Grassroots Organizing: Student led initiatives
Playing off of the last post, this one will be zeroing in on building a grassroots coalition and army of supporters to move your cause forward. I’ll explore this through the efforts of an NYU student group eager to learn about and solve the issues of the sustainable fashion industry.
Wanting to learn more about student groups on campus passionate about sustainable fashion, I jumped on a Facebook invite I saw to Earth Matter’s clothing swap last week. Earth Matters is an undergraduate led environmental student club at NYU and thought I’d go check it out their event to see how students were talking about issues of sustainable fashion and what they were doing to fight back. Once I arrived at the event and put down the pieces I brought to contribute, I looked around the big conference room, people were casually pursuing the clothing, trying on pieces and chatting with friends. The selection was largely fast fashion but that’s to be expected in a college clothing swap. It was encouraging to know that these pieces would stay out of a landfill and the students were shifting their mindset about how to consume fashion.
Although there seem to be some champions in colleges around the US, undergraduates are a difficult group to turn onto the sustainable fashion mindset. Having small budgets and wanting to stay on trend usually drives their clothing consumption habits, not curating a one of a kind style or buying pieces that will last. I spoke to Liv Chai, an executive board member of Earth Matters passionate about sustainable fashion, to get her perspective on how NYU students feel about these issues and what students can do to make a difference (pictured in the middle below promoting the Earth Matters Clothing Swap).
We sat down to chat in the student center last week, where she explained her motivation for starting the sustainable fashion campaign with Earth Matters and why she thinks that her generation has a responsibility to step up and take action. Having grown up in an environmentally conscious household, she’s always cared about sustainability but it wasn’t until her first year in college that she came to realize that fashion is a major perpetrator of environmental issues. Wanting to do more, she approached Earth Matters to start up her own sustainable fashion campaign, organizing sustainable fashion shows, panel discussions, and clothing swaps.
Liv explained her motivation for starting the campaign with me – “I wanted to educate myself and start a proactive dialogue, especially as a part of fast fashion’s main consumer base…they don’t think that young people are conscious of what’s going on behind the scenes, but the young people are the ones fighting for these causes.” She explains that younger generations are stepping up and taking action where others are falling short. Take the Parkland shooting, for example, students are the ones who were able to start a movement and push for actual change in the government, policymakers were listening in a way that they hadn’t before. This has encouraged students like Liv to step up and take action on issues that they care about, knowing that their voices are powerful and can truly make a difference.
I asked Liv about how she can help influence her classmates and their consumer behavior to become more sustainable. She tells me that “it’s all about showing, not telling…showing them that there’s value in second-hand clothing and helping them realize the value of that.” She goes on to say that she’s learned a lot from Youtube and social media and has seen a trend for people to talk about becoming a more mindful consumer and including thrifted items in their lookbooks. It is clear that as we become an ever more connected world, online platforms and social media are key to shifting behavior and mindsets around how we shop.
Oftentimes sustainable fashion brands ignore younger generations who cannot afford their clothing, but I think this is a huge oversight. Like Liv mentioned above, her generation is the generation that will grow up to be leaders in sustainability. Furthermore, this is the demographic that fast fashion companies predominantly market to, and they are not offered many alternatives to the fast fashion model. By giving college students outlets to buy sustainable and ethical fashion, at a price they can afford, you can bring major disruption to the industry. Even if this means introducing updated consumption models like clothing swaps, upcycled clothing, or systems for renting more expensive sustainable brands, it is imperative that we don’t assume this generation doesn’t care because they are largely shopping at Forever 21 and H&M. They are shopping at these stores because we are failing to provide an alternative accessible model.
Now that I am back in school and surrounded by undergraduate students at NYU, I love to hear how excited they are about getting involved in sustainable fashion and what they can achieve. They are dreaming big, and I can’t help but feel hopeful for the future of the industry.
Fashion Model Activism – The New Era of Woke Models
The fashion industry is known for it’s vapid obsession with clothing and image, especially with outward facing marketing like high fashion runway shows and major marketing campaigns. As the face of these campaigns, models often become scapegoats for the vanity of the industry. Movies and TV shows like Zoolander and America’s Next Top Model have only added to the perception that models are merely a canvas with no agency of their own. But, in the era of Instagram influencers, and social business, a wave of model-activists are changing the game.
