What’s in your Closet? The Fashion Industry

In Episode 7, delving into the global clothing industry, Michael and Kimberly iron out the difference between fast fashion, ultra-fast fashion, and slow fashion—the sustainability reaction to these trends. A brief look at why we are tempted to fill our closets and drawers sets up consideration of the effects of the global clothing supply chain, what policy-makers are doing, and options for clothes-horses, the trendiest -core fans, and the average shopper.

Key Topics

• Who we have to thank for the birth of ‘fast fashion’ and ‘ultra-fast fashion’

• How mixed fabrics, waterproof gear, and stretchy clothes combine with a ‘race to the bottom’ for a clothing production and consumption sustainability nightmare

• The complex web of the global supply chain that links clothing firms to subcontractors to our doorstep

• When ‘thrifting’ became a verb and how it burdens the poor both at home and abroad

• How and what governments and MNCs are doing and need to do better

• Why the cost-per-wear calculation can fill your closet while saving you a pile of money

• That not just reduce, but repair and repurpose are useful fashion tips

• How a mall entrance was actually a portal to a different dimension for Michael and Kimberly

Recommended Resources

• Good on You rates companies’ practices on the planet, people, and animals (turns out Madewell's not as good as I thought!)

• What is your garment's cost-per-wear?

• The latest UNEP report, a compilation of useful stats at Earth.org, a business review of fast fashion, and why the McKinsey report on The State of Fashion indicates a need for sustainable practices

• For legal eagles, the NY bill, the CA bill, the US FABRIC Act, EU’s ESPR, and what Australia is considering

• To prime you for a future episode, some wildly alternative fabrics and leather sources
  

Shein pop-up store, building anticipation with covered Barbie-core microtrend ads and limited entry, as shown by the staff monitoring the door (video below)

People queued up from two directions- starting outside of the mall
*Just a note- the next day, the local news reported that 10 young women tried to protest, first in the mall, then in the parking lots, but were kicked out by mall security on the grounds that they were trespassing on private property. They were seriously outnumbered by the hoards waiting to enter.