- 7 months ago
Exploring the concept of sustainability within the context of Black fashion.
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00:00I know you guys enjoyed that as much as I did. I have a quick announcement. I'm going to ask you guys to just, anybody who's talking right now, if you guys could just give me a second. Anybody in the room that's talking? I'll wait.
00:13Guys in the back, anybody talking right now? Anybody talking? Anybody talking? If we can ask you guys to just stop the talking for one second. Now we know you guys are having a good time because I'm having a great time, right? But there's a lot of people in this room that truly want to get educated on the fashion industry. So with that being said, for everybody in the back that's having a great time mixing and mingling, we love that for you guys. We love that for us.
00:40But we're going to ask you guys to visit the SoCo Market, okay? SoCo Market, you guys can go over that way and you can also do some shopping. There's a bar outside. We're asking you guys to please visit the bar outside. And also JCPenney also has a style suite that you guys could visit. We're actually going to ask you guys, if you are in this room, and I know you're in this room because I still hear y'all talking.
01:05If you are in this room and you're talking, we're asking you to please visit our style suite with JCPenney, or you can go to the Diet Coke street style virtual walk, or you could go to SoCo Market, but we're asking you not to do it in here.
01:21So if you guys can help me out with that, if you do hear somebody talking, ask them to please keep it down. Yeah, maybe I'll do that when I get off the mic. But in the meantime, we're going to keep this thing rolling, right? We have another panel. Are you guys ready for the next panel?
01:35So as we keep it moving, how many people out there today have heard about the importance of sustainable fashion? Yes, clap it up for that. So whether you've heard about it or not, whether it was the first time you guys just hear me say it, the next panel has definitely got you covered because it's all about sustainability in fashion. So if you guys will please help me welcome to the stage fashion journalist and Omandi founder, Rachel Omandi.
02:05House of AMA co-founder, Akia Shabaka. And fashion designer, Tracy Reese.
02:33Hello, everybody. How are we doing?
02:35Thank you for coming to Essence Fashion House. We're going to talk, we're going to talk, we're going to talk. Okay. My name is Rachel Omandi. And I started the beginning of my career as a designer, but I work more as a fashion journalist now. I'm the host of, it's loud in here. It's loud.
02:53I started a podcast called The Cutting Room Floor. I'm the host of the fashion podcast. You get really good fashion interviews, tea, interesting stories. You should listen to it. But I did used to work as a designer. I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in design.
03:11So I know a little bit about this side of the business. And today we're going to talk about sustainability and it's an interesting topic because I don't really know if a lot of people even know what that means or why it applies to fashion.
03:25Like, is fashion even an industry worth sustaining? What does that mean? How do you put efforts toward it, et cetera? So first things first, I want to start the conversation by each of us speaking about what sustainability means to you.
03:40I'll start. There's a lot of different ways you can be sustainable in the business. I think for me as a designer, one of the main things that we did was use dead stock. Do you guys know what dead stock is? What does it mean? Let me quiz y'all. No, let me stop. Let me stop. Basically just using fabric that already exists, right? You're not making any, you're not using any new fabric. So that was one thing that we used to try to have sustainable efforts.
04:06Acquia, Tracy, I'll start with you. Acquia, how do you guys practice sustainability in your business?
04:13I would say that the conversation around sustainability really just landed in my lap. I mean, honestly, we were just using the resources that were available to us and dead stock materials was what was available and producing locally was what was available.
04:32And so for me, sustainability has a lot to do with the resources that are available to you.
04:38And I think now understanding just the effect of it on the environment, it's also understanding that it's not just what's happening, but it's also intention behind continuing it even as you grow.
04:52And Tracy, what about you?
04:53Well, sustainability encompasses so many things because it's, you know, textiles, how they're produced.
05:06It's also respect for the people who are producing the clothing.
05:13They have to be making a living wage, not, you know, getting paid by the piece, which usually is not a living wage.
05:25But it also means sustainable communities.
05:29So there's a social aspect and there's an environmental aspect.
05:32And, you know, we really have to work toward improving every area of how we approach design and how we live in our communities.
05:44And for me, you know, I've moved my business to Detroit because I think I can make an impact in Detroit when it comes to sustainability because I don't think it's a big enough conversation among black people.
05:59And we expand on that a little bit.
