overconsumption

Consume less!

How to reduce our impact on the planet

In order to reduce our impact on the planet, the solution proposed is to purchase sustainable products. So the industries believe, or so they want to make us believe.

But the truth is different. If we don’t start from the assumption that consuming less is at the base of a sustainable lifestyle, we will not make any progress.

Indeed, there’s no sustainable product, recycled or upcycled, green or bio. Or add whatever label marketing will launch to convince consumers that those products are better than others. Not one of these products or all of these labels together will come to our aid.

Even if they really are better, sustainable products will not change anything. Why? They will not solve the issue simply because that is not enough.

Our lifestyle has an impact on the environment, and in order to sustain it, we are exploiting the planet.
Given that, will our impact on the planet be reduced if people consume tons of sustainable goods? It seems very unlikely.

Consume less: this is how to reduce our impact on the planet

A sharp reduction in consumption is the way to bring about systemic change. If we want to reduce our daily devastation, only one thing will be beneficial: consume less.

Of course, this is about all aspects of our lifestyle. So, reducing the energy and water we use, oil consumption, heating systems, planes, cars, etc. Then, of course, we will need the rest. Meaning sustainable, recycled, upcycled, green or bio.

This also means that we have the power in our hands. Indeed, consuming less requires action on our part.

No brands will ever tell us so, even if this is the only possibility that makes sense. They will continue making sustainable products, filling the world with new sustainable garbage while depleting natural resources!

Sustainability for a dead planet is meaningless!

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Purchasing for the trashcan

The cycle of fashion trends

The cycle of fashion begins

Ever since the rise of fast fashion and fashion influencers, we have stepped into a social construction where having endless access to clothing and styles is associated with glamour and the elite lifestyle.
Styles from last week are being replaced by this week’s fashion. Shelves are clearing. And ‘clothing hauls’ are posted on social media platforms by the various fashion influencers who are associated with that brand.

Examining the lie

The unfortunate result, the viewers of these videos are blinded by the heaps of clothing. And therefore, cannot see that these influencers not only were paid to show the clothing. But the clothing was gifted to them for free.
The reality of purchasing a plentiful array of clothing every single week is less of an actuality and more of a cloak of an idealistic utopian fashion fantasy. A trick that has succeeded in blinding all consumers.
Celebrities and influencers are the medium to present this idea of life that is not rationally attainable. The everyday consumer is, then, pressured to put weekend shopping sprees on their credit card bill. Old fashion in the trash, and wounds on the environment.

The fear of outfit repeating in our elitist society

The conclusive fear of the everyday fashion enthusiast is that in order to be viewed by society as enough, or relevant, they must participate in this cycle of mass fashion waste. In order to never appear in public wearing the same item they wore the week before they must fall obedient to the social norm of endless options, overconsumption, and false realities.

Styling your truth goggles

Rather than succumbing to this false fashion reality, try to remember the root of the fashion concept. Remember that fashion isn’t an endless array of styles cycling through it’s tailoring various attire to your own body type, skin tone, hair colour, and personal preference. Fashion is having the ability and privilege to choose a unique and quality piece from a line-up, paying the price for quality, and keeping it in your wardrobe for your lifetime. Then finally, when you’re doing your spring cleaning, you come across that one blouse that made you feel so beautiful. Then you remember, I bought this blouse before my first interview. And this was the blouse that gave me the confidence to be proud of my work for the first time.

Fashion has the ability to induce feelings that you might not have been able to create on your own. Fashion is your uniform. And it’s what makes you remember who you are and what you are presenting to the rest of the world. And fashion is not a logo on a t-shirt proclaiming to the world that you can afford to buy a lie.


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A piece written by Gavriel Ewart. An American girl studying fashion and communication at Cattolica university in Milan and interning for suite123

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Call it common sense

Common sense is the non-trendy term for sustainability. In other words, what people call sustainability, we call it common sense.

It is interesting to analyse the notion of sustainability and when it came out, what kind of change it brought up, or what new necessity has awakened. The concept of sustainability was born around the end of the ’80s. Some individuals realised that intense exploitation endangered our planet and future generations’ lives.

