#Slow Fashion

[cicada-heart]

beaded sardine earrings ✨🐟 sold!

etsy

[mayakern]

hey, all! as many of you know, my small, queer-owned business is in a really difficult situation financially right now.

we’re doing our best to fix the situation—we’ve been running sales and we started preorders for our fan favorite petticoats, among other things—but there’s only so much we can do with the limited inventory we have because right now we just don’t have much left in stock to sell.

except for these polo shirts. these cropped polo shirts, which i absolutely adore, just have not sold. like, at all. i think partially it’s the peril of a new product, partially it’s that a lot of y’all just don’t like cropped shirts.

so i have a favor to ask: if you have bought one of these polos, can you please leave a review and/or post on socials so other people can see? i would really, really appreciate it 🙏

as with the rest of our clothes, these shirts are available in sizes S-6x and are ethically made.

thank you in advance!

(are you in canada? try mayakern.ca)

[idodeclaredesign]

Knights have to be soft sometimes.

Wearing the Valentine Chemise with a pair of antique scale patterned gaiters with a chainmail necklace made by @citadelbloodbeard

I really want to recreate this scale pattern brocade!

[samguayart]

Thinking about last year when I dyed a bunch of my clothes with a black walnut brew.

[77loves30]

Crochet for the day. Chevron dress HOTH

[thyfleshc0nsumed]

Choose your fighter

Pansy-Leatherwork.com | @pansy.leatherwork on IG

[ezekiellsplayground]

Wow, didn’t realise I hadn’t posted an update on this in a while. Anyway, the colourwork is completed & I’ve put a lifeline in before I start the ribbing. I am sooo close…..

[reasonsforhope]

It’s an open secret in fashion. Unsold inventory goes to the incinerator; excess handbags are slashed so they can’t be resold; perfectly usable products are sent to the landfill to avoid discounts and flash sales. The European Union wants to put an end to these unsustainable practices. On Monday, [December 4, 2023], it banned the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear.

“It is time to end the model of ‘take, make, dispose’ that is so harmful to our planet, our health and our economy,” MEP Alessandra Moretti said in a statement. “Banning the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear will contribute to a shift in the way fast fashion manufacturers produce their goods.”

This comes as part of a broader push to tighten sustainable fashion legislation, with new policies around ecodesign, greenwashing and textile waste phasing in over the next few years. The ban on destroying unsold goods will be among the longer lead times: large businesses have two years to comply, and SMEs have been granted up to six years. It’s not yet clear on whether the ban applies to companies headquartered in the EU, or any that operate there, as well as how this ban might impact regions outside of Europe.

For many, this is a welcome decision that indirectly tackles the controversial topics of overproduction and degrowth. Policymakers may not be directly telling brands to produce less, or placing limits on how many units they can make each year, but they are penalising those overproducing, which is a step in the right direction, says Eco-Age sustainability consultant Philippa Grogan. “This has been a dirty secret of the fashion industry for so long. The ban won’t end overproduction on its own, but hopefully it will compel brands to be better organised, more responsible and less greedy.”

Clarifications to come

There are some kinks to iron out, says Scott Lipinski, CEO of Fashion Council Germany and the European Fashion Alliance (EFA). The EFA is calling on the EU to clarify what it means by both “unsold goods” and ���destruction”. Unsold goods, to the EFA, mean they are fit for consumption or sale (excluding counterfeits, samples or prototypes)...

The question of what happens to these unsold goods if they are not destroyed is yet to be answered. “Will they be shipped around the world? Will they be reused as deadstock or shredded and downcycled? Will outlet stores have an abundance of stock to sell?” asks Grogan.

Large companies will also have to disclose how many unsold consumer products they discard each year and why, a rule the EU is hoping will curb overproduction and destruction...

Could this shift supply chains?

For Dio Kurazawa, founder of sustainable fashion consultancy The Bear Scouts, this is an opportunity for brands to increase supply chain agility and wean themselves off the wholesale model so many rely on. “This is the time to get behind innovations like pre-order and on-demand manufacturing,” he says. “It’s a chance for brands to play with AI to understand the future of forecasting. Technology can help brands be more intentional with what they make, so they have less unsold goods in the first place.”

Grogan is equally optimistic about what this could mean for sustainable fashion in general. “It’s great to see that this is more ambitious than the EU’s original proposal and that it specifically calls out textiles. It demonstrates a willingness from policymakers to create a more robust system,” she says. “Banning the destruction of unsold goods might make brands rethink their production models and possibly better forecast their collections.”

