April 20 | Minimalism, Fast Fashion and Sustainability
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM (CST)
Earth Day is celebrated on April 20-22. Its theme this year is “Restore our Earth.”
Our April conversation revolved around the amount of clothing and “stuff” we buy. We discussed the virtues of minimalism and the pros and cons of the impact “Fast Fashion” has on our environment. For example: Is it a threat?
Fast fashion is defined as inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to changing trends, providing a means for consumers to buy many garments, often, and then discard them for new when styles or seasons change.
After the conversation, our moderators had the following thoughts:
Our conversation this week on Minimalism, Fast Fashion and Sustainability made us think about how our own family memories affect what stuff we hold on to for years, and what we think is just clutter and willing to discard. Our discussion also reminded us how much Covid has changed our behavior toward what we wear and how often we shop.
With a group of highly interested and well-informed participants, our conversation immediately turned to Big Business and Capitalism, and their ultimate success at pushing citizens to consume constantly, with “cool trends” and convenience as a constant justification. The end result is a world rife with cheap and quickly churned fashion, single-use plastics, and the need to rent storage units for more stuff when our homes are already stuffed!
The answer seems to be with grassroots, individual demands, and speaking with our purchase power to buy clothes on consignment (instead of off the rack) and at places where not everything is wrapped in plastic!
Thank you to all of our participants!