Back to the past

If we dig deep into our traditions, we discover that what we call sustainability now was for our grandparents just their way of living. It was their intentional choice, determined by necessity and contingency. But also by being aware of the value of goods, an understanding that each object or garment had specific properties and purpose. Manufacturing offered durable products therefore, almost nothing was wasted. Moreover, for them, objects had a second life.
There was a shared sense of respect, and life didn’t revolve only around consumption.

That’s the education our parents received, but no slogan framed that simple way of life.

Then came the time when fascinated by the consumerist mindset, our parents gave up on their education. Neurotic habits replaced a thoughtful lifestyle. A new ego-centred vision in which we believe we can dispose of nature or people the same as we do with the things we buy. Everything is at our feet – consume and throw away.

We have lived as if nature’s resources were infinite, let’s be honest about it. A very few people questioned it in the past, not the CEOs of corporations for sure.

Sustainability or common sense?

Eventually, we realised that resources are finite, and the world in thirty years will be unlivable. So here comes the term sustainability, sold as the discovery of a new meaningful lifestyle (the one we forgot about).

Well, there’s nothing new. What you call sustainability is just common sense.

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The curve of understanding

How long does it take to open our eyes?

The case of plastic traces the curve of understanding by showing the conflict between convenience and value.
Plastic was invented in 1920. Around 1960 humans started using disposable plastic profusely. One of the greatest inventions ever. You could use cutlery, plates and cups and throw them away! Likewise, we could use plastic bags and toss them. Well, that’s what disposable means. It just got out of hand, or we didn’t realise that there’s a certain number of people inhabiting planet earth, and we aren’t so good at multiplication.

‘Buy – consume – toss’
The perfect innovation for everyday life, and no one considered any side effects. For about 50 years, at least. Till one day, we realised the oceans are full of disposable plastic. And that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans!

So, it took about 60 years to notice that single-use plastic was polluting oceans. Finally, the EU banned plastic in 2021, but the damage is done.
Sixty years to open our eyes. And even now that is known, people do not worry much about that.

Learning the lesson
Will it take us that long for technology too? Since we are kindly invited to change a device every year. Or for furniture? Which, of course, is cheap but made to self-destruct within the shortest time possible.
Or for clothing, because ‘the industry of cheap’ is flourishing! People want more! ‘And who cares if I wear it for less than a season? I’ll throw it away!’

How can a different approach resonate in a world made of beautiful facades or people who don’t care?

It will resonate with a tiny niche of active thinkers who want to make the change. Because they care, they can make a difference.

#formodernhumans

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Fashion in the metaverse

The final frontier of business

While billionaires are busy conquering Mars and developing Space tourism, fashion moves the first steps into the metaverse.

Life on Mars?

We are boiling planet earth. Issues here are appalling: climate change, modern-day slavery, poverty. An impressive number of people have no access to water and food – which are basic needs. Plus, a pandemic. And what do they do? They plan to go to Mars!

Well, those billionaires could bring their contribution to solve problems here, in order to ensure a better life on planet earth. But instead of helping humans, they plan to move somewhere else. Develop space tourism and more pollution, consequently. Though, they are the same who advertise sustainable practices of their terrestrial businesses.

Mars doesn’t even seem a nice place to be. So it’s not understood what kind of alternative they are envisioning. These expeditions produce zero scientific value, just 100% business.
To use Eckhart Tolle words: “I call it intelligence in service of madness.”

In parallel to Space colonization, what happens in the fashion field?

Fashion brands are launching clothing, handbags and accessories for the metaverse. What may seem unmissable for the early adopters, who would even jump off a cliff to parade their coolness, in truth, sends alarming messages. Capitalism enters into the metaverse. It’s hard not to imagine any social and environmental cost related to that.

The illusion of consumption

At least a couple of thoughts jump to our minds.
This is what brands tell us: if you cannot afford our stuff in real life, you can buy them in a fake environment. An easy way to pretend to be rich! Also, there is a manipulation to overconsume. Since we aren’t consuming enough in real life, brands call us to do it in an imaginary place by reinforcing the physical model.
The need to show off one’s status isn’t elegant and scarcely appreciable in real life. Doing it in a fake environment only doubles the illusion of status and consumption.

Is it the world we want?

Prof. Emilio Gentile, an Italian historian, said on tv at Passato e Presente:

“that is modernity, the horrendous can coexist with the marvellous.”

We believe that a conscious lifestyle on our marvellous planet earth is worth more than any Mars or fake universe.

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