One of the outstanding questions is over enforcement. Time and again, brands have used the lack of supply chain transparency in fashion as an excuse for bad behaviour. Part of the challenge with the EU’s new ban will be proving that brands are destroying unsold goods, not to mention how they’re doing it and to what extent, says Kurazawa. “Someone obviously knows what is happening and where, but will the EU?”"

-via British Vogue, December 7, 2023

[monstera-tea]

symbiosis

some visible mending I did on an old flannel recently! this was fun but took me so long to convince myself to do, Im very happy with how its come out though. The lichens are oak moss, bloodstain lichen, a third thats very common in texas but i forgot the name of, and then some lovely little algae (i love algae in theory but hate it in eutrophication ;v;)

[cicada-heart]

hand embroidered & beaded felt earrings ❤️‍🔥✨🐟 made with vintage & salvaged beads + sequins

etsy

[strawberrum]

welcome to the fish market 🐟

[lockerandom]

You know, with Shein, Alibaba and Temu being so popular, I was thinking that maybe we could make a list of some ethical and sustainable clothing brands. These will be more expensive, but if you buy from them you'll be helping someone anytime you make a purchase. Please list all the ones you know in a reply.

Pact Clothing sizes up to 2X. Sells men, women, and children's clothing. Items are sustainably made and Fair Trade.

Midnight Hour Sizes up to 4X with a few 5X items. Cute goth and alternative clothing. Items are sustainably and ethically made.

Able Sustainably and ethically made women's clothing. Sizes up to 3X.

Svaha Own by an Indian woman. Very cute science themed clothing for men, women, and kids. Clothing is mostly made in India and is ethically sourced. Sizes go up to 5XL

Proclaim ethically sourced bras and underwear and basics that comes in three shades of "nude". Sizes S to 3XL

Toad&Co Clothing inspired by nature. sizes S to 2XL.

Raven and Lily Supports female artisans creating handmade jewelry, bags, and homewares. Empowers communities through fair wages.

Altar Specializes in alternative and custom fashion. Sizes S to 6XL.

EDIT: I did not expect the to blow up! I want to find all the suggestions in the reblog and add them to the OP. I'm a bit swamped with work this week though. I may make a whole new post later. In the mean time, please check the notes for some other excellent suggestions! Some are here on tumblr! Shout out to

@freshhotflavors @morningwitchy @crowlines @mayakern

@mayakern has posted images of her clothes in the notes and they are all very cute!

I want to stress that you can't do everything. This post isn't here to judge anyone who needs new clothes but can't afford an ethical brand. I once had my apartment flood (basement unit!) where the ceiling fell in the bedroom and had to replace everything! Clothing that fit me is hard to find and I think I bought everything from Walmart. This is just for some suggestions and to advertise these other brands.

[foragerknits]

I knit a beautiful dragon cardigan 😭 I wanted something medieval and intricate (and warm). I took the photos at the beach which was also very lovely.

Don’t mind the uneven button placement. It is what it is.

You can find the chart on Pinterest, I think it’s either a vintage filet crochet or cross stitch graph. I was also inspired by a similar sweater I saw made by @theeverlastingmuse

[jeraliey]

I found a pair of pants at a thrift store which really caught my eye, but had a giant hole in them...which turned out to be value-added, of course. So I filled it in with a big yellow scotch-darning patch:

And I was going to leave it with the big yellow blotch because I didn't really have the right colors in my thread box to match the fabric palette for embroidering......but then I was up way too late last night and decided that it would be fine if I just approximated them by using threads of two different colors.....

And I think it turned out pretty well!

Distance shot:

Yay for freehand embroidery practice! The more I do of these, the braver I'm getting!

[things-from-strings]

got a little carried away w/ this mend 🔥

[thyfleshc0nsumed]

Pansy Leatherwork Goes International!

Hi! If you don't know me, I'm Hank, the dyke behind Pansy Leatherwork. I'm an independent, transfem leatherworker, and I am now shipping my work internationally!

I now have shipping set up through my site for Canada, the UK, EU countries, non-EU Europe, and Australia/Oceania/NZ. If your country isn't listed but you're interested in getting something sent, shoot me an email.

Everything I do is on sliding scale cuz if it's not accessible to the freaks I'm actually in community with, it's not worth doing; I also have custom options for just about all of my designs.

As always, the amount of support and positivity y'all show me just blows my mind :)

Pansy-Leatherwork.com | @pansy.leatherwork on IG