Challenging narratives in our fat communities around fast fashion
EFF Newsletter #18
Today’s newsletter was supposed to be looking at textile waste colonialism and the secondhand supply chain, essentially what happens to fast fashion waste, including after we ‘donate’ clothes. But then I saw the thread below, and I felt pressed to explore this further. This newsletter will be free to all for the next three weeks and will then be archived for paid members. Please support my work if you can.
Do fat people hold responsibility in fast fashion? Should we stop being ‘shamed’ for consuming fast fashion? Should we be allowed to enjoy fast fashion?
Let’s be honest, people are already buying whatever the hell they want.
It was painful reading this thread, because to me, it sounded more like:
Let consumers in the Global North, especially fat people enjoy fast fashion without having to think about the impact. Let people talk about buying fast fashion without being dragged into a conversation about people suffering while making their clothes. Let people buy under priced fashion, even those who can afford to do better because we don’t have a right to ask more of each other. Give fat consumers a break!
FAST FASHION IS NOT THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF CONSUMERS
Fast fashion is built on systems of historical and continued exploitation of labour and waste management. It’s built on keeping people in the cycle of poverty. Fast fashion companies underpay workers so they cannot escape. These workers even take on additional work to sustain their families’ livelihoods. It’s complex.
It’s colonial legacies, it’s resource extraction, it’s gendered and racialised labour, it’s a lack of protection for workers especially women, it’s brands prioritising profits over people and planet, it’s a lack of integrity in media and marketing, it’s greenwashing, it’s influencers including brands using them for free content, it’s political, manufacturing and secondhand economies hugely influence countries’ economies, it’s government, it’s clickbait consumerist articles and so, so much more than just individual consumerism.
INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERISM STILL HAS AN IMPACT
Even though individual consumerism isn’t the only thing contributing to the harms of fast fashion, it obviously has an impact.
It’s our clothes that we discard because of overconsumption that end up in the waterways of Ghana.
It’s our consumption that signals to unethical companies that it doesn’t matter if they underpay workers, because we will still choose to buy from them.
It’s our consumption of online content, not just haul content but content that tags and amplifies brands that exploit other humans.
When do we start drawing moral lines when it comes to fast fashion?
YES, FAT PEOPLE CONTRIBUTE TO NORMALISING FAST FASHION CULTURE TOO
We want to pretend that everyone in our community are the ‘good ones’ but that’s a sweeping generalisation. Not every fat person is buying out of necessity. Ultra fast fashion has normalised overconsumption, including in our own communities.
Like content right now (side note: not on TikTok). When we go online, there’s already an expectation that brands will be tagged.
A social and cultural trend online I’ve been noticing for a while now is how body confidence or body image content is intertwined with fast fashion content. No one shames these creators for platforming fast fashion, this relationship has become normalised.
In the same way that when people say that there are no ethical options for fat people, no one refutes it. This narrative has become so ingrained into our community, we just keep recycling it and agreeing with each other.
How can we rewrite this narrative?
OUR RELATIONSHIP TO FASHION IS UNDERPINNED BY SCARCITY
For a long time fat people have not had decent style options. It’s partly why we hold on to our clothes for so long, we are scared we won’t find the same style again. It might be why we don’t see our sizes in thrift stores.
I think that our felt scarcity around clothing can also drive overconsumption. We finally got access to thousands of options across fast fashion channels and via majority fashion, and now people (including me) are saying that these options are unethical?
It’s frustrating and it’s fucking unfair. It’s unfair that we were not catered to for so long, including within sustainable and ethical fashion. It’s unfair that we are now presented with what feels like an impossible choice, getting our hands on trend-driven pieces we haven’t historically had access to or choosing to wield our consumerism differently.
THE RIGHT TO FASHION
When we are demanding to have more access to fashion, what exactly are we asking for? When I first started Ethical Fat Fashion, even I wasn’t clear on this. I wanted fat people to have the same options as thin people including in fast fashion.
But just because thin people have millions of options across ultra fast fashion and majority fashion, doesn’t mean that we should be fighting for the exact same system, one that is profit-driven and doesn’t give a shit about the human cost.
What I failed to recognise back then is that the way that the fashion industry operates is deeply flawed. Ultra fast fashion, from the likes of Shein and Temu steal from independent designers and use algorithms to skim the internet for trends. Having access to ultra fast fashion and hundreds of thousands of styles on a single website is not a ‘right’ - it’s a privilege granted to those mostly in the Global North.
Yes we have a right to be clothed, but this doesn’t automatically translate into having a right to ultra fast fashion.
MITIGATING OUR HARM
As consumers living in the Global North, it’s impossible to consume ‘perfectly’. Almost everything we consume has been built off exploited labour, from cosmetics to electronics to the resources that supply our energy.
We cannot ‘buy’ ourselves out of global inequality but our individual consumerism can still make an impact. When we support fast fashion companies through our consumption, we are adding to the massive profits of these companies. At the same time, we are divesting our money from those who are trying to make a change in the fashion industry by compensating their workers and ensuring safe conditions.
