Feminist Fashion and the Anti-capitalist Soapbox
A list of reasons why we don't deserve nice things at the expense of other people
The Saturnverse is a metaphorical soapbox and I’m standing on it to say that fast fashion is a feminist issue is a labor rights issue is a climate issue. It really is every issue. I’m tired of being sold things on TikTok and I’m over cheaply made clothing being accepted. It’s not acceptable that brands have convinced us that this is the best we can do and the best way to engage with the world around us. It’s not acceptable that people are dying to make our world spin. When women of color are speaking, we need to listen.
Day-by-day fashion becomes distorted. We follow trends telling us to dress “for our size.” We buy clothes we don’t even like or wouldn’t have considered fashionable because its cheap. Fashion was meant to be a verb. It was meant to be something that we created and keep creating not something spoon fed to us by people we don’t even know.
I’m manifesto-ing because this deserves a manifesto. We owe it to ourselves both individually and communally (because my fellow person is me) to restructure the way we engage with fashion.
Haul Culture
Who else watched the 2015 documentary Minimalism: A Documentary about the Important Things? I’ve talked to friends and they were minimalist vegans at one point too. I was only vegan for a week though. Knowing myself, the first time I was watching this documentary it was likely because I wanted to clean out my closet, and it’s a good documentary for that.
Minimalism focuses heavily on consumer culture which is where I want to start. These two (white) men were unhappy working corporate jobs and decided to leave the rat race and become minimalists. They talk about living paycheck-to-paycheck (like most Americans) and how they were trying to keep up with the Joneses. One of them, Ryan Nicodemus, was even telling his boss how to sell cellphones to children. This is basically the trap. Everyone is trying to sell us something. Someone sold me the rose gold MacBook I’m typing on and the white tank top from target (you know the one) I’m wearing. I am always falling victim to consumer culture, but as I’ve been scrolling on TikTok I’m getting more and more tired of it. Everyone is trying to sell me something. If it’s not their job to sell it to me, they’re selling it to me because they wish it was their job to sell it to me.
I’m speaking from the “I” perspective because I’ve gotten my share of free things upwards of $500 worth. Recently, I received a package and I had to make a video about it, and I thought to myself “why do I even want to do this?” I didn’t take any steps to stop and still uploaded the video. I thought this isn’t authentic. This isn’t what style means to me. I don’t want to wear clothes to post about them to get paid. I want to wear clothes and post about them, and maybe someone will ask me to talk about why I wear particular brands or clothes and why I style them the way I do. But, for a long time, influencing/content creating seemed like the easiest way up considering brands can pay you starting rates of $150 for a thirty second video. I understand it, but TikTok shop is pushing it. There were days where people recommended products genuinely not because they were getting commission and I’ll say this. I genuinely do like a lot of the products I was gifted to promote, but its not real.
What I realized (and noticed through other creators) is that I was receiving too many things. I once did a haul of everything I got from a specific brand, and there was no way I was going to use that much deodorant in my life, no matter how sweaty I was. I was getting new clothes monthly and I didn’t even really want them. I thought, “Well they’re free and I could probably style them and it will probably be fun.” I realized these new free clothes were not—as Marie Kondo would say—”sparking joy.” I do try to buy things that will spark joy, but when people are constantly telling you to but the $9 TikTok Shop jumpsuit that will make you “snatched,” you begin to wonder, “Will it make me snatched?”
The Problem with Overconsumption
Aside from the fact that we literally don’t need to do that, it’s unsustainable and it’s deadly. In high school, I took a fashion design class and it was mostly online modules, but we made pajama pants and a reversible tote bag, so there were some wins. We watched the documentary The True Cost and rewatching it a couple days ago, I could feel the dots connect. Here are some of the fast facts I learned on my rewatch:
In the 1960s, 95% of clothes were made at home, and in 2015, less than 3% of clothing is made at home.
They outsource labor because its “cheaper.”
The competitive nature of capitalism constantly pushes businesses to sell products cheaper which in turn forces factories to cut corners in order to save on cost which leads to ignoring safety precautions and prevents garment workers from being paid a living wage.
One of the deadliest moments in fashion history was the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangaldesh. Rana Plaza was a garment factory and they had ignored several complaints about the building being structurally unsound. This resulted in the death of over 1,100 people.
One in six people in the world work somewhere in the fashion industry.
Other things we know: this issue isn’t being taken seriously because it majorly affects women of color and we know that women of color are disposable under capitalism. So misogyny + racism + capitalism and who knows what else are working to destroy us.
In the documentary, they interviewed Shima, a woman who works in a garment factory in the Dhaka district of Bangladesh. This is what she said:
“I believe these clothes are produced by our blood. I don’t want anyone wearing anything which is produced by our blood.”
That alone is enough for me to become a nudist. I don’t want to wear clothes produced by someone’s blood. There’s been numerous scandals where Shein is under fire for lead being found in their clothing and the like. There was also a viral Shein influencer trip where Shein showed off how their factories are not the image of a “sweatshop” that people associate with it. I remember these all being public conversations, but I still see Shein hauls trickling onto my for you page. Shein is also being accused of contributing to the Uyghur genocide.
Shein became popular because their clothes were “affordable.” But, we must also be critical of products that are extremely cheap. It means one of two things and sometimes both. Someone is cutting corners to make it cheaper or someone is overcharging you…
Proceed with Care
There are many, but ultimately the solution is to care. Caring about the people around you (even if it is all the way around you) will get you from point A to point B. If you made it this far, you must care a little bit. In addition to Minimalism and The True Cost, you can also check out Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion. The Brandy documentary reminded me why I cared in the first place.
Once you’re filled with knowledge you can put it in to action by putting your money where you mind is. Try to avoid fast fashion. Slow fashion is emerging as a new way to interact with clothing, and we know that thrifting became a popular way of “environmentalism.” If you are thrifting, you need to thrift with a purpose, if you’re itching to spend money, you can just donate it. But, buying secondhand does help just try not to feed the vintage resellers too much.
I’ve also written about my personal relationship with fashion in the post called Cutting Edges: Gender and Fashion so you can check that out. I talk about how I reuse and rewear clothes. Now for feminist reading recommendations,
“Apartheid U.S.A.” by Audre Lorde (This talks about how we are conditioned to accept the unacceptable and conditions abroad are usually brought home eventually.)
“Gendering the Nador/Melilla Border: Immigrant Muslim Women, Economic (Under)Development, and Structural Violence” by Luz María Gordillo Meridans Journal (This talks about how the bodies of women of color are used to facilitate trade and why that is harmful.)
“Dreaming in the Delta: A Memoir Essay,” by Kristal Brent Zook Meridians Journal (This talks about Black women union organizer in the Mississippi Delta. I included this because it talk about what the process of creating a union was like as a Black woman.)
I try to only recommend things I have read, so today’s list is short. But there is so much work out there and once you dip your toe in you will quickly find more and more.
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