You hear a lot about what I think about sustainable and ethical fashion but I want you to discover what others think about it too. I encourage you to read around, explore different arguments and eventually make your own opinion about the topic.
I believe that it is key to compare what ethical and sustainable fashion leaders do because it allows you to realise what works the best for you. I am a firm believer that there is no one size fits all ethical lifestyle and that you have to choose your own sustainable approach to improve your daily life and the world around you. For instance, not everyone wishes to be vegan or is able to purchase from ethical labels.
This is why I decided to interview some of my fellows ethical and sustainable fashion bloggers! So you can understand why they go for ethical fashion, how they do it and find some inspiration to build your own ethical closet. I hope this will help you get a better understanding of what that fashion is and what are your options to make the fashion industry a better place.
Every Thursday from now, I will share with you an interview with an ethical blogger who I admire. Today is the first one of the serie and I am pleased to introduce you to Rosa from from A Conscious Lifestyle Of Mine. Have fun reading what those amazing ladies wrote for us!
1) Introduce yourself in a few words
Hi, I’m Rosa from Leipzig in Germany. Since May 1st I am a full time blogger, writing about my green and more and more sustainable lifestyle. I love sharing inspiration for fair fashion pieces and labels, DIYs for natural cosmetics and aroma therapy, vegan food inspiration, and everything else that comes to my mind which has to do with a conscious lifestyle. Currently I am sharing loads of tips for a sustainable pregnancy!
2) What does ethical/sustainable fashion means to you?
To me this means not only that the working conditions under which the garments are manufactured are safe and that fair wages are paid, but that the ENTIRE production chain is taken under consideration. This is going all the way to how the truck drivers are treated, how the cotton fields are harvested, and how the machines are cleaned (with toxins or not?). As a blogger I am lucky enough to be able to ask those kind of questions to the labels I work with and I get good insights into the entire production process. I find it very important that bloggers and journalists are taking these aspects into consideration to share with their audience – because most people out there will just not get to know about the true circumstances, if they aren’t told by someone.
3) According to you, what is the main aspect of that movement and what should we fight for as a priority?
Sustainability is the most important! With every cotton field that is switching from conventional farming to organic farming we’ve done SO MUCH for our planet (insects, soil, water…). With every factory that stops working with toxins to bleech or dye cotton fabric, we’ve gained so much! This world is not going to continue for much longer, if we do not get aware of the importance of CLEAN production and the refusal of toxins in our soils, clothes, food etc.
4) When did you start changing your shopping habits?
I started some six years ago, but really got into fair fashion four years ago. In the beginning it was all about sustainability so I started buying second hand only. However, when my daughter was born, I had to think of all the girls our there working in the garment factories around the world – and I began doing my best to support fair fashion in order to help those girls out there. Since that time, when I see an H&M blouse, I do not see the blouse but I see a little girl working in a factory…a girl that could be the age of my girl. And that makes me so sad!
5) How is your closet at the moment?
I still have some fast fashion pieces from before I changed my shopping habits, however, not too many. I have a few second hand pieces, and I mainly have a lot of fair fashion pieces. That is mainly because I just really enjoy the quality and the feel of an organic cotton or organic linnen blouse compared to a polyester or similar one (and most fast fashion pieces are, unfortunatly, made from polyester). The thing with fair fashion is that it is quite expensive and not everyone can afford it. I totally get that as I’ve been there too. However, when we begin to rethink our wardrobe and turn more towards a capsule wardrobe, we realise that actually, we do not need those ten new sweaters per year, but that maybe one or two are actually enough; especially when they last forever and look timelessly good.
Another thing is the lifetime of a piece of garment; I know some people who are quite dissappointed by a fair fashion garment that they spent a lot of money on; because it is not lasting much longer than any fast fashion piece! This is topic that ALL fair fashion labels have to keep in mind: people will only continue buying fair fashion pieces which are more expensive, when the quality is excellent!
6) If you had to give an advice to someone who want to start changing its shopping habit what would it be?
Find your style first! If you have a hard time finding your style, shop second hand – try out all the styles second hand, and then, when you get an idea of what you really love wearing, then start to invest in fair fashion pieces of high quality that you can combine with pretty much everything else in your wardrobe.
This article is written by Marine Lecler, founder of Attitude Organic
