Francesca, amazing youtuber but not only, used her web spaces to talk about the fast fashion industry issues and how to create a capsule wardrobe. Her words are really interesting. Let’s see how she changed her fashion habits and what she can teach us!
What’s the main reason that made yu change your shopping habits? After I started knowing what there is behind the Fast Fashion industry I have decided not to be anymore an accomplice of what the industry is doing to the people and to the Earth. I know that is sounds a bit utopian but I still believe that we can “change the world” with our everyday choices and this is what I would like to do.
Which do you think is the biggest damage caused by industry of fast fashion? I think that as well as the ecological and ethical reasons (equally important), the fast fashion industry has affect so much our society by changing the way that we look and think on garments. In the past, when there wasn’t the big fast fashion’s brands, we were used to buy less and better. Because of the higher prices of the goods that we bought, we treat them better, we respect more the work behind that object. Now is no more like this, you buy a tshirt for 2 Euros, you wear it twice and then you throw it away buying another 2 Euros tshirt without thinking what there is behind that and the reasons why it is so cheap. Everythings is cheaper and cheaper and we have lost the perception of the real value of the things. We buy just for the taste of buying, thinking that this will make us happier.
Did it was difficult going sustainable from a practical point of view? For me it has been quite easy. The easiest way is stopping buying things that we don’t need. One of the most common critic that people make is that the Slow Fashion is too expensive, that is an half truth. It is true that garments cost more, but also the quality is higher and so you need less pieces of the same garment in one year. For exemple, we really need 6 pairs of jeans in our wardarobe? Maybe is enought just having only two pairs of a good quality ones that last longer. It is like an investiments, you pay more at the beggining, but you don’t need to buy things often. My new motto is “Less but better”. At the same time if you subscribe to the brands newsletters you can know when they make their promotionals sales and buying during that period to save money.
How have you discovered that your clothes were, in a certain way, stained with blood? During a boring and cold Saturday afternoon of mid October. Netflix was just arrived in Italy and I decided to give it a go. I scroll down the list of the movies, series and documentaries and I found “The true cost”, since that moment I hadn’t heard about that documentary and, because of the topic, I decided to click play and starting waching it. After that afternoon everything has changed and in that precise moment I swear to myself that I wouldn’t have bought anymore from the fast fashion industry.
What would you recommend to those who still has no idea about what they buy daily? There is a sentence that Lucy Siegle (a British journalist very close to the Fashion Revolution movement) has said: “Fast Fashion isn’t free. Someone somewhere is paying” and it is true. Is that fair that someone has to die or work as a slave for a t-shirt that would be wear twice? I don’t think so. There are many documentaries, blogs, articles that speak about what fast fashion is causing, try to understand what is happening and then ask to yourself “Is that worth it?”
Do you think handmade and sustainable fashion can be the future? I hope so! There has been made so much changes from when I saw the documentary until now. So much more people understand what is really means buying from Fast Fashion, there are always so much more sustainable and ethical brands and the big labels are starting changing their production chain so I’m optimistic for the future. We are starting thinking not only to us but also to the other inhabitants of the Earth and the future generations.
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