With fame comes power and responsibility. Many may want to shy away from the pressure; but when done right, this can be a positive tool for making a difference. Cameron Russell is credited for starting this trend with her TEDtalk on how looks aren’t everything. Her movement has grown into more than just scrutinizing the modeling industry and has developed into a platform for the fashion industry to discuss global issues such as climate change, race inequality and women’s rights. In 2015 Cameron Russell represented Vogue at the United Nations summit on climate change (COP21) in Paris, where she covered the talks and deciphered the issues for their fashion audience. Her activism has led her to start her own platform, Model Mafia, which brings together models to fight for causes. As she says, “Models are uniquely poised to become fantastic activists because they are some of the few women who have very direct access to media.”
The trend of model activism and “woke” models comes at a time where fast fashion is growing dangerously out of control. There are more than 15 million tons of textile waste produced every year in the United States. If we were to extend the life of clothing by just three months, we could reduce water and carbon consumption by 5-10%. In addition to the waste created by the industry, the globalized manufacturing that makes these cheap fast fashion prices possible, is resulting in unfair working conditions, child labor, and hazardous working environments. All while industry professions from CEOs and designers, to models are profiting from these exploits of both environmental and human capital. This dirty industry needs ambassadors to fight for change, why not the models that have the platforms and the influence to reach an audience that care about clothing?
Consumer pressure is a strong driver for what kinds of products get developed. Imagine if young girls had role models to look up to for guidance on how to be conscious consumers, this could cause a dramatic shift in consumer behavior. Models with large followings can potentially help us lift the curtain on the industry and lead the charge in bringing some desperately needed transparency. With authenticity, and engaging story telling, model’s have the tools make real change.
Woke models like Leomie Anderson, who publishes articles by women and combines fashion with activism to make clothing with empowering phrases, are leading the pack in the model-activist phenomenon. One of Cameron Russell’s Model Mafia members, Renee Peters, advocates for ridding our oceans of plastic, and for a more transparent fashion industry, while another (Hawa Hassan) is fighting to solve the refugee crisis and battle climate change. The list goes on, and it’s amazing to see the projects these models have started. I look froward to seeing this trend grow, and can’t wait to see the impact. Marketing and influencer networks have such a big influence on public perception and I am excited to see that models are using their platform and engaged following to drive positive change.
I personally love filling my feed with powerful female role models, and the models highlighted in this post are perfect additions. Seeing what these women are doing makes me excited by what is possible and also how we are stronger when we work together. It would be amazing to see Model Mafia groups pop up around the country and the world. If you’re a model, I encourage you to get out there and use your platform to encourage others to do good. If you’re not, support them. Find those role models that are advocating for what you care about and help them spread their message.
What I Learned Working in Fast Fashion
Stepping into the office every morning felt a little like working for the enemy. My constant mantra was, “This is just to understand the problem, to gather information, to expose fast fashion.” Curiosity and eagerness to learn kept me upbeat, even when I was faced with their questionable business practices.
I left my comfortable ethical fashion start-up job in October 2016 knowing that grad school was on the horizon, but still had almost a year before it started and was pondering my next steps. Since arriving in New York City I had the luxury of staying in my bubble working at a brand where I trusted the product, knew exactly who made the clothes and the materials going into them. The mass market, price-driven fashion world was foreign and incomprehensible, yet this was the world I was going back to graduate school to change. It dawned on me that I needed to have that understanding in order to become the impactful leader that I was striving to be. So I started applying to production jobs at mainstream fashion brands.
Cautiously hopeful – this was my attitude on the first day. It was all a bit of chaos, no one knew I was coming. For the first couple weeks I just sat there, observed and listened. They made off-price mens clothing and I was managing production. The work was a bit monotonous, but I grew to really enjoy my co-workers. A couple of them had been in the industry for decades and I loved hearing about the good old days when the NYC garment district was bustling.