06:03Well, I think a lot of times sustainability, it feels like an elitist concept.
06:09It feels like it's only for those who can afford it, who can afford to buy organic food, who can afford to buy sustainable clothing, who can afford to be in a room having these types of conversations.
06:21And a lot of times we're excluded, and I don't think it's a conversation that is common in our communities.
06:30So for me, educating young people about what sustainability means, about what their role in sustainability can be.
06:39Because it's not just about what you can purchase, it's about how you're living, it's about whether you're wasting, whether you're respecting the planet, whether you're being a part of a sustainable community.
06:54Is there garbage in your street?
06:56Pick it up.
06:57Are you recycling?
06:59You need to be.
07:00Are you mending your clothes and taking care of the things that you've already purchased before you go out and buy some more, decide to throw those away?
07:10You know, the list goes on and on.
07:12So I think we all have agency to live more sustainably.
07:17And I think that that message has to be more common in our communities, and we have to lead as designers, as people who care about the future that we're handing to the next generations.
07:32Well, did you want to add to that?
07:34Yeah, I was going to say that just piggyback from what I was saying earlier about not realizing that I was a part of the sustainability conversation, just in the practices that I was doing in my work, I realized that what Tracy is saying, that a lot of times we are incorporating these sustainable practices just in our resources and how we have to create work.
07:58But we don't realize that it's a conversation that we can have.
08:02We don't realize that we're a part of the story.
08:04And that's something that I've been trying to even emphasize more, is that when you're deciding to start a business or you're creating things out of your home or you're using the resources that are accessible to you, you are a part of the sustainable conversation.
08:19When you're working with local workers, when you're empowering them and you care about the relationships that you're building with your community, you're a part of that sustainable conversation.
08:30It's not just a conversation that's just for people that don't look like you.
08:34Excuse me, can we ask the people in the back to bring it down?
08:41We're trying to have an important conversation and it would be really lovely if perhaps you want to listen or if you can take your voices down.
08:51I appreciate that, thank you.
08:54Tracy, after 30 years in fashion, you decided to, was it a rebrand or was it starting a new brand?
09:00Can you talk to us a little bit about Hope for Flowers and why it was important for you to begin that journey?
09:06Definitely.
09:07I launched Hope for Flowers in 2019 for multiple reasons.
09:13One, I was breaking up with my old business partners and it was time for me to, to figure out what my next chapter was going to be.
09:25And I'd been learning a lot about sustainability and about fashion's footprint in the world.
09:30And I felt that I was much more intelligent than the work I had been doing.
09:36And not that it was so harmful, it really wasn't.
09:40But I knew that I could do better.
09:42And I think each of us has to ask ourselves a question, am I better than this?
09:47You know, and if I am, then does my behavior show that I know I'm better and that I can, I can do better?
09:55So I wanted to launch a new brand because honestly, it's easier to start fresh when you're trying to work much more responsibly than to re-steer a sailing ship.
10:08And I wanted the brand to have a different name because I wanted it to be very clear that I had a different mission with this brand than with my old brands.
10:20And I'm very proud of my old brands, but I'm extremely excited about my new brand.
10:26It's like once you know better, you do better.
10:28There we go.
10:29That's on our website.
10:31Is it?
10:31Yep, once you know better, you know better, you must do better.
10:35Absolutely, absolutely.
10:38Akuiya, your brand has such a unique story too.
10:40You're working on a brand with your mother, which is unique.
10:45You don't really hear that often.
10:47Being from two different generations, did you and your mother ever butt heads about sustainability practices?
10:52And it couldn't even not even just be in the realm of sustainability.
10:54It could just be in the nature of running the business itself.
10:58Were there any places that you guys saw things differently about how you should do things?
11:04I think so.
11:05I started my business actually on Etsy when I was 15.
11:09We just decided that I was really getting into upcycling vintage clothes.
11:14And so my mother had a sewing machine and we would take like old vintage items and repurpose them and upcycle them into something new.
11:22And I think just the essence of being bootstrappy like that was not an idea that my mother had.
11:30I mean, my mother didn't have an idea of like fashion could be a business.
11:35I knew that that was something she would have preferred to pursue instead of going the route of being an attorney.
11:41But it just wasn't a lot of roadmaps.
11:45And so because of just my grit and energy to start something, I think that that was something where we really differed.
