sorry for my absence. i am on a take-it-slow week or two here. but not to let this blog stop entirely i finally want to address this topic. green!
i’ve been thinking of how to address it. you can make it so complicated. but this is how i feel in simple terms.
i make things and sell them. and profess to be interested in sustainability. which seems to be a bit of a contradiction. so i do my best. i use vintage & thrifted fabrics. i make everything myself. and am moving towards using organic fabrics. i work hard to keep the quality of my items high so that you aren’t dumping them in a year. and i also think of design in terms of having a lengthy and hopefully lifelong appeal for you.
industry won’t stop, and stopping wouldn’t actually solve anything. and we do need things. not as many things as we often now desire. so we all make a shift, the bigger the better. and i am talking on a consumer level. and also taking into consideration that this “shift” is in itself a luxury that some people can’t afford. governments and large companies need to make their shift too, addressing this on many levels, addressing fair labour situations and countries economies that are being exploited and more. so that there is a trickle down and it isn’t a stress on consumers alone to enforce these changes.
on a personal level. i buy less overall. i don’t really want to own a lot of things. i do indulge myself with clothing, so i buy mainly thrifted items. i mean 90%. if i buy a new item, i try to have it fit as many good categories as possible- know where it comes from and that the labour practices there are not exploitative, preferably buy from local & independent businesses, know that there is low toxicity involved in making it, that it is of a high quality and will last a long time, that i can recycle it or donate it when i am done with it. i try to think of myself as a babysitter of an item that i come to own, and think what care will be involved in its lifecycle.
i did buy some jelly flats a few weeks ago though, those things are like a five alarm fire of environmental no-nos. so i do screw up but i’m working on it.
so nothing new here. but wanted to say where i was with all this.
here is a more detailed take on this issue-
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/fashion/01green.html
and now i really need to share this…
i get really depressed often, as i guess others do that we can’t make the situation better and we’ve blown it. and that also we can’t get corporations/countries to change. but the only guarantee we actually have is if we don’t try we won’t make it any better. it’s worth it to give it a shot i think. and i agree large corporations or any company or country that doesn’t take responsibility sucks.
SwanDiamondRose 30 June 07 #
yes this world needs to be greener and your clothing and accessories are wonderful. people need to be more aware of corrupt corporations, its just hard when corporations have so much power and they own everthing, there are so many ignorant people and some people just dont care, huge corporations dont care about humanity all they care about is profit. i dont mean to sound pessimistic, maybe i dont know what im talking about. It just seems like greed always overpowers.