Back to the Basics — Gen Z and a Sustainable Wardrobe

Raised in an era of affordable and therefore disposable fashion, young people have

never been so responsible for the future of clothes.

Are we to blame? The fast fashion industry has made its production process quite hard

to grasp. There isn’t a modern-day circumstance where we are actually required to think

about the production of our clothes, only what we want and where to get it.

The understated truth is that how we buy, wear, and possess our clothes does, in fact,

matter. Now that climate change, labor exploitation, and affordability dominate public

conversation, learning to sew may be one of the most empowering skills Gen Z can

acquire. This is not because everyone would be better off stitching together their own

yarn like Puritans, but because understanding how an item is constructed and then

merchandised reshapes how it’s valued by us as individuals. This is especially true in a

highly saturated market, such as the fashion industry.

Inevitably, a button breaks, a seam rips, or a thread comes loose, and into the trash it

goes. Maybe if it’s a beloved piece, your grandmother will come to the rescue. In this

specific case, you’re not shocked or overly troubled that your garment didn’t hold up,

remembering where you got it and how much you paid. So, the only real inconvenience

is having to buy a new one, which is just a slight inconvenience, if that. A couple clicks

on Amazon, and it’ll be at your doorstep by nightfall, tomorrow.

Now let’s cut to the chase, this might sound unfathomable, but what if our first instinct

wasn’t to entirely replace, but to simply repair. Take your car for example, you hit a

curb on your way to work. Before you know it, the tire icon on your dashboard lights up.

Great! Flat tire. For background, this is your primary means of transportation, and you

probably paid a good amount of money for this well-oiled machine. Knowing you have

to get this fixed one way or another, you quickly accept the reality in which you have to

get a new tire. But can you imagine a reality in which you paid so little for your car, that

instead of repairing your tire, you buy an entirely new car? If the going rate to buy a

pre-owned or new car was lower than the cost to repair, you’d most likely just buy

another one. The first problem here would be what to do with the “useless” vehicle. If

you just threw it in a pile with all the other damaged vehicles; there would be quite the

buildup of materials to dispose of somewhere, somehow. We could go on about the

systematic inadequacies of the hypothetical. To be fair, there’s only so much reasonable

comparison between an enormous hunk of moving metal and a pair of pants.

Nevertheless, it’s a good way to help conceptualize what's happening with all the

material waste we’re creating. Even though we don’t see it directly, or know the ins and

outs, there is tangible waste and lasting effects for this kind of excessive consumption.

The use of modern technologies to over produce inexpensive goods has normalized

unrestrained consumerism. People who aren't aware of the negative effects continue

the behavior without realizing its counterproductive, and worse, are made to believe

they are being economically responsible while doing so. This could, in time, lead to

catastrophic damages for the generations to come. It’s difficult to think of the here and

now, but the risk has increasing momentum. As economic instability and global labor

concerns increase, the ability to repair and adjust clothes to fit our unique needs is far

more than just a hobby or domesticated skill; it’s reclaiming our power. It’s self

sufficiency. For Gen Z, having the skills to tailor, hem, fix a button, or even make a

piece of clothing, is considerably uncommon, rare even. It only takes a few yards of

quality fabric, a needle, and thread, a sewing machine at best, but it’s worth nothing

without the skill. While not rocket science, the skill, almost archaic now, is becoming

more important than ever for our future wardrobes, wallets, and waste.

Not to say simply knowing how to sew will completely dismantle fast fashion or erase

its carbon footprint, but it will certainly improve people’s understanding of clothes and

how they can be made with more personalized intent. Needless to say, tailors and

seamstresses won’t cease to exist. Just imagine getting back to a world where everyday

people have the tools to solve everyday problems. It seems like a lot of nitty gritty, but

showing up is half the battle. In a society where we’re so overwhelmed by the

uncontrollable, I believe we can find peace in the simple.