Aja Barber
@AjaSaysHello
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She/her/they. Author of Consumed. Contributing editor at @ElleUK . Fashion is best when it is slow, ethical and inclusive!
London, England
Joined November 2008
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So I did the thing I’ve always wanted to do with my life and wrote a book!! Consumed: On Colonization, Climate Change, Consumerism & The Need For Collective Change by Aja Barber
Because consumption is trashing the planet and emptying our wallets:
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I read that Dubai story about sex travel and like honestly I am turned off food today. We gotta do something about rich people. The way they lord money over folks is sick. It’s criminal. Squid games levels.
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I actually do have a few thoughts about coffee lady situation. I genuinely think social media has gotten us to this miserable place where folks are tired of being happy for other people. It’s the impact of comparison culture while everyone pretends it doesn’t exist.
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I'm going to do something I'm probably going to regret on Twitter. I'm going to share every eco friendly swap I've made that's saved me money. There's a misconception that sustainability is EXPENSIVE and I hate it because it keeps people from trying new things.
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Whenever I do a thread about ethical fashion and why I care about all of us changing our habits, I always get asked for shopping suggestions.
The first step is SLOWING DOWN. People want to replace fast fashion one for one with ethical fashion and it just doesn't work.
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You are always closer to the person working in the factory for pennies than the billionaire at the top that pretends not to see any of us. Remember that every time someone you know tries to justify a system that harms other humans.
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Okay so I’m about to tweet some stuff that’s probably gonna get me a fair amount of hate. But since we’re speeding towards the holiday season I fully want everyone to pledge that this year we are Team Buy No Crap.
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It's not "a scorcher", it's CLIMATE CRISIS. The media owes a duty of care to the general public to report that accurately.
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Apparently ballet is REALLY big with adults right now. I've noticed all my classes are pretty much filled. It could just be a New Years thing too. Anyway I think you should do it! Cmon, life is short, what are you waiting for? Here's some etiquette tips for ballet classes:
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How does fast fashion bottom out and drag everyone down with it? Happy to explain! Shein is slowly but surely putting everyone around them out of business. This is why ASOS is doing so poorly for example.
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You know what's the weirdest thing for me about the fast fashion conversation? How people can make it about "poor people" while COMPLETELY ignoring that the person who is categorically "the poorest" is the person making the clothes, getting paid 10 cents. That is WEIRD.
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Like people are laughing but it is a form a sex trafficking. Flying someone to Dubai and telling them they have to pay their own way back unless that agree to be degraded in a way they didn’t sign up for. All for $50K? It’s not fetish if the person is compromised.
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Guess what *whispers* you don’t need to new clothes to sit in a theater and watch a movie. It’s fun to dress up but if it requires buying new things you need to recognize you’re part of the problem.
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Today I want to talk about why you buy the way you do. Did you know that WE collectively buy five times more clothes than we bought in 1990? It’s hard to understand that I think if you were born a bit later.
We simply didn’t always shop that way.
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Also if a rich guy ever offers to fly you to Dubai, run. Do not walk. Do not pass go. No amount is worth it.
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Please do not buy into this eco hazard of a trend. One these things pop (and they always do) it’s a mess of plastic going straight into the landfill. Please please make it stop with us.
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Those men are choosing Dubai because there is no power for their victims there. They know that. They know the law will be on the side of money and power so say one of them went to the police? Good luck with that. You can’t consent when you’ve been put in a compromised position.
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Another unpopular opinion. I think all the climate activist are brave and I applaud them. I don't give a hill of beans about what folks think of their methods. We are all going to die. It's code red. If any there is a time to disrupt shit, it's now.
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Don’t let brands pressure you into buying things you don’t need. You are good enough. Your friends will be happy to see you in a dress that’s ten years old ♥️
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The next day expensive luxury presents began to arrive at her hotel room. Now mind you this man didn’t have her name even. She and her friend took this as a sign to leave the country immediately. They knew the unwanted attention wasn’t going to stop and they felt in danger 😞
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Here’s the thing, the cheap plastic tchotchke you bought for that person you didn’t know how to buy for will end up in the landfill before the week is over and won’t be anywhere near as memorable as treating someone to a good meal, or let’s be honest, giving cash.