Aside from supporting reform like The Fashion Act, on an individual level, we can try and reduce our impact and harm according to our own privileges. Understandably, not everyone has the buying power to support ethical fashion but for most of us, we do have power as consumers to change. That change looks different for everyone.
ACKNOWLEDGING INTERSECTIONALITY
The problem with identity labels is that they rarely encapsulate the whole of our experiences.
I’m queer, fat, brown, chronically ill (and if you’ve read any of my break week series, I’m almost always exhausted), I’ve been in therapy for years for past trauma, I’ve been poor before, I’m not rich now either, I’m neurodivergent, the list is very long.
The truth is that most of us are struggling under a culture that is constantly extractive and growth/wealth-centric. Some more than others.
Fat people also face systemic discrimination when it comes to employment, like both hiring practices, being passed over for promotional opportunities and from their colleagues. This might mean that fat people have less disposable income on average.
But most of us hold both privileged and oppressed identities. For many of us, part of that privilege is being a consumer in the global North. Flattening fat people and their multi-layered identities onto one experience is not the answer. Some of us can afford ethical fashion, even if that means completely changing our relationship to consumerism.
EXTENDING OUR COMPASSION BEYOND OUR PEER GROUP
We can care for more than just people who look like us. Most of the conversations around body liberation are centred around body image and diet culture, because they have infiltrated our culture.
But body liberation goes beyond that, the question should be centred around, what does it mean to be free? I think it’s inherently tied to justice, including health justice, social justice, employment and environmental justice.
Our struggles may not be exactly the same as garment workers, but the ideas are anchored around the same principles. I wish that we could see people in the global South just as deserving of the same dignity and respect that we want for ourselves.
The idea of throwing garment workers under the bus for our fashion wants doesn’t sit well with me, and I know it doesn’t sit well with other fat people either.
SOCIAL MEDIA DICTATES WHO WE CARE ABOUT
We can’t put all our energy into all the things all at once. There are several genocides going on right now. Many of us are feeling exhausted but are afraid to say that out loud.
There is no guidebook to navigating the influx of digital information overload on a global scale, having so many issues to care about and wanting to do the right thing. Social media decides which topics get amplified and which don’t. In the same way that fat liberation content is often suppressed and body positivity is currently dominated by white, able-bodied and relatively thin people (and often influencers who are perpetuating diet-culture), the definition of ethical fashion has also been skewed. Often in the online space ‘buying stuff’ is all we see and we don’t know any other way to relate to ethical fashion.
Even though ethical and sustainable fashion might be trending, it is rare to see people in marginalised bodies in this space. It is rare for people who are directly impacted by fashion waste or stuck in the cycle of low-paid garment work to have their voices heard. Often it’s people in the global North leading the conversation.
Changing our relationship to consumerism isn’t a quick fix, it won’t eliminate all the problems of the fashion industry at once. However, it’s a small way to reclaim our power and connect with our values.
WE ALL DESERVE TO FEEL JOY IN OUR BODIES BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE FAST FASHION?
Why can’t we find joy in fashion itself - why does it have to be explicitly fast fashion? Why does there have to be so much energy expended in defending fast fashion? Why are we so invested in defending a culture that normalises companies that do not give a crap about humanity?
Wanting to feel joy with fashion, to feel at home in our bodies through the language of fashion, is not wrong.
I don’t think that we need to pause all consumption forever. Material pleasure is sensorial pleasure. Material pleasure is aesthetic pleasure. Material pleasure can be part of fat vanity.
The feel of soft cotton draping our skin or being ‘hugged’ by fabric. Seeing patterns and shapes on our bodies. For me, that joy feels tainted knowing that the people who made the clothes were underpaid or working in unsafe conditions.
ETHICAL FASHION ISN’T AFFORDABLE
Once people acknowledge that there are ethical options for fat people (although many people are still unaware of this), people usually jump straight to affordability as a reason not to support ethical brands.
People like to defend fast fashion as something that we only engage in out of necessity but that’s not true for everyone. As Aja Barber has been saying for years, it’s not poor people that sustain the profits of fast fashion companies. Shein made 42BN last year alone.
This is a topic I’ve thought long and hard about. As someone who’s worked a lot of shit jobs where I’ve been underpaid, dealt with size changes, and has a fast fashion past, I don’t have a ‘secret’ or neat solution to affording ethical fashion. I didn’t buy clothes for two and a half years, this allowed me to save up for a handful of ethical purchases.
There’s a real us vs. them energy when it comes to ethical and sustainable fashion with the assumption that ethical fashion is akin to designer brands and ‘elitist’. At the heart of ethical fashion is respecting and paying workers, and there is nothing elitist about that.
Most size diverse and inclusive ethical brands are run by very small teams or one person altogether. They often operate at a loss or make a very small profit. Usually brand owners don’t even account for the constant emotional or digital labour that goes into marketing their clothes.
Everyone’s financial situation is different, as is their relationship to money. We use the words poor and unaffordable and accessible, but these mean something entirely different depending on the person.
