What if there is actually enough for everyone?
I’m talking about the basic necessities for survival: food, clothing and shelter.
How did we end up in this bizarre situation whereby the most urgent crisis in human history is being caused by the overproduction of food and clothing; yet we are forced to give up our most precious resource — time — working for money to buy food and clothing?
The fashion industry alone is responsible for 8–10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, which is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck full of textiles is landfilled or burned (UNEP, 2018). And we haven’t even touched on the abuse of workers.
Clothing is a basic human need. Fast fashion has made it cheaper and more accessible, but because it doesn’t last, our needs for warmth, safety and comfort are not met for long. So we constantly *need* to buy more. Even if we can afford to spend money on higher quality, more ethical brands, the nature of the fashion industry (and broader capitalist culture) is to create trends, and what an individual wears tells a story of how they relate to that trend or culture. Comfort is about more than how something fits or feels against our skin. Rightly or wrongly, our clothing makes a statement on status, and whether or not we belong in a particular space or community.
Women especially know how it is to be treated differently according to how stylish and flattering an outfit is. In this (and almost every other) context, “flattering” is to make your body look smaller and perkier. So if you have a baby or hormonal or other natural changes to your body, you will *need* to buy new clothes to be taken seriously and feel like you still belong.
This is especially true for the workplace, but also on special occasions; the weddings and parties where we are expected to don our finest and never wear the same thing twice. Sometimes, in time poverty and desperation, we buy multiple items when we don’t love any of them, hoping that something will work on the day. Over time we upgrade our storage spaces, holding on to an expanding range of styles and sizes just in case; or we dump bags on charity organisations, trying not to think about how much of our money went into those bags, but relieved that they are someone else’s problem now.
Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE a good op shop (thrift store). I’ve been digging for buried treasure and guilt-free dopamine in those places for as long as I can remember. I love that we have options for cheap clothes outside of fast fashion, and that any small amount of money handed over will go to helping people in need.
But estimates are that only 10% of donations are actually sold. Even more than the rest of us, op shops are drowning in stuff and using valuable resources to sort, store, sell and dispose of it. Unsold donations end up in landfill, often after being shipped overseas to poorer countries. We created a whole new industry to deal with our overconsumption, and it’s not even touching the sides. But it sure makes us feel better about buying things we don’t need!
We do need clothes. And we can buy better, buy less, buy secondhand. But what if we didn’t have to buy at all? If there are already enough clothes on the planet for the next six generations (Source: Generation ReWear Documentary, Vanish x British Fashion Council 2022), couldn’t we just redistribute some of those?
In 2019 I received an innocuous inheritance through my local Buy Nothing group equivalent. Dubbed “the travelling suitcase,” it was literally a suitcase full of women’s clothes, passed around the neighbourhood. Before the management was bequeathed to me from a neighbour who moved away, I had been an avid user, regularly picking it up from her place and taking it home to peruse at my leisure. I would try things on, keep what I liked, and then add in the clothes from my own wardrobe I didnt wear. Then I’d drop it back to her on my way to work or school pickup, and she would check it over before arranging for the next person to have a turn.
Inside it I’ve found almost anything you can think of — evening gowns, gym gear, jeans, t-shirts, jackets. I’ve tried things that I’d otherwise never consider, and found stuff for my friends. I keep pieces I love and that fit well, not always with an occasion in mind, so that when something does comes up I can “shop” my own wardrobe. Anything I don’t wear or that no longer fits goes back into the suitcase to find its next match. Just like op shopping, the spoils are always down to luck, but the travelling suitcase is such low effort for high return and it’s actually really fun.
For me, it has been lesson in abundance. Capitalist culture can make it really difficult to receive something that we haven’t paid for. We feel indebted, like we’ve lost our agency somehow. We don’t want to be seen as anything less than hard working and independent. But we have to realise that receiving something doesn’t necessarily mean that someone else is losing out. Life is not a zero sum game, and our contributions are not always transactional, occurring in the same space and time.
Most people are cautious of taking too many items out of the suitcase when it’s their turn, conscious of leaving enough for the next person. But there is ALWAYS more. Collectively, people always give more than they take. I actually love it when someone takes a large haul, grabbing things for their sister, or daughter, or friends. It saves me time culling to make room for more donations. And it’s so much more important that the clothes are worn instead of being hauled around the neighbourhood just in case.
This is not just about saving money on clothes. It’s about redirecting our time and energy. I couldn’t care less if you are rich or poor; if you got a beautiful dress for a wedding without having to spend an afternoon in the shops, maybe you got to spend that afternoon with your daughter instead, who got an unexpected opportunity to talk through a problem with her mum, causing her to have a better week at school and thus be nicer to her brother, resulting in less screaming and fighting at home, reducing your stress levels so you have more energy to volunteer at your local animal shelter… I dunno, but on and on it goes. Wayyy better than turning your dollars into demand for more fast fashion.
We live inside an economic system that strives to constantly grow everything, all the time. For us, that means more work, so that we can buy more things, so that we can work more, to buy more…. The travelling suitcase is a rare opportunity to not feed the machine, without sacrificing the joy that can come with creating and wearing outfits that make us feel good. And fashion absolutely should bring joy, through creativity and play and self-expression. We need all of these things to nourish us for the challenges ahead. This is not about providing clothes for people who would otherwise go without (though that might be a wonderful side-effect!). It’s about providing another option to those who would otherwise buy something new.
While the travelling suitcase is obviously specific to clothes, the concept can be applied to any number of things. Where I live, most areas have a Buy Nothing or “For Free” Facebook group where people give away all sorts of unwanted items; there are initiatives like Feed It Forward where food that would otherwise be thrown out is given away to the community for free; even “Little Free Libraries” where anyone can take home books for free, and make donations too.
I have experienced a significant change to my mindset. I love fashion, but I don’t want to pay for clothes anymore if I don’t have to. I don’t want to go to the shops if I don’t have to. Of course there are times when I do have to, but I try and exhaust all of my other options first, starting with the lowest effort — my own wardrobe. And I love helping others to do the same. I hope we can break away from micro-trends, and the stigma associated with receiving things for free. The more of us who can start thinking differently about how we consume, the more of a chance we have to unwind some of the damage being done by a system we cannot help but participate in most of the time.
What do you think? Would you wear clothes from a suitcase passed around the neighbourhood? Would you consider starting your own? Follow along here or on Instagram @re.distributed for tips and inspiration!
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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