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We COULD … just tax the rich …
My unpopular opinion? We should tax people who have pets
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I'm not wearing low rise jeans. Nope. I did it before and I was 15 years younger and my ass crack was cold. And you don't have to wear them either. Ignore it.
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For the millionth time, no one is demonizing the poor in critiquing fast fashion. However, pretending that it's the "poor" who drive this system is intellectually dishonest. The fast fashion industry is a trillion dollar industry driven by folks with disposible income.
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The Meghan Markle hatred in this country makes my fucking skin crawl.
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6. We share tools with our neighbors! Do you ever think it's ridiculous how many household tools each household has that get used once a year? Chat with your neighbors. Make a spread sheet. Send a whatsapp. Sharing things, builds comraderie, friendship and community!
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The reality is our grandparents were incredibly "sustainable" and they were working with a lot less. Moving towards a more sustainable lifestyle is more about mindfulness and slowing down. I've greatly enjoyed it to be honest.
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2. Did you know that using a tumble dryer for a year emits more carbon that a tree can sequester in 50 years? And they spike your electricity bill right up while ruining your clothes! Get a drying rack and join the rest of the world where tumble dryers aren't common.
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Do not ask me to share the thread, I will not. If you want to know that badly do some sleuthing and find it. If you respond to my tweet and add it I will block you. I didn’t ask.
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If you're tweeting at me, "where do I buy this from?" ... you're missing the point of what I'm saying. The first urge shouldn't be "must find new shopping resources". The first urge needs to be
"But do I shop too much? Is it a problem?"
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I'm so glad people are telling the truth about this behavior.
@ianhardingworld
@brenbrenchie
@thetimes
@byEmilyAndrews
This is the Sun asking people to write articles to assassinate her character.
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This is completely true. I was explaining to someone that Old Navy’s 1995 quality was superior to anything on the fast fashion market today. But it also only had like ten seasons a year.
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When you demand that ethical fashion be “affordable” what you are asking is that it no longer be ethical. Fast fashion is only the consumers version of affordability because of exploitation of everyone else. It is not affordable to anyone within the supply chain.
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If you don’t understand how much clothing should cost TRY to understand how clothing is actually made. How long does it take to make a pair of trousers? A tshirt? A dress? Now with that idea in mind, take your hourly minimum wage and multiply. What does fabric cost?
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Shein is driving prices so low that any person I know who makes clothing for a living spends way too much time justifying WHY their stuff cost what it cost and honestly they shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t be going around questioning what folks deserve to be paid.
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1. I switched to shampoo bars. I was spending a lot on shampoo especially having a lot of hair and shampoo bars last me about 3-6 months (depending on how much I wash my hair) and cost $8-15. They're easy to travel with as well, which is a bonus.
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THERE ARE PLENTY OF CLOTHES. And enough that everyone should be shopping second hand. Your charity shop doesn't suck because a twenty something opened a depop store. Your charity shop sucks because fast fashion has lowered of the quality of what can be found in a charity shop.
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It's shocking how little news we get from other parts of the world. I noticed my friends in Australia posting about flooding but it's really not made front page news here. If you don't know, it's been raining for three straight weeks, biblical rain. Climate crisis is here.
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Part of why the fast fashion conversation is SO DISHONEST and there's so many myths floating about is because people really don't like what the truth reveals about them personally.
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That’s how much they were 27 years ago when I was in grade school. You are shocked because exploitative pricing has tricked you into believing $10-20 for something like this is a normal price when it can only be that low if someone is being exploited in the supply chain.
What the hell is happening in the backpack market rn
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That whole attitude shows up when people don’t realize that these shawls are actually an incredible deal for the work that goes into them. Because Shein has you believing that something which takes 25 hours of labor should cost a fiver. That’s simply NOT true!
I went street bazaar where someone was selling shawls their Mom made with handwoven fabric and hand embroidery for $40, and there were people walking by saying it was too expensive and I felt so sad because they were practically a steal and people couldn’t recognize it.
