Liar liar pants on fire

And now my soul will burn in sustainable fashion hell forever. No, not really… but this is what happened yesterday:

The weather has been very cold recentlyand since my gloves were lost a while back I’ve taken some time to go to the city center to buy some new ones. I didn’t want to order online for a few reasons, the main one is that it would take too long to arrive and I was so cold. Upon arrival to the fanciest department store with an array of fashion labels I discovered that they didn’t have any gloves left. Not one, not even the most expensive brand… nothing. Off I go to the high street, to every store, H&M, Zara where the same story repeats itself: nothing… absolutely no gloves left whatsoever. Nada.

I take a deep breath and enter the last store: Primark. The first thing to hit me is the strong chemical smell. The second is mountains of clothes. 5 floors of shelves piled up with the poorly copied trends from the catwalk. I find the last pair of gloves, not gloves really but mittens. Well, close enough and they’ll keep me warm…so yay! Then I see the price: 2 euro.

These mittens where made from something, by somebody. Shipped here, from China, by boat. Unpacked, placed on the shelves, serial number entered into the computer. How can all this be done for 2 euro with appropriate kindness to people and the environment? It can’t.

The sad truth is there was no sustainable alternative in the city center. Even willing to spend more money for a better quality product I’ve ended up going to the Primark. There needs to be a better alternative to the fast fashion shops available to the shoppers. I would love for the biggest department stores to have a sustainable section, even if it’s more expensive.

The only thing I can do now is to try and make them last for as long as I can.