Re_considered

Saying No to Black Friday

Wardrobe Stories is an antidote to the devastating waste produced by fast fashion consumerism, in the form of a short film and photo series.

Participants modelled both items they treasure, and unloved pieces they rarely wear. The Re_considered team repaired, restyled, and reworked those unloved pieces to show that by reinvigorating old pieces of clothing we can move away from the throwaway culture of fast fashion towards a model of circularity.

We're asking people to stop buying more and tell stories instead.

Check in every day this week for a new Wardrobe Story!

Siena

Siena works in sustainable fashion so her wardrobe story is a tale of ethical consumerism. Her elegant prairie-style dress had been on her wish list for a long time, but she wasn’t going to buy it new because of her ethical qualms with fast fashion. However, a sustainable fashion influencer on Siena’s feed had discovered the dress at a charity shop so she knew exactly where to look to find it second hand. Similarly, Siena had scouted this Urban Outfitters jumper when it was released originally but had held off buying it new, eventually, it popped up on Depop and she couldn’t resist. Her shoes are classic Vejas, a staple of the socially conscious consumer on account of their ethical labour practices and sustainable material use in production. She recalls buying them when she first became interested in ethical fashion. Although she now acknowledges that taking part in conscious consumption does not simply involve shopping from “sustainable” brands, it's much more complex than that, there’s a whole lifestyle shift that needs to take place.

“When Vejas became popular and I started getting into sustainable fashion, it was a cult thing to buy. I wear them all the time so they are useful to me, they’re a classic example of buying into sustainability before I realised that that’s not actually even that sustainable.”

Information is an essential part of this lifestyle shift. A huge part of the problem with the fashion industry is that people are not always aware of what they’re buying. ‘Greenwashing’ and ‘woke-washing’ is on the up and up in the industry, while at the same time, brand transparency is criminally low meaning that human and environmental exploitation continue largely unimpeded. Fashion Revolution, a leading activism group campaign for ethical practice in fashion, has published The Fashion Transparency Index 2021, ranking 250 of the world’s fashion brands and retailers based on their disclosure of information about their social and environmental practices. This report reveals a stark reality: 99% of major fashion brands do not disclose the number of workers in their supply chain that are being paid a living wage; Fewer than 10% of brands publish a policy to pay suppliers within 60 days, meaning that clothes are often worn by consumers before brands have paid the factories that made them; Most carbon emissions occur at processing and raw material levels and while 62% of big brands publish their carbon footprint in their own facilities, only 26% disclose this information at processing and manufacturing level and only 17% do so at raw material level. Transparency is only the first step in establishing ethical practice in fashion.

Albin

Albin’s t-Shirt is the sole memento of his life before moving to the UK. In his late teens he lost all of his luggage on a flight and had to start totally from scratch. It’s an expression of his teenage identity and it conjures memories for him of misspent days drinking cans in the park with old friends. Albin opts for cargo pants on the bottom half, a self-professed homage to the Rock, although we’re feeling more of a Kim Possible vibe. Dubbed his "adventure trousers" and equipped with deep, roomy pockets, these trousers have facilitated many incredible experiences, from trekking in the desert to travelling through Brazil.

“This t-shirt is pretty battered and old, but it's the only thing I have left from my teenage days because all my luggage was lost on a flight so I had to pretty much start from scratch, I have left is this one t-shirt.”

“These trousers are my adventure trousers. Whenever I'm hiking or travelling I always wear these because they’ve got loads of good pockets for your passport and whatever you need. They’re very Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Lots of space for movement, you can jump around. Very 2000s.”

We all have garments in our wardrobe that remind us of a different time in our life. Albin’s story is an extreme example of how clothes can become special through personal experience. These items serve as material reminders of different phases in our lives. According to this report by WRAP, the carbon, waste and water footprints of a garment are reduced between 20-30% if the lifespan is extended by just 9 months. You don’t need to be a mathematician to see that by re-wearing his t-shirt over a period of 7 years, Albin will have massively reduced its carbon footprint.