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One of my dear friends went on a trip to Dubai when she was younger with a friend. She was modeling at the time but they paid for their trip and just wanted to have a relaxing time.
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One of the worst things fast fashion has done is allow folks to completely erase poor folks in other parts of world from the conversation. It’s allowed folks to create an illusion that “our” poverty is the ONLY poverty and as long as you mention that, no one can challenge you.
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5. Beeswax wraps (£6) instead of cling film/saran wrap (also £6). One can be used over and over and the other keeps you in a buying loop. Cling film can't be recycled and messes up the machines at the recycling facility. It's something we need to phase out.
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A myth I want to talk about today is the one about gentrification of charity shops. The fashion industry pumps out annually over 100 billion garments. That's 12 times the human population in clothes. And we dump billions of those garments in the global South annually.
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She was sitting down to breakfast one morning and a rich man sent a note to the table propositioning her. She thought nothing of it and carried on with her day paying him not attention at all. She didn’t give him her name or anything just brushed it away.
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If we’re speculating about the history of Meghan’s earrings it’s a great time to look at the contents of all the jewels in the Monarchy and the British Museum and talk about how they were acquired. Let’s do this thing! I’m so glad we’ve reached this point in our society!
The Times can reveal that the duchess wore earrings to a 2018 event that were a wedding gift from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said by the US to have approved the murder of the Jamal Khashoggi.
The dinner took place three weeks after the killing.
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The way society has turned overconsumption into a status symbol and waste into something to aspire to is really horrifying to watch. (I never have more than a few perfumes at a time because they go off and it takes me years to use up a bottle. I'm also particular about scents).
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And before we go any FURTHER ... if it doesn't APPLY TO YOU THAN IT DOESN'T APPLY. If it's not at your intersection than it's not. Carry on. Not everything's going to be FOR YOU. These are just some things I've found helpful. So scroll past if you aren't into it.
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MEGAPHONE *
STOP TELLING PEOPLE THRIFTING IS BAD WHEN THERE IS HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF CLOTHING ITEMS ON THIS PLANET BEING DUMPED IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH REGULARLY.
STOP IT RIGHT NOW.
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No one's blaming poor people (because actual poor people don't buy 68 items a year). But it's shitty to ignore systems that are oppressing others so you can have cute summer lewks guilt free which are brought to us at the expense of someone in the global South being exploited.
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You’re so weird. She’s mocking herself. Is your culture a curtsy? You people are all so weird.
Why is it ok for Meghan to mock our culture in this way? Or does racism only work one way?
#HarryandMeghanNetflix
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4. Make up wipes. Haven't bought any in years. I use the reusable one and simply throw them in a mesh bag in the laundry. It's an extra step but you do save money there as well. And wet wipes don't biodegrade. At all. They're gonna come back to haunt us in the future.
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Unless you have impeccably good taste, there’s a very good chance that that $5/£5 - $10/£10 tchotchke you’ve picked out will be a ball ache for the receiver. Where a £5 voucher for their favorite coffee shop will never ever be not appreciated in a cost of living crisis.
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Stephen and I met online and then decided to meet in NYC. He offered to cook one night and I decided there was nothing hotter than a man shopping for my groceries and today he still does most of our cooking and grocery shopping. Technically our first date was two weeks long.
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I am also Team One Small Nice Thing instead of Team Lots of Little Pointless things. Say your budget for your best friend is £25. Instead of getting them a hat and scarf from fast fashion, what about one bottle of nail polish from Chanel or Gucci?
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It's scaling back and avoiding buying things you don't need. It's owning less. It's being more mindful about everything that goes in our shopping carts and bodies. Like I said, I'm much happier and I do think I save money. Not to do the avocado toast thing but ...
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I think we're much better off just making the wealthy pay taxes instead of letting them go on submarines to a watery and terrible death where tax payer dollars will be used for what is guaranteed to be a search with sad results. Also I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
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That urge to replace unethical consumption with ethical consumption immediately ... THAT is exactly the problem. Like most of us aren't threadbare wondering around with no shoes. We have clothes to wear. We just don't want to be a part of the inconvenient truth about fashion.
