In our age, many people are working to support local, small, and independent creators and stores, all of
which I fully support. None is more emblematic of this than the whole "support local bookstores" movement.
Amazon sucks for a lot of reasons, and supporting these locally-ran places is nice; and recently, I am
coming across a similar idea for clothing stores.
You don't need me to tell you about fast fashion; we all know it, we all probably partaken in it at least
once. What I did not know until very recently is that all the retailers I know are fast fashion,
essentially. While SHEIN and Temu are "ultra-fast fashion", the stores at your mall are likely all fast
fashion too, even if they feel too expensive to be fast fashion, turns out it has nothing to do with prices,
but with the entire business model: do pieces fast, do a lot of them, and as cheap as possible (which may
vary depending on the store's target prices).
I am not here to judge where you buy your clothes, honestly, I find this rather counter productive. Instead,
my suggestion is to maybe look around where you are and see if there are local brands making stuff "the old
way". Depending on where you look, you may even find truly unique pieces that aren't mass marketable enough,
but that can be your next wardrobe sweetheart.
Here in Brazil, I have found an extremely lively streetwear scene. While they are almost all located in São
Paulo, the big boutiques carry these pieces and will ship it to you without issue, plus their own stores
that vary in quality. These small brands often carry a catalog of dozens, with an inventory of less than a
hundred items per piece. They can cost over double of what an equivalent piece costs at retail, with the
benefit of some unique design, gimmick, or just the thought that this was all sourced and made locally. No
sweatshop on the other side of the world. Besides, it feels nice to be aware of what you're wearing, it is
not a random shirt you bought at the mall on an app, it's by $BRAND!
v
Their pieces vary from logo-on-white-shirt to truly amazing creations, or just plain weird (looking at you,
Mad Enlatados). But that's the fun of it, it does suck that I end up losing the joy of going to a store
because of location issues, but I have found my wardrobe to be full of great pieces I can't stop wearing.
And hey, supporting the small and independent creators, right? Many of these stores and boutiques are firmly
planted in the community, hosting events, promoting artists, and sometimes even doing collabs with the big
ones (Class recently got a collab with adidas). I spent days looking for new pants, and it was only when I
turned to these brands that I found something that felt unique and fitting to my needs.
Maybe we do benefit from buying more expensive pieces that last longer and that make an impact, instead of
cheap and replaceable ones. Of course, provided this is something you can afford. It's a different feeling
when you sense that your outfit isn't just a product of a trend, but the effort of actual artists and
artisans.
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