Slow Fashion - Blog Posts
I have a bunch of old handmade dresses that I don’t wear anymore since my style has shifted to being more masculine but I still want the experience of making more. Would anyone be interested in me creating some kind of online store to sell the dresses/feminine clothing+accessories? Most of it is gonna be large-3xl but I can make some stuff in smaller and bigger sizes if there’s a demand for it.
I was wearing the lichen themed hair clip I made, while on a walk yesterday. I spotted some beautiful lichen and moss and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. So here are a whole bunch of pictures of my hair clip alongside the organisms that inspired it, just because.
Plus 2 bonus pictures of lichen because I love it.
There is nothing quite like meeting another person who likes to sew their own clothes as a hobby who also happens to a 20-something year old. Like, PLEASE be my friend! We can go buy fabric together, and we swap buttons too if you want. Tell me all about your current sewing dreams! ^^
Free ways to be more environmentally friendly/zero waste
Email companies about their packaging and role in sustainability. You can easily do any company you like to buy from - even encourage less packaging waste to organic environmentally friendly ones because sometimes it’s hard to get those products without plastic.
Pick up trash and properly recycle it if you can
Learn and spread that information. Online, in person, make a cheap zine or pretty picture to post online to get more attention. And don’t spread false info, you should check multiple sources especially since big companies may like to shit talk about options that oppose them.
Eat less. Eat less meat. Eat less packaged products. Eat out less. Eat less dairy and cheese.
Eat more in terms of what you already have so you don’t have food waste. Meal planning can help with this. And be sure to look up actual expiration times on foods you buy in order to keep track and because the sell by/use by date is more for actual stores vs you eating it. Just, you know, have common sense and make sure it’s not chunky, smelly or slimey.
Dumpster Diving. Some people live solely off the food they find in dumpsters. Just do your research, check local laws, and bring gloves.
Start a garden with your food scraps.
Compost. You already have the banana peels, grass clippings, etc. Might as well try to compost it then add whatever compostable packaging you get after.
Buy less, that’s a given. First rule of zw is to use what you have. And focus on your needs vs feelings, “cheap deals” or aesthetic.
Recycle. That’s not free if you have to pay the trash company fees to be apart of their recycling program like I do. But there probably are recycling bins locally. It depends on your household number, location to the recycling bins, transportation but the easiest option would be to just collect it over a period of time if you have space at home then take it all to be recycled. Grocery stores like Walmart also have plastic bag recycling bins because grocery bags tend not be accepted at certain recycling programs. Here’s a good guide on recycling plastic.
Re-use. You really don’t need those aesthetically pleasing mason jars or fancy jars off Amazon. Use glass jars you already buy. Jam jars, pickles jar, sauce jars, spice jars, heck even wine bottles. You can even find or reuse the plastic bottle tops and put on the glass jars for instant shaker or squirt bottle. Plastic ones too. I put little craft stuff in my soy sauce containers. You can still reuse water bottles for a while before recycling it. Also try to re-use things your family or friends don’t use anymore.
Repurpose/upcycle/DIY. There are already a million different ideas out there on how to find new uses just about everything you already have. And sometimes DIY is better than buying. You can make underwear from t-shirts. Mesh curtains can become produce bags. Beewax wraps - and even vegan versions of this - seem to be cheaper and easy to make. You can un-knot old knit/crochet products and make something new with the yarn.
Use fossil fuels differently- which you’ve already been told. Cold water saves on energy used to heat it up. Wash clothing less. Turn down the house temperature a little bit. Turn off light and electronics. Car pool, ride a bike, use public transportation, make one trip a month to that one bulk store two hours away vs multiple in a shorter time span.
Free Stuff/Trading. Use Freecycle, find a local group for free stuff on fb, organize a clothing swap, look on the side of the road because people throw out perfectly good household stuff like chairs and appliances.
Choose slow shipping and less packaging. Two day shipping means trucks aren’t packed to full capacity which means more trucks driving back and forth thus more emissions. Vox did a good video about it here. If you shop at Amazon you know you can have your package wait and get all your items in one box. But you can do more! Shelbizlee did a great video about reducing Amazon packaging.
Consider, think and research. There are endless things to think about and consider your options. Easy stuff like buying secondhand instead of new, choosing a glass or cardboard option vs plastic in your grocery store, checking for local options. But there’s also having to consider if it’s more zero waste and sustainable to diy or purchase from an ethical company. And you might even want to reduce your recycling more since plastic can only be recycled a number of times so then you have to reconsider IF and how you can re-design your zw routines even more. These are things that are different for everyone but don’t get overwhelmed by seeing lots of problems and not being able to solve every one in your lifestyle. Doing the best you can is the goal.
All of this! I love natural materials; they last beautifully, are easy to mend on your own, and don't look dingy after 3 washes. The only real problem is you must learn how to do laundry properly rather than dump all of your clothes together into the washer with 2 tide pods and then blast them with the dryer 1-3 times. Like... A waxed cotton canvas barn coat is significantly warmer than my polyester polyfill jackets on drippy dark hikes, wool & cotton socks don't give me blisters, silk (actual silk, not nylon and elastane) stockings don't give me rashes on the backs of my thighs. Natural materials are your friends!
Idk exactly how to explain this but the softness of real wool and real linen is very different from the artificial softness of polyester “sherpa”, fuzzy faux-fur, spongey acrylic knits and people have gotten too used to the soft plastics and now associate wool with “itchy” and linen with rough and cotton with “too heavy” and then go and wear 100% polyester fleecy sweatshirts and say it’s so warm and cozy but actually they’re just staticky cooking in their sweat locked inside a plastic membrane and you are paying too much to be wearing filaments of petroleum products and the money isn’t going to the people sewing them either. I’m saying you all need to touch grass and the grass in this situation is good quality textiles made of natural fibres.