11:55But I think we leaned on a lot of her skill set, which I was able to repurpose and come up with like a business plan.
12:03And I also think that her relationship to fashion, like we talk about like fast fashion a lot now, just having a vulnerability as like an emerging brand who could be copied and all of these things.
12:16And she talks about how like at the time there wasn't as much fast fashion.
12:22There was like limited to do, I think.
12:25But I mean, there's so much now.
12:27And so I have to bring to her attention a lot of times, like when we're making this garment and we see it copied on an Amazon, like that it can it can go into the fast fashion space and we don't have attachment to it anymore.
12:42And so it is it is an interesting conversation to compare the generations like that.
12:47I also think it's an industry that has become increasingly crowded over the years.
12:54I mean, we all know this, right?
12:55Fashion was once a cottage industry.
12:59I don't know if everyone's familiar with that term.
13:00Yeah.
13:01But, you know, it's artist.
13:03It's artisanal.
13:03There were people that were skilled makers.
13:05I mean, every single person who's wearing something right now, if you're wearing an article of clothing, an actual person with
13:11two hands made it.
13:13I just want everyone to be aware of that because there's no machinery that's been invented yet that can do it automated.
13:19It's still a person to usually women who are doing this work.
13:23And usually it's brown women, black and brown women in the global south.
13:27And like not to be all preachy now, but I think we are so far removed, just like we are with food, just like we are with a lot of things of like how these things are actually made.
13:36And so when people talk about fast fashion, sustainability, I know it's something that can kind of just seem like a hum in the background of a conversation that you hear over and over.
13:47It's like your grandma or your mom telling you something.
13:49You're like, all right, I heard you.
13:50Damn.
13:50Like it can feel like not applicable, but I think like many things that are impactful, you have to see it to really get it.
13:59You know, you have to visit a factory, you have to see a landfill for it to really understand the magnitude of it.
14:04And also to know that there is no technology anywhere that can make a garment.
14:12Well, it's getting dicey.
14:14It's getting up there now, but people are still hand sewing this way.
14:17It's way far, way far away.
14:19It's still far away.
14:20It's still two people or still people with two hands that are making the garment.
14:24There's no shortcuts around it.
14:25And I think the way we consume, like generationally, people before used to savor their clothing.
14:32They used to repair their clothing.
14:33They used to have it for years.
14:34There was no concept of like shopping culture the way that we do it.
14:37And I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
14:39Everybody likes to look fly.
14:40But there's got to be a medium because everyone has crowded this space.
14:46Everybody wants to be in fashion.
14:47Everybody wants to start a line.
14:49And there's so many clothes in the world.
14:51This idea of there being like naked people in Africa, it's not true.
14:54Everyone has clothes.
14:55Like there's clothes.
14:56There's more than enough clothes.
14:59Can I speak to this a little bit?
15:00Yes, please, please.
15:01And I love that you touched on, you know, the reality.
15:05And when we talk about fast fashion, 80% of garment workers are women.
15:10And 80% of those women are women of color in the global south.
15:14They're living in poverty because of our choices.
15:17So every time you buy something for $39.99 or $49.99 or whatever it is, you think you got a fantastic deal, you're keeping women of color living below the poverty line, unable to feed their families, unable to keep a decent roof over their heads because they're getting paid less than a dollar for that item that you're going to wear a couple times and throw away.
15:43And, you know, when I was growing up, if you wanted something and my, you know, we had everything that we needed, but the things that we wanted, my mom said, you can earn money and you can buy that for yourself.
15:57And there was a thing called layaway, you know, and we saved up and we put things in the layaway and we got it out and I paid for it myself and I knew I was going to take care of it.
16:09And I think we have to stop over consuming, pay more for better quality and then take care of what you have and teach young people to take care of what they have.
16:25We, as people of color, we can't buy into all the marketing that's telling us we have to buy and throw away, buy and throw away, buy and throw away.
16:35I want to see you on Instagram and TikTok showing me how you can wear that great dress five different ways instead of seeing you in five different dresses.
16:43Here's a challenge to what you're saying, even though we all agree with that, to say, spend more on the more quality garment.
16:50Okay, but not everybody's got money.
16:52People want to go to Zara and get them a quick look.
16:54People want to, you know, they want the outfit of the moment.