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@GlamourMagUK
@pritipatel
Also just want to say Glamour UK I’m disappointed by these quotes and the way you’ve allowed this person to portray themselves as a feminist. Proposing to ship asylum seekers offshore isn’t MY feminism and if that’s yours than we have nothing in common.
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Do you think white people would still participate in fast fashion if it were white children doing child labor? It’s actually a real question, I’m not trolling.
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I shouldn’t to to say this... but if a dress cost £0.35 there’s something exploitive going on about the business model. Maybe the company is taking a hit on that dress but someone’s getting screwed beneath the seams.
I thought y’all were joking about the £0.35 dress at first.
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12. Lastly ... I have to say it ... quitting fast fashion saved me so much money y'all because I was spending too much. And maybe you are too. Take a break from a month and see if you don't have a little extra something in your wallet. It's effective.
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I'm really glad Gwen Stefani is being held accountable in this interview. She's been getting away with this nonsense for far too long. Good work Jesa Marie Calaor:
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Just Olive making biscuits in my hair. This is her happy place. Purring her little heart out. ♥️♥️♥️
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THE PRICE OF YOUR CLOTHING MUST GO UP IF YOU AGREE EVERYONE SHOULD BE PAID FAIR WAGES. (You don't get both, cheap clothes, fair planet. You can't create a magical system. You know that deep down inside.)
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STOP BLAMING “POOR” PEOPLE FOR FAST FASHION WHEN LITERALLY EVERYONE BUYS IT. (Poor people collectively do not have the funds to create and maintain a system with so many billionaires).
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At some point someone is going to have to study the lack of empathy surrounding consumer goods in our modern society. The bizarre hypocrisy of advocating for progressive leftist values in the US or UK while feeling like a company like Shein should exist (and purchasing from it).
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Influencer culture has really turned the highlight reel into the ultimate competition. You’re supposed to follow, constantly cheer for strangers to get good things, believe that they’re just like you, as life hands you nothing and seemingly hands some people everything.
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Let's talk about what we can currently do with clothes we don't want or can no longer use. Obviously most charity shops are closed so these times are hard and this whole pandemic I've seen loads of stuff in the street which is mega depressing.
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This man stole my friend’s dog in the Finchley Road area this evening. Please share and circulate. Let’s get Cooper back with his family who loves and misses him 💔
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Rest assured if you are Black there will never be a point in your career where you won’t have to suffer white micro aggressions and sometimes macro aggressions. Being Black in spaces that white folks feel they own is a constant exercise in absolute restraint.
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Not having the tools and resources to change my situation (job, living situation, love) really had me out here feeling like I was being taunted. I knew it was irrational but when life is in the pits watching other peoples endless “highlight reel” actually feels like an attack.
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3. I use a cup for my period. I'll still use an eco friendly applicator free tampon if I'm traveling and cup isn't ideal. Annually periods used to cost me $50-$100. Trimmed that expense right out of my budget. Instead of wearing pantyliners, I just wear black underwear. Easy.
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We have to get passed this idea that everything applies to ALL people. Don't do the whataboutism thing here. I've had enough of that today. Just learn how to say nothing. So without further adieu ... let's do less and save money.
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I just want us all to step back. Re assess. Make the corporations dispose of their cheap crap themselves. Cut yourself a break. Realize all this crap actually makes our lives sometimes more miserable. Buy things people will actually use.
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In many ways they’re ten fold beating fast fashion at the game they invented and profited from for many years and we can’t pretend like a lot of these brands always had THEE BEST ETHICS. Most didn’t and could only turn a profit from cutting corners but no one does it like Shein.
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7. We've swapped out grocery items for zero waste options. Pasta, rice, nuts, oatmeal, granola, dishwashing detergent, washing detergent, spices. All from the zero waste store. Sometimes ends up being cheaper than the supermarket on certain items. Do a price comparison.
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9. We always look for second hand furniture before buying new. Our loveseat was £550 full price, brand new (they never used it) for £300. The carbon footprint of a second hand chest of drawers is 16 times lower than buying a new one.
