Response to Sophie Woodward: Accidentally Sustainable – Hope Myers

I wouldn’t identify myself as the most fashionable person, especially when I was younger, but still when I was choosing between a few new schools for middle school I specifically didn’t want to go to the one with uniforms. Even though I basically gave myself a uniform every day of jeans and a t-shirt it was still extremely important to me that I had a choice. Yes people could probably get by wearing the same clothes most of the time and rarely buying new ones, but it’s become such an ingrained part of our society and an important part of a lot of people’s lives. Like tech it seems like fashion has fallen into the trap of planned obsolescence, and Woodward’s chapter made me think about the question relating to the chicken or the egg. Did brands first start pushing fast fashion or were they compelled by the consumer market? I think the answer lies somewhere in-between with both propelling the idea, it’s not a one-sided thing. The same is true for making fashion more sustainable, it can’t just be on the individual consumers or the brands to change everything, we have to work together. Shopping is rarely an individual thing, we rely on our family, friends, the company, and societal trends to help us pick and choose what we buy. Woodward said that “people’s participation in clothing and fashion practices is always embedded in specific personal, relational, and social contexts” and I think this quote is a good summary for her chapter. Despite her title of accidentally sustainable, it’s not actually an accident, we will have to work very hard from every level to begin tackling the issue.

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