The Titian Thread
The month in fashion, condensed.
Hi Hey there!,
Wow, January went for ages, didn't it? Luckily, the arrival of this newsletter into your inbox means the end of the month! Today I want to talk about something that I've seen discussed a lot recently: Eco-guilt. From the makers of Eco-anxiety, I presume.
A recent Vogue article unpacked this fun new variety of guilt and articulated something I think all of us feel from time to time — feeling bad about buying single-use plastics, guilt over a takeaway coffee cup or regret about spontaneously buying a piece of clothing you'll probably never wear.
I wrote about eco-guilt in an Instagram post recently, quoting the wonderful author and climate activist Naomi Klein when she said:
"The world would have already had to change in order for you to be a non-hypocritical activist.”
How can we expect perfection from ourselves — or anyone else — when we're operating in a fundamentally imperfect system? If we're always striving for perfection, we're setting ourselves up for failure (and probably an early guilt-induced grave.)
Eco-guilt also makes us feel that we as consumer citizens are responsible for fixing the climate crisis through changing our lifestyle habits, when we ought to remember that it's corporations who have the most power to bring about widescale environmental change. They just aren't doing it fast enough.
So when it comes to eco-guilt, my thoughts are: just do your best. Make small, realistic changes and don't forget who is really to blame for the climate crisis (it's not you.)
I'd love to hear your feedback or thoughts! Hit reply to this email to say hello.
Meg x
Stories I Wrote
From TENCEL to ECONYL, I’ve Decoded 12 Sustainable Materials for You. The world of sustainable materials is SO CONFUSING. Even after writing this story, I don't feel like I've even scratched the surface of all the innovative new materials emerging constantly. In this story, I looked for the most common (and some that are soon to be common) fabrics that are appearing in our clothing to decode what all these names and trademarks actually mean. Some are amazing and of course, some are greenwashing.
From Landfill To Look Book: The Innovators Taking On Local Textile Waste. Fashion has a huge problem with textile waste. Only one percent of textiles are currently recycled, so it's an untapped market full of cheap and free materials just waiting to be used. This story was all about innovators who are finding local solutions to this global problem.
I got to speak with Juliana, an Argentinian designer who sources old clothing from her local community and uses a replicable formula to create new clothing (see her work above!). I also met a woman called Aummy, the CEO of a textile recycling and innovation factory in Thailand, who turns old textiles into everything from clothes hangers to furniture.
Stories I didn’t write
These Brands Will Pay You to Wear Their Clothes by Elizabeth Segran for Fast Company. Brand are actively encouraging their customers to outfit repeat and consume fewer pieces of clothing!? Have I died and gone to eco-heaven?
Modest Collections: A Faux Pas of the Past? by Saja Elmishri for Eco-Age. Modest fashion had a big moment in the West a few years ago, but as Elmishri reflects, the trend rarely actually addressed the needs of the Muslim target market. I thought this story was really fascinating.
Cardi B, Kylie Jenner Silent as COVID Ravages Fashion Nova by Tarpley Hitt for the Daily Beast. Of course, they're silent! If brands rarely take responsibility for their worker's wellbeing and safety, do we really expect their brand ambassadors to speak out about it? Something about biting the hand that pays the big bucks?
If China no Longer Wants to be the World’s Factory, Who Will Take its Place? by Marc Bain for Quartz. China's low-cost manufacturing has fueled its economic boom in the last 20 years, but who will take its place as the country moves on from being "the world's workshop"? Bain investigates.
Why Is Fashion Still Ignoring Its #MeToo Moments? by Heather Snowden for Highsnobiety. I really loved Snowden's thoughtful and impassioned opinion piece dissecting the recent allegations against Alexander Wang, as well as his (frankly, BS) response.
Forget Philip Green – for Women of Colour the Disappearing British High Street Threatens Their Livelihoods by Hannah Karpel for Gal-Dem. The number of BAME workers in the UK's retail sector has fallen at over twice the rate of white workers since the start of the pandemic.
Why ‘Thrift Flipping’ Clothes Isn't as Ethical as it Seems by Liza Bautista and Meghan Keeney for i-D. Thrift Flippers on TikTok (try saying that 5 times fast) is inherently fatphobic, taking larger sizes off the racks and "tailoring" them for skinny bodies.
How to Fix the Global Fashion Industry: 8 Ambitious Expert Ideas to Make Fashion Ethical by Alden Wicker for EcoCult. This is such an in-depth, accurate piece disecting of exactly why fashion is so unethical, with eight forward-thinking, ambitious solutions to fix the industry. A long read, but well worth it.
The Key to Accelerating Climate Action? Rethinking the Laundry Cycle by Ruth MacGilp for Eco-Age. There is a surprising number of easy switches you can make to your laundry habits that can make it more eco-friendly, but as MacGilp writes, reducing emissions in your washing cycle is not just up to us as consumers.
Why I’m Committing to Shopping Only Vintage in 2021 by Lilah Ramzi for Vogue. Ramzi speaks about her own experience with vintage clothing while touching on some of the barriers and limitations others may face (sizing and style options) in the vintage world.
The To-Do List
This month saw the launch of Sojo, the app pitched as Deliveroo for clothing repairs. Founder Josephine Philips is aiming to make take the hassle out of getting your clothing repaired — something that's always at the bottom of our to-do lists.
Reture, launched at the end of last year, is a digital platform that connects sustainable fashion designers with customers who want to upcycle their unused clothing into bespoke, one of a kind treasures. You simply pick a designer, send your old garment off in the mail and wait for your good-as-new item to return!
Can digitising your wardrobe help you utilise your clothing better? The team behind Whering believes it can! This app catalogues your closet and offers you outfit suggestions when you feel like you've got nothing to wear. Reminds me of that scene in Clueless when Cher's picking her outfit for school and for that reason, I'm in.