lab-grown leather
• Evrnu – Textiles made by recycling discarded clothing
• Moda – Clothes made only when you order
• Selfridges – “the most ecologically responsibly department store on earth”
• Rent the Runway – Fashion rental company
• Panoply – Fashion rental company

I might have missed a few brands in the book but I think I got most of them. If you want the details on what they’re doing and how they are trying to solve fashion’s environmental, labour, and/or sustainability problem, I’d highly recommend reading the book.

Featured Image: Photo by Me