16:56They have interviews to go to, job interviews.
16:58They have parties.
16:59They're trying to get a man.
17:00They're trying to get a girl.
17:00But there's so many creative ways to dress.
17:04Okay.
17:04There is good vintage.
17:06There are trading circles.
17:08You can trade clothes with friends.
17:10You can make things.
17:12You can, I mean, there are a lot of ways to get dressed, okay?
17:16And it's not just about going to Zara or an H&M and picking up something every week or even every month.
17:21There are a lot of, we can be so much more creative with the resources that are out there.
17:26So I come from, like, a long line of Southern women who made clothes, who were craftswomen.
17:32So, like, it was a part of just growing up to learn how to sew, learn how to quilt, learn how to make garments.
17:39And it is something that I realize because I had that experience of seeing someone create items.
17:47Like, if I want a dress, I may make the dress.
17:50And I think another generational difference is that that was something that was an immediate thought of my mother was, okay, if I want something, if I want an interesting identity, like in the 80s, I may make my prom dress.
18:03I think in my generation, we don't emphasize the skill sets, even though I would say specifically for black people historically, we've had these skill sets that we've brought to the Americas.
18:16And so it is interesting, I think, in terms of this conversation where there is an emphasis, I think, on getting back to craftsmanship.
18:23I think even when we saw in COVID, there was time that people were able to explore these skill sets and think about how they wanted to present themselves to the world.
18:33And maybe it could come from making it with your own hands, and maybe that's a way that we could enter the conversation.
18:42Because, like you're saying, I think if we only talk about it from a money standpoint, it may be difficult for people.
18:49But I think the main thing is us understanding that there's power that we have a part of the conversation, and we can take advantage of that.
18:58We kind of just touched on this, but I guess to reiterate, what are some ways that people could practice sustainability with their, I don't want to say shopping habits, but yeah, we do have sick shopping habits, y'all.
19:14We do.
19:15Yeah, we do.
19:15We do.
19:16It's mentally sick.
19:17But I'm a part of it.
19:19I'm not going to lie.
19:20What are some ways that you would suggest that we alter our shopping habits to be more sustainable?
19:26Wow.
19:26Or replace.
19:27So many ways.
19:28I mean, you know, I went to Parsons.
19:30I came to New York when I was 17.
19:32I went to Parsons.
19:33I had no budget to buy clothing.
19:37Okay?
19:37That first year, my parents said, don't take a job because we want you to settle in and understand what your responsibilities are, get your homework done, keep your grades up, keep that scholarship.
19:49And I was in a dorm with wealthy kids who would go out and shop all the time.
19:54I was in that dollar bin outside of Canal Jean.
19:57Like, and I was at the flea market on 25th Street, right?
20:01And I was making things.
20:03And I was going to the Army Navy.
20:04I mean, it was just a different approach to personalizing a look.
20:09And nobody walking down the street was wearing what I was wearing because I figured out how I could customize what was available to me.
20:20Okay?
20:21So I never had anything new at that time, you know, but I didn't need it.
20:27I looked unique.
20:28I was happy with my look, you know?
20:31And I just, I think there's so many other ways to get dressed.
20:35I mean, even when we were in high school, my mom would say, make a budget for your school clothes, you know?
20:40And my budget would be half fabric so that I could sew stuff, a pair of boots maybe, and then, you know, a little bit of shopping.
20:48And it would be literally the Army Navy store and, like, you know, some vintage shopping.
20:55But it was fun, and nobody looked like I looked, you know?
20:58And we have flair.
21:00We have ideas that other people just don't have.
21:03We've got history.
21:05You know what I mean?
21:06But I think another thing to do is to literally trade clothes in a circle.
21:11Everybody wears their clothes differently, you know?
21:14And if you have a group of friends or acquaintances and you need a refresh, trade some things out.
21:21Have a trading party.
21:22I mean, how much fun is it to, like, set up a rack and bring the things that, you know, you're a little bit tired of?
21:28It might look brand new to somebody else.
21:31I think people are doing that now.
21:32Raise your hand if you've ever traded clothes with your friends.
21:36I've seen people doing that on Instagram now, which I think is a great idea.
21:40Yeah, I feel like to add to the convo because I agree with everything that's Tracy.
21:44He's saying, I think it first starts at understanding what is your identity in the world?
