Consumed: The need for collective change: collonialism, climate change & consumerism (2020) by Aja Barber is the book about the fashion industry that most easily takes you into the historical and current context of its workings in a way that is accessible and easy to understand. It encourages you to take a look at how you consume fashion, and offers tools and techniques to challenge your shopping habits. This book appears written for Western consumers.
This book is a good choice for anyone who wants to learn more about the fashion industry and sustainable fashion and does not know much beforehand. It takes you through the topics of colonialism, climate change, feminism, racism, white supremacy, the patriarchy, poor (poverty) v. broke, the secondhand for-profit industry, and more. I think for many this may be a challenging book, so I will start with this quote: "When we normalize changing our opinion when presented with new information, what we do is we allow everyone to move forward."
The first part of the book was my favorite. It takes you through how colonialism (historically) and colonialism (currently) have shaped and continue to impact the fashion industry, especially workers involved in the supply chain as farmers of raw materials, as garment workers or resellers in the secondhand industry. Barber draws a clear line on how Western production and consumption rates affect people and the environment. It urges people to acknowledge that colonialism is ongoing, and that continues to benefit cis, patriarchal, white supremacist capitalist agendas.
Dictionary
Cis - People identifying with the gender they are born as.
Patriarchy - "Patriarchy is a socially-constructed system where males have primary power. It affects many aspects of life, from political leadership, business management, religious institutions, economic systems and property ownership, right down to the family home where men are considered to be the head of the household." From it, society takes male-gaze centered beauty standards put on women; primarily men in the most powerful positions; competition between women, and how women have to "powerdress" in men clothes; the gender pay-gap; "boys will be boys"; women's achievements erased from history; the nuclear family ideal. However, it also builds on cis-heteronormativity
Heteronormativity - "The belief that there are two separate and opposing genders (women and men) with associated natural roles (masculine and feminine), which are in line with their assigned sex (female and male), and that heterosexuality is a given, rather than one of many possiblem sexualities." The assumption that everyone is "naturally heterosexual," and the privileges that come with being heterosexual. Heterosexuality is viewed as superior to queer sexual- or gender orientations.
White supremacy - "the belief, theory, or doctrine that white people are inherently superior to people from all other racial and ethnic group. White supremacy is also the backbone of queerphobia. White supremacy benefits from white, cis heteronormativity.
Capitalism\neoliberalism - "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit." What's important to mark is that profit for business owners is created by exploitation and that this is an inherent trait in capitalism. Capitalism cannot be ethical nor "green." Capitalism relies on heteronormativity and is built with white supremacy.
Highlighted quotes from Consumed
* [Consumerism] "Fast fashion perpetuates urgency, detachment and indifference towards clothing, basically marketing clothing as disposable."
* [Colonialism] "‘That system is one of extracting raw resources under conditions of exploitation to transform through consolidated technology into a value-added product and then centralize the financial gains to be made back into the hands of mostly white men. For the companies operating in this type of economy, whether they call it linear or circular, the goal remains to source as much material as possible for the lowest internalized cost."
* [Secondhand industry] "‘The global second-hand trade is part of the colonial business model, where the corporate entity is the colonizer and everyone else is the colony."
* [Greenwashing] "None of us should be thanking any brand which participates in recycling clothes, or puts out those handy bins for you to bin your own clothing waste in their stores. They should be doing that (and not using it as an enticement for you to buy more), and they shouldn’t be using it in their marketing material to make you feel good about their actions."
* [poor v. broke] "‘I shop fast fashion because I’m poor.’ But do you challenge the descriptor of ‘poor’ as probably ill-fitting? Because being broke is a state; poverty is systemic. Let’s face it, no one wants to be poor, especially not poor people, and no one should claim the title of ‘poor’ because they need a fast doorway out of a conversation about harmful cycles they find themselves caught up in."
* [climate change] "10 per cent of global carbon emissions are from the textile industry." (...) "At its current rate, the fashion industry is projected to use 35 per cent more land to grow fibers by 2030. That’s an extra 115 million hectares of land that could otherwise be used to grow food, or left to protect biodiversity.’ Thomas also states that the clothing industry is responsible for 20 per cent of industrial water pollution."
* [climate change] "Climate change is a powerful “threat multiplier”, making existing vulnerabilities and injustices worse. Especially under conditions of poverty, women and girls face greater risk of displacement or death from extreme weather disasters. Early marriage and sex work – sometimes last-resort survival strategies – have been tied to droughts and floods."
* [colonialism, white supremacy] "ISN’T A JOB BETTER THAN NO JOB? The simple answer is no. The long answer is: these jobs are not better than nothing, because before we instilled these systems in place, many of these countries were thriving in their own way. Don’t forget, before colonialist rule, India was known for its fabric production. British colonialism actively disrupted that economy and began to trade off the back of it. Indigo from the Gold Coast was sought after by early European traders, who exploited natural resources for their own wealth accumulation. These places have always had the resources to thrive, and certainly the labour, but an uneven playing field has made it appear as though ‘they need us’, whereas we built this whole thing off the backs of them. There is nothing fair and equitable about pilfering and exploitation. What would be fair is fair prices, fair wages and evenly shared power"
* [consumer action] "The items we own that aren’t ethical are not going to magically pay the garment worker, but we can respect all garment workers by using our items and giving them all a good life."
* [Consumer Identity] "We have become a nation of consumers. Our primary identity has become that of consumer, not mothers, teachers, farmers, but consumers. The primary way that our value is measured and demonstrated is by how much we contribute to this arrow, how much we consume."
Further resources (from the book):
Fashionandrace.org
Global Fund for Women
Clean Clothes Campaign
Asia Floor Wage Alliance
Labour Behind the Label
The Garment Worker Center
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