It can be overwhelming sharing a planet with seven billion people. We’re constantly bombarded with news about climate change, rainforest degradation, ocean pollution and the massive piles of waste accumulating in landfills. Not to mention the increasing number of weather incidents, famine, poverty, exploitation and the list goes on. It’s enough to make some of us want to run and hide in the latest drop of fast fashion at H&M. However, not all of us are seeking escapism through fast fashion, and The Un-material Girl isn’t anymore either.
A few years ago, Leah-Jane Musch made a completely conscious u-turn at the front doors of the fast fashion juggernauts and started sharing her epiphany via her blog: The Un-material Girl. On returning from an international trip, she woke up to how much stuff she had, but didn’t actually need. She felt totally overwhelmed by the amount of clothing and possessions she owned and decided to make some dramatic changes. She decluttered, sold, donated and gifted her way to a lighter, more meaningful life, which has allowed her to make enough space to start figuring out how she can help others do the same.
Leah-Jane isn’t the first person to shine a light on how darn good it feels to walk lightly when we’re unburdened from the weight of our stuff (check out our posts on The Minimalists and Bea Johnson, among others). However, she is a stellar ambassador for the future of slow clothing and conscious consumerism and is especially resonating with her generation. A generation who’ve grown up with access to cheap, trend-driven clothing via the fast fashion industry, which continues to thrive thanks to affordability and social media validation.
Millennials are more familiar—than previous generations—with wearing a garment once before it’s no longer on trend, not wearing a garment again if you’ve shown it in your Instagram feed, poor quality clothing that doesn’t survive more than five washes, the thrill of picking up ten garments for 20 bucks, and the conveyer belt of online shopping that delivers it all to your door without the need to even try it on.
This is almost the complete opposite to say Generation X, who learned to sew and knit (because of the high cost of new clothes), repair, wore hand-me-downs from older siblings or relatives, had one good coat and three pairs of shoes and looked after their clothes as they understood their value.
However, Leah-Jane and many of her generation are now liberating themselves from the fashion marketing machine. They’re tired of being told what to think, buy and wear. As a fashion student, Leah has become exceptionally aware of the ethics and environmental impact of fast fashion and over-consumerism. She and her like-minded peers are choosing to make their own clothes, mend and repair, buy second hand and above all, use their social media platforms to inspire change by example. They care deeply about people and the planet and feel great connection to social and environmental causes and truly believe they can create massive change. And, they are.
“I absolutely love fashion and I also love people, so the idea of being able to help people through fashion or fixing issues that people are having in the fashion industry is really what I am interested in.”—Leah-Jane Musch
Leah-Jane’s voice is compelling for so many reasons and for us, it’s compelling because she’s thinking out loud as she’s learning. As we’re all learning. She’s allowing us all to say it’s okay to not get it all right straight off the bat. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay that there is this massive problem called fast fashion. It’s okay because we are starting to do something about it.
She’s an advocate for ethical fashion production and knowing who made our clothes. She’s an advocate for small production and handmade and supporting local business. She’s an advocate for natural fabrics, transparency in production and best environmental practices. She’s an advocate for doing things well and doing them right and moving forward when you learn something new.
Above all, she’s honest and she’s rolling her sleeves up to do something wonderful. We’re not sure where your journey will take you Leah-Jane, but we believe it will take you to all the right places, doing all the good things. Follow Leah-Jane over at The Un-material Girl and in particular on Instagram, where her photos tell the story of her journey from “fast fashion addict to slow fashion activist” in the most un-material of ways.
x KT
Image: Courtesy The Un-material Girl
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