21:49Are you trying to focus on the trends?
21:53Are you looking at the shows?
21:55Are you trying to mimic it?
21:56Are you trying to figure out what is your story?
21:59What is your purpose?
22:00What are you trying to represent yourself as?
22:02I definitely feel like I was that kid, 15, trying to figure out my identity, trying to figure out my cultural identity.
22:10And that represented a lot of what I decided to wear.
22:13And I leaned a lot into vintage clothes and upcycling because I was able to explore that.
22:20And I think it's really just this larger conversation of the impact of trends, the impact of the commercial world on how we look at ourselves,
22:30that then informs our buying habits.
22:34Because you go into like a Zara and every month, you literally are seeing off the runway the repurposed trends and people are becoming these identities so fast.
22:48It's like, who are you?
22:51You may not be the person that wants to wear the frills or the flowers or the sparkles.
22:57You might want to wear the suits or the jeans.
23:00That's a good point.
23:01And a little history lesson for y'all.
23:03I don't know if y'all realize this, but back in the day, people didn't even buy clothes.
23:08They bought cloth.
23:09Because the idea of buying clothing that was already made was like lowbrow.
23:14It was like, oh, you're not couture?
23:16I'm sorry.
23:17People didn't even like that idea.
23:19And so to have ready-made clothes or ready-to-wear clothes kind of was like, you're poor.
23:25And now we do that so commonly, which I just think is really interesting.
23:28Like before the thing was to have cloth to pass it down.
23:31And you would use that cloth to make clothes because some, typically a woman in your house knew how to do it.
23:36So I understand not everybody has time to like learn how to make clothing from scratch.
23:40But the idea of different practices is important.
23:45Do we have time for any questions from the audience?
23:51Red jacket over here.
23:58Good evening, good evening, good evening.
24:00So my question, we're talking about sustainability, right?
24:03Especially in black fashion.
24:04I live here in New York City, limited apartment.
24:08How do we store these clothes?
24:11Ooh, great question.
24:13Ooh, can I speak to that one?
24:14Yes, please.
24:16And this points to the difference in how we consume between, you know, when a lot of these apartments were built and now.
24:26I mean, I have an old house in Detroit.
24:29It was built in 1912.
24:30The closets in that house are so small that, you know, it's a little bit mind-blowing.
24:41And I'm one of those avid, I like watching House Hunters and all those shows.
24:46And, you know, these couples are out and they're looking for a four-bedroom house with big walk-in closets.
24:52And they're going to fill it with sneakers and t-shirts and so many things.
24:58But when we look at how we lived in the past, you know, people had, like, two or three good dresses for special occasions for church.
25:06And then you had your work clothes, you know.
25:10But maybe you had, like, three or four, maximum five, you know, outfits that you would switch up.
25:17And, but people took care of those clothes.
25:20And it's interesting, you know, when we look at how people used to live compared to how we live now, why do we need so many things?
25:28Why do we need so much space?
25:31You know, and, you know, why do we want to cram a small apartment with too much stuff?
25:36You know, it is, it's, it's, I think the universe is begging, you know, is asking you a question.
25:43Do I need, do I need so much?
25:46I mean, for me personally, I've either had to get storage units or I have, like, there's no way around it.
25:52I have bins, big plastic bins of shoes that I'm not currently wearing that are in my pantry.
25:57Thank God I even have a pantry.
25:58I live in Brooklyn.
25:59You know, but I will say that sometimes having too much has forced me to purge or at least tidy up.
26:07Like, do I really need this?
26:08You know, so, and I like to also look at clothes as, this is part of the problem, but I'm just keeping it real.
26:14Things that I'm, like, moving through.
26:16And it's very rare that there's things that I have to keep forever.
26:19And I have those pieces.
26:21But I think a lot, but I also try to buy super, especially as I've gotten older.
26:26Like, as I've matured and entered my maturity, I don't buy it for trends as much as anymore, as much as I used to.
26:31But storage units, I guess.
26:36How much time do we have left?
26:37We have 45 seconds, so I think that's it for us.
26:41But thank you guys so much for coming.
26:43Thank you all so much for listening.
26:44Thank you all for quieting down a little bit.
26:45Appreciate that.
26:46And enjoy the rest of your evening.
26:48Thank you very much.
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