Guest blog, Fast fashion.

Fast fashion – do you lub lub luve it?

I watched a documentary on so called fast fashion a few months back. Fast Fashion, the clothing industry equivalent of fast food. Cheap, convenient, easy and quickly digested and then forgotten. Fast Fashion, unlike more expensive clothing, oftentimes ends up being thrown out, fast. Because we are less likely to make sure we really like it, that it fits, etc. when it’s so cheap. And also, the quality of course. If it’s that cheap, there’s usually a reason. It’s not like the lady in Bangladesh who made that tank top is making enough money to support a family. Or herself. None of this came as a great surprise to me, even if I was unfamiliar with the term Fast Fashion.
Now, I don’t buy a lot of new clothes. Because I don’t have a lot of money (or time) to spend on shopping. And because Dylan absolutely despises most clothing stores. Especially if they’re inside a mall, he all but breaks out in hives. But when I do buy new clothes, I have to admit I do tend to go for Fast Fashion. That way, if it doesn’t end up being a favourite item, it’s no biggie. I’m definitely guilty of going out to buy a new shirt or a new pair of earrings for the first day of school, a job interview, a dinner out. Not because I need it but because I want to make the occasion more special by wearing something new for it.
Anyway, since watching the documentary I have tried to be more mindful of this. I have bought a pair of jeans, a couple of tank tops and some other things new. But for the most part they were items I had spent some time thinking I needed, not spontaneous purchases as a result of a sale or for a not-very-special-occasion.
So then I’m in H&M with my 3-year old the other day. H&M is ridiculously cheap. And everything (no, but almost) in that store seams easily wearable to me. I’m there to by an eyebrow pencil. As I’m browsing the make-up displays, my daughter is four steps behind me, going “what’s this? Mom, what’s this? I want that! Oh, that sparkles, I want that!” as 3-year olds do. And I answer “no, don’t touch that! that’s for your eyes. Leave that alone!” as moms do. Once I’ve found what I came for, I start ushering the kid towards the registers, but pause at a rack of t-shirts. Cute, summery, so cheap. I like the polk-a-dot one. And there’s a stripe one with flowers that’s kind of cool.
“What’s that mom?”
“Oh just a shirt I might by…”
“But not today”
“What… what do you mean?”
“We can’t buy it today” she says, so matter of fact-ly. Because of course that’s what I’ve told her a million times about toys, dresses, shoes, unicorns, candy. You can want it, and maybe have it one day if you continue to really want it, but we’re not buying it today. That’s what I always tell her. And now she’s making me eat my own words.
I didn’t buy the shirt. Guess you have to lead by example.
(Lou doesn’t like things, she loves them. Lub, lub, luvs them. Or she doesn’t. There is no in between.)