sustainable fashion stylist

Secondhand September: the co-dependency of fast fashion and secondhand fashion /  by Nina Gbor

It's Secondhand September again this year which feels a little redundant for me because almost everyday has been a "secondhand September" day for me since I was a kid! As a matter of fact, about 99% of my extensive, eclectic wardrobe is secondhand.

Nevermind though because now that the world is finally catching on to the glory of preloved clothing, we have to keep the momentum going! Secondhand September gets bigger every year. So here's my all secondhand and thrifted ensemble: a colourful long coat, a pink dress, a pink bag, red sunglasses and ivory-coloured boots!

According to thredUP's 2022 Resale Report:

  • 70% of consumers say it’s easier to shop secondhand now than it was 5 years ago.

  • Resale is expected to grow 16 times faster than the broader retail clothing sector by 2026.

  • The global secondhand apparel market will grow 127% by 2026 – 3X faster than the global apparel market overall!

On paper this is great news because secondhand is more 'sustainable' than new (fast) fashion. However for something to be secondhand, it has to be new first. Over 100 billion garments are still being manufactured each year and approximately 84% of it is still going to landfill in spite of the rise in secondhand fashion sales.

It's so cool to see so many people who would never wear preloved hoping onto this wagon. However, it's not sustainable, even for a thriving 'sustainable' secondhand market if over 100 billion garments are still being manufactured to cater for the secondhand market.

Retail brands being aware of the popularity of preloved, use the secondhand selling trend to justify their overproduction. As in, they can keep over producing because their customers will resell.

We have to get off this (secondhand) fashion TRENDmill (a phrase I made up) by quitting overconsumption of retail fashion in the first place. There's already an abundance of clothes on the planet including vintage! But we need to remember the garment workers who make these garments and insist that brands pay garment workers liveable wages with decent quality of work life, so that workers are not left out in the cold when we stop overconsuming fashion.

The first step is demanding full transparency of brands' supply chain through laws. Then adding laws that ensure liveable wages, equity, redundancy packages and additional support for workers. Big brands can afford it.

Styling an ethically made pink handloom scarf /  by Nina Gbor

In all my years of being a style enthusiast, I’ve acquired many scarves from thrift and vintage stores, but I never took the time to learn how to style them. Until I received this beautiful pink cheeky rose naturally dyed handloom scarf from Fabric of Humanity.

Fabric of Humanity is a social enterprise that works with skilled artisans in rural India that use hand-looming and natural dyes. Their scarves are woven, hypoallergenic and compostable. I love the fact that they are challenging the power systems that cripple the opportunities and human rights of people to live prosperous lives. They ensure artisans are supported, empowered and paid liveable wages. Not only is this the right way of running a business with makers in the global South, but it’s also a way to to boost local economies in poorer communities by paying workers enough to enable the possibility of climbing out of poverty and the opportunity to thrive. It gives possibilities for better access to education for workers and their children and also healthcare. These are some of the fundamental ways that influence socio-economic development in communities in the global South. Supporting social enterprises like Fabric of Humanity goes so much further for peoples’ lives than shopping with conventional fashion brands.

This is the scarf that inspired me to raise my style games where scarves are concerned. It’s so pretty that I wanted to restyle it in several ways, with a couple of pink outfits. I used a 1980s retro-vintage pink dress, preloved pink coat, preloved pink jumper and preloved pink clutch purse. Why? Because having many different ways of wearing an accessory like this scarf inspires you to use your clothes more frequently which means you get more wear out of each item. You end up realising you don’t need to buy more clothes for different events and occasions in your life. Just restyle, mix and match pieces in your closet and play dress up in your own wardrobe! Ultimately if the majority of all of the fashion-loving world does this, we’ll have far less textile waste going to landfill.

 ♥ Nina Gbor

Instagram: @eco.styles