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What’s NOT okay is projecting shit this person CLEARLY didn’t do onto them because society hasn’t given you the agency to say “I don’t have to feel happy for this person” and keep scrolling.
Normalize neutrality for other folks joy. It’s a gamechanger.
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Update: As silly as this tweet is, I’m beginning to get really cynical and believe that stuff like this is meant to be a distraction from us noticing that … her husband Michael Gove approved of a new coal project in a time when we know we gotta wind down if we want to survive.
Why is it ok for Meghan to mock our culture in this way? Or does racism only work one way?
#HarryandMeghanNetflix
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Why do I want you to change your shopping habits? Why do I talk about this?
Because this system isn't good for the people who make the clothes, the planet, but ultimately it's not great for you either. Here's how my life has changed since I stopped buying fast fashion:
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I actually see this as a crucial turning point in folks waking up and valuing their clothes. BUT … this won’t happen before a lot of good folks are driven out of business that that’s pretty sucky. Every week ethical brands shutter and that’s a side effect of this as well.
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Someone tell me which stage of late capitalism this is. Putting your own branding on a deadly day seems like a really weird choice.
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I’m in the minority here but always ask someone what they want and need. I simply wouldn’t craft something for someone unless I KNEW they wanted it otherwise that’s a waste of my time. Not everyone appreciates crochet. That’s the world we live in. It’s not everyone’s style.
At 68 I still work full-time. I crochet in my spare time. I crocheted a blanket for a friend's son who turned 21. I had over 900 hours in, and $120.00 of yarn. I also gave him $121.00. My friend gave me back the blanket. She said her son only likes "designer" gifts, I am hurt. 😥
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This level of hoarding is being so normalized in our society. It’s very similar to the Shein haul, it became a trend which folks wanted to participate in.
you wouldn’t even be able to use this amount of products in a lifetime, literally what is the point of this
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No one actually wants cheap crap as a present. Literally no one. And before you rush in to call me “classist”, there’s a lot of proof that we as a whole … hate cheap things. Don’t get mad at me, get mad at get mad at society:
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Just because you don’t have money (because capitalism is exploiting you) does not mean it’s okay to demand that someone else continue to be exploited for the goods you buy. But that’s what the majority of the fast fashion conversation looks like … the solution …
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The marketing team promoting
@LeoDiCaprio
's new doc need to maybe work on how they talk to people bc I just told them to never contact me again. I need celebs like Leo to realize that you can't tell the rest of the world what to eat while zipping around in a private jet.
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I don't rate and review brands on here (I do that on my Patreon). Every now and then when I'm feeling extra generous I'll do a thread of brands I like, but I'm not here to encourage more daily consumption. I'm here to encourage all of us to slow down and being more thoughtful.
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As someone who has been on both sides of married life and single (for like the majority of adulthood), I can say with all honesty, that married people often lack empathy for their single friends and I strive to not be like that because I remember it all too well and it's stinky.
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Vet day for Olive and Juno is obviously going well 🥴
(Juno’s thing is hiding. She’ll survive the apocalypse, this one).
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8. We buy the wonky veg. Some supermarkets discount fruits and veg that are not cute looking. It all taste the same. Opt for that if you get a choice. We do. You can even subscribe to a wonky veg box in the UK. See if there's something like that for you.
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So when fast fashion brands like
@OfficialPLT
and Molly Mae distance themselves from the overconsumption problem ... remember these racks. Few brands make enough to get an ENTIRE rack in the charity shop. THIS RIGHT HERE IS THE PROBLEM.
#fastfashion
.
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Don’t be mad at me, be mad at the billionaire you gave all your disposable cash to for a pile of plastic clothes that look horrible next year and end up polluting the beach in Ghana.
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I understood a long time ago that social media could make me miserable. It started with the Facebook relationship status for me. I was single the majority of my twenties and I began to feel like I was being taunted by social media.
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I could probably wear what I own for the next 5 years and never NEED new clothes except underpants. I like fashion so I do buy things like the 2nd hand shirt I'm wearing today, but the immediacy is NON EXISTENT. And sadly it always was. That's what I want you to think about most
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