My last day was June 23rd and I walked away feeling grateful for the experience, and also incredibly relieved I no longer had to pretend. I’m happy to be able to carry what I’ve learned into my next chapter, here are three of the biggest takeaways I had from my time there.
Throw away culture – from product to people
Now, I don’t want to over generalize and say that all fast-fashion companies operate in this way, but the one I worked for did and I have a suspicion that many others do too. There is a lot of turnover within fashion as a whole and a lot of this is due to do with the volatile market and an uncertain future for retail. Yet, the “employee as dispensable” is very different from a struggling business model trying to find it’s place in an ever-changing market.
From the moment I started, I got the feeling that if I left they’d just go find someone else eager to break into the fashion industry. Pay was horrible, there were no benefits, zero vacation, and we worked most holidays. I would get into the office at 9:30am and would stay till at least 7pm, sometimes staying till 8pm or later. I wasn’t the only one that felt under-appreciated and cast aside, my co-workers would rant about being talked down to, and overworked.
This sense of being expendable wasn’t just with the employees, it started with the product. When developing pieces and producing for customers, the product just had to be good enough; most important was affordability. There was no pause to question, what is the process of creating this wash effect? Or, how are the factories sourcing their materials? It just had to look like the CAD (kind of) and be at the right price. A product isn’t coming out right? Cancel the order and move on, create more. Employee not working out? Get rid of them and find someone who will do the job, for the least amount of money.
100% trend driven – constant pressure to copy
This might be obvious, but it shocked me to what extent the designs were merely copied. I had heard the horror stories of independent designers getting their designs ripped off, and have seen how quickly the trends go from the runway to Forever 21, but the blatancy of it was unsettling.
If we didn’t have the specs for style, we’d go out and buy one from a competitor and copy it. I understand buying reference samples to base a design off of, but to make no tweaks or adjustments didn’t feel quite right. Maybe I was living in an idealized world before but I had seen designers work hard to create new shapes and innovative designs, and to see that is being stolen without any thought was tough. Especially since this was so normalized and encouraged.
One day we got some samples from a factory, we opened the box to discover that the designs were not ours. Seeing the fresh new designs, our boss loved them and wanted to produce it for ourselves. Immediately the designers were told to tweak the colors and and make CADs for the next sales meeting. These decisions were made without even the blink of an eye.
Business is booming – Americans want a deal
Even with retailers facing uncertainty and consumers shifting their buying habits, the off-price market seems to be having a moment. Most Americans are looking for cheap clothes that they feel like they’re getting a deal on. I had no idea that new garments were being made with price stickers advertising reduced special pricing even though they were never sold at the higher price. The mind game had sure worked on me, they got me fooled. Many Americans are falling for it too, feeling good about all the money they “saved”.
The off-price market is huge, and although it might be a little daunting to try and make it more sustainable or ethical, the potential is massive. It’s not really about the consumer, they don’t particularly care if it’s sustainable. It’s about creating new methods and technology to make sustainable practices a better business model, think Ray Anderson and how he radically reduced waste and environmental harm in his carpet company by adopting sustainable business practices. It’s not a necessarily a marketing tool or value add like it has been in the luxury and contemporary markets, although it could be as our society shifts towards a more sustainable future. With a combination of making sustainability more attainable and shifting the mindset of the consumer, there could be an amazing opportunity to crack into this market. It’s probably all a bit idealistic, but I’m a bit of a dreamer.
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I never went overseas where the clothes were manufactured, but I could only imagine the working conditions. I saw the prices we were buying the clothes for and knew that only about 10%, if that, would go to the person making the garment. It made me sick. Not to mention the washing, dyeing and sandblasting done on the jeans creates hazardous environments and were probably making the workers sick. This would be a whole other research project, something I hope to better understand and figure out solutions for while at NYU.
Ultimately, I’m left with more questions than answers. I saw the inside of a very small price-driven fashion company, but one that is making a significant impact in the world of off-price fashion. I feel more motivated than ever as I enter graduate school, knowing that I have more clarity on the industry I’m trying to innovate and change.