Why Our style is important?

Hey Welcome again!!!

 who here is wearing clothing raise your

hand if you don't I'm gonna assume

you're sleeping and not naked I spent

most of my life working on social and

naturally when I graduated from college

I started the clothing company this jump

from politics to fashion came as a

surprise to some people close to me but

I really believe that what we wear

matters see fashion is the second most

polluting industry in the world one in

six jobs globally are tied back to the

industry in some capacity in the US less

than 3% of the clothing that we wear

here is made here that's down from over

95 percent in the 1960s we've outsourced

middle-class manufacturing jobs in

search of cheap unregulated labor to

deliver lower prices on consumer goods

now fashion doesn't have a monopoly on

labor abuses or toxins it just happens

to have an abundance of them and it's

we all wear clothes they impact how we

think about ourselves and how others

perceive us it's this vast scale and

emotional connection that make fashion

an important part of changing the world

as we know it I want to start with four

myths that are getting in the way of

that change the first myth is that

somehow we can separate ourselves from

the clothing that we wear in 2013 a

factory collapse in Bangladesh killed

over a thousand workers it was one of

the worst tragedies in garment history

industry history and three of the four

have happened in the last four years at

the time I was working on social causes

and I had a closet filled with stuff

made by modern slaves and toxic

conditions there was a disconnect

between how I was trying to live and the

way that I was getting dressed I felt

guilty and that was healthy because it

that I behaved but I don't think guilt

is the key to changing this broken

system I think we need to find things

they were excited about and move toward

them just like I can feel bad putting on

something made in a sweatshop I feel

putting on something made by a company

that represents and lives out the values

that I stand by second myth is that

sustainability is somehow extra I

believe strongly that environmental

stewardship and fair working conditions

are not special they're the way things

should be I don't think we should have

to designate businesses that do things

right as sustainable or as responsible

rather businesses that exploit workers

that pollute waters that create products

designed to be tomorrow's waste that

insecurities that's not business as

I don't think we have a right to a lot

of stuff but I do believe that we all

have a right to things that don't come

at the expense of our fellow human

beings the third myth is that somehow we

can buy happiness clothing can add

meaning to an already balanced life but

clothing alone will never give life

meaning study after study shows that the

more stuff we have it doesn't mean that

we're any happier it just means that we

have more clutter this hopefully

presents us with the opportunity to have

less and really love the things that we

do have to buy quality and to pay more

for products that represent what we

stand for and that's important because

our current expectation around price is

set in a system that relies on

exploitation to keep prices low and it's

not just five to ten percent more

expensive to do things right it's often

five or ten times more expensive I want

to make it clear though that I don't

think having less stuff that paying more

that sustainability is a sacrifice no

it's a shortcut to focusing on the

things that matter in life we often use

fashion as a tool to search for some

level of external validation we're

chasing status through logos and through

trends but fashion is that its most

powerful when it represents who we are

inside and the values that we stand and

hold for and hold dear so the final myth

is that this is the way it has to be I

strongly believe that we can break this

addiction to consumption that we can do

better that we can produce in ways that

are regenerative and not destructive I

look to the organic food movement for

inspiration I remember as a kid growing

up in a small town in Michigan going to

the grocery store with my mom and her

asking the store manager if there were

any or there was any organic food in

in the story he looked at her with his

blank look but now a decade and a half

later that store is filled with organic

options just look at what's happening

with locally grown food in this city in

the last decade we as humans have

created as a culture have created these

problems are on exploitation and

pollution that means that they're

entirely human constructs there's no law

of nature that says this is the way that

we have to act we've created these

businesses and these values and we can

change them now when you raise your hand

if you could not buy any clothes for the

next month and it wouldn't be a problem

do you think you could go a full year

without adding anything to your closet

and still walk around with a shirt on

your back good I know that that I could

and that puts us in a special position

it means that we don't have immediate

needs it means that we have the power of

choice it's a blessing it's a privilege

and it's also a huge responsibility it's

not those it's not up to those at the

bottom of the system to change it those

that don't have the power of choice it's

up to us what does that look like it's

different for all of us but here are a

few things that I've found helpful I

remember finding out about that factory

collapse in Bangladesh and wanting to

throw out my entire wardrobe I quickly

realized that one I couldn't afford it

and two the most sustainable clothing

the most sustainable fashion is the

stuff that's already in our closet so I

set out to purposefully knowing that I

didn't have any immediate needs by the

things that I loved when I'm shopping I

look for things that fit me and fit my

personality because I don't have room in

my life and neither do you for things

that don't excite you and I know that

for me I can't get excited about

something that doesn't match how I'm

so I would encourage you to take this

responsibility and not think of it as a

burden but to recognize this is an

opportunity to make meaningful choices

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