5 Steps to Getting Over Your Break-Up with Fast Fashion
Monday 14 February 2022
Fast fashion is the ultimate shitty ex. It’s the truth. You’re caught up in an intense and possessive relationship (potentially for many years) that you keep going back to because maybe they’ve changed this time. It’s only once you’re out of that situation that you can fully see how many times you were lied to or taken for granted. This Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating getting over our breakup with fast fashion and moving on to healthier and slower relationship with clothes and consumption!
1. Acknowledge that this relationship was toxic
Make a list of red flags. Yes, all of them. They said you were ‘not like other girls’ and claimed to be an intersectional feminist while paying black and brown women poverty wages behind your back. They repeatedly lied to your face about the impacts of their sustainability efforts and how much they care for the environment. They got angry when you returned their hoodie and threw it straight in the bin.
2. Talk trash about them with your friends
The ultimate cure. Maybe get a bit drunk while doing so, turn all your friends, colleagues, family against them. Tell them the facts, show them the stories of millions of women (and the also that 1 big planet) they have harmed too. Get it out of your system and rant to the world. Your feelings are valid and shouldn’t be kept in.
3. Unfollow, block, delete on ALL social media
You do not need that kind of negativity in your life. Leave the reminders behind. Yes, that includes their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, even their crappy little newsletter you think no one reads. If they have a YouTube channel, block that too. But don’t worry we can still be bitter and leave comments calling them out on their lies and deception – we’re just protecting those to come right?
4. Reflect on what was missing in the relationship and what you’re looking for in the future
What were you so unsatisfied with that you kept going back to fast fashion? What was at the root of the short term gratification but prolonged feeling of general shittiness? This year, we’re working on ourselves, and feeling more confident in who we are, what we like, how we want to dress, and our own values, so that we’re not sucked into trends and end up with things we don’t actually want or have any interest in. What kind of clothes do you actually want? And what do you want their stories to be?
5. Forget them and thrive in your new relationship with fashion
At this point you will only remember them when listening to Taylor Swift’s ‘I Forgot That You Existed’. Years, potentially even months down the line from your cutting ties with fast fashion you won’t think about needing new clothes, and if you do, you’ll reconsider if you actually want that garment or if you only want to buy it for the short-term gratification to briefly fill the void of inadequacy that white supremacist capitalist patriarchy pushes on you constantly. Here’s to being able to better spot red flags, see beyond the lies, and having better relationships with ourselves and the clothes we wear!
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