We always talk about these terms in the context of the global North, rather than thinking about whether fast fashion is affordable for those who make the clothes or those who deal with the ecological aftermath. We discuss affordability based only on our class group or peers in the global North, rather than thinking about class on a global scale. We discuss disability justice only in the context of the global North and not the workers who make the clothes.
For some people, it’s a value judgement. We are so used to cheap fashion, that the idea of paying $50 for a shirt instead of less than $10 feels outrageous. Some people will spend hundreds or thousands on Taylor Swift tickets but can’t fathom paying that amount for clothes. That can be a tough adjustment and a mental hurdle, but when we factor in labour and materials, most ethical brands try to price as affordably as possible. Many of them are transparent about how they price their items.
Even so, I absolutely acknowledge that not everyone can buy from ethical brands.
But that’s not the only way to support fashion industry reform. I want ethical fashion to be more inclusive, where it isn’t just about buying power and it includes fat people.
Even if you can’t buy ethically made clothes right now, you do what is in your own power to support industry reform. Whether that’s committing to supporting regulatory change, doing a wardrobe inventory and mindfully purchasing future items, pausing or reducing consumption, trying to thrift (with what’s available to you), or for those who are struggling with consumerism to deal with the harshness of the world, seeking support and connection and other ways to cope.
Every person’s situation is different and those of us who support ethical fashion cannot say what the ‘right’ decision is for you. I think the most important part is being honest with our circumstances and recognising our privilege alongside our marginalised identities.
BUYING ETHICAL FASHION ISN’T ACCESSIBLE (OR CONVENIENT) FOR FAT PEOPLE
Everyone wants to ‘win’ on the internet, and that means bringing tidy solutions. But truthfully, buying ethical fashion when you’re fat is far from easy. Hell, it’s why I started this resource. For me not to acknowledge the challenges would be disingenuous.
If you are wanting brick and mortar shops, I can’t help you. Most ethical brands don’t have the funds to invest in a physical storefront. The majority of brands are online, and most of them are really difficult to find.
And thrifting? Although there are consignment stores that specifically cater to fat people, most of the selection in secondhand stores is not for us. I’ve definitely compromised on materials (like buying synthetics) because the selection in my size was abysmal, and I know that as a mid-fat I hold size privilege too.
Just because it’s not as convenient as ultra fast fashion doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. It takes similar amounts of energy to go onto eBay or Mercari and type in your size and what you want and at least attempt finding an alternative.
HOW CAN WE HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITHOUT SHAME?
Shame comes up a lot in conversations around ethical fashion. Often, I feel that people are trying to ’shame’ me into shutting up because advocating for ethical fashion makes people feel deeply uncomfortable, especially when I speak directly to my community.
How do we support ethical fashion without triggering shame? How do we share what garment workers are going through without triggering shame? How do we talk about fashion wastelands without triggering shame? How do we criticise social and cultural trends without triggering shame?
Talking about ethical fashion makes people feel defensive and, in turn, feel shame. I feel like it’s a disconnect, how can we hold body liberation values, anti-capitalist values and want more for ourselves, and our communities and still want to blissfully enjoy fast fashion without thinking about the layered ways it affects others.
I don’t know what you are purchasing. I don’t know how much or how often you participate in fast fashion. The only time people know, is when people put their fast fashion purchases online, tagging and essentially advertising the exploitative companies, or spend time defending what they buy. Is this what ‘enjoying fast fashion’ looks like?
WHICH FUTURE DO WE WANT?
I don’t want a future where anyone buys fast fashion without thinking about their own intersectionality and considering the impact.
I don’t want a future where people feel like fast fashion is the only choice they’ve got.
I want a future where:
Everyone has enough disposable income to support themselves and find material joy
Everyone has access to affordable or free compassionate medical care so they don’t have to make financial sacrifices in other ways
Everyone can meet their basic needs
Everyone has access to social and welfare infrastructure
Countries that are doing the most harm pay reparations to those who are taking on the ecological and labour burdens so the global North can have a surplus of goods
We have connection and support and are not pitted against each other
We have dignity in work and the freedom to choose to participate
Protection from discrimination, including weight stigma and work environments where we aren’t constantly exposed to racism or sexism
NEW WAYS TO RELATE TO FASHION
Supporting ethical fashion does take more energy and work than jumping onto an ultra fast fashion website (although I would argue those websites are also cluttered and headache-worthy).
Ethical fashion is also rarely clear cut. Not every socially audited company pays their workers living wages. It is a lot of moral grey, but it still comes down to trying to mitigate our harm. Trying to buy from the ‘least worst’ company that we can afford to.
There is no equal equivalence to wanting to buy stylish clothes and garment workers struggling to meet minimum material needs. But ethical fashion doesn’t always have to be difficult, it can be joyful too. I would argue, tremendously more joyful than fast fashion.
Browsing through secondhand goods online (the internet is much less stressful than going in-store), never knowing if you will find something unique. Supporting other fat creatives who hold similar values and have their own stores or have created brands that specifically cater to us. These are glimpses of what a more inclusive, fairer fashion future could look like.
I know this week was a complex read and I am open for dialogue with my readers and supporters.
As always, in gratitude,
Sushmita