Better Fashion FOMO
What's better than being cool and having fun?
I spent this past weekend in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the Clotheshorse Jamboree, a two day event all about sustainability, slow fashion, and community. This, of course, meant that everyone in attendance was very smart and very cool. We discussed everything from thrifting to labor rights, we crafted, we played games, we drank coffee from a dazzling collection of thrifted mugs, and we rounded it all up with a live episode of the pod.
For those of you that somehow aren’t familiar, Clotheshorse is Amanda Lee McCarty’s podcast and social platform dedicated to unpacking the big, complicated mess that is the fashion industry. As a long time listener and repeat guest of the show I’m probably more than a bit biased, but I really mean it when I say that Amanda has truly changed my outlook on clothing, shopping, and sustainability.
The whole experience left me feeling uplifted and reinvigorated in a way that feels rare these days. Community is truly the core of any sustainable movement, and slow fashion is no exception. Being surrounded by like-minded creatives, makers, industry experts, and fellow vintage dealers was a much needed reprieve from solo ruminations on SHEIN hauls and endless doom scrolling photos of ever-expanding landfills. I came back to New York with a renewed sense of hope, of feeling like maybe we really can change things.
One major topic of the weekend was ways to discuss slow fashion with others. If you’re here reading 1-800-VINTAGE, there’s a pretty good chance you’re already a pretty big fan of secondhand shopping, sustainability, and supporting small and local businesses. However, there’s an even better chance that there’s someone (or someones) in your life that don’t share those values. Maybe your girlfriend gets three Amazon packages a week, your dad is addicted to weird TEMU purchases, or your best friend spends their days off scrolling the Free People website. It can be tempting to rant about microplastics or spout off terrifying environmental statistics, but fear and shame are just not the best tactics. If the sight of your roommate ripping open yet another SHEIN package feels like the last straw, take a deep breath - let’s talk fashion FOMO.
Turns out, one of the best resources you have at your disposal is something you’re already doing! You’re already wearing vintage, mending your damaged clothing, thrifting, upcycling, the list goes on. All you need to do is all of that a bit louder, with a bit more enthusiasm, and maybe with a bit more direction. Excitement and fun are infectious, and is one of the best, most genuine ways to get others interested.
No matter who they are or what they’re into, there’s a way to get everyone on board with more mindful fashion habits. Below, I’ve divided up a few different methods and ideas based on some common interests and personalities to get you started.
If they’re… Budgeting
Cost is one of the biggest reasons people love to defend fast fashion. And they’re not wrong! It is cheap. Too cheap, actually… but you already know that. But you know what else can be cheap? Shopping secondhand. Chances are, this person may not be aware of all of the deals they’re missing out on. I’d try two tactics here: bragging and sharing. When you score a great deal on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay, tell them all about it! Show off your new find, and talk about how much money you saved versus buying new. Try sending over listings or photos for items you come across that may interest them, or offering to help look for specific things they’re on the hunt for.
If they prefer to shop in person, plan a day to hit a flea market, go thrifting, or check out some garage sales. If they’re online shoppers, try introducing them to new platforms. This weekend I learned about the Beni plugin, which is a free browser extension that combs the internet for secondhand options. The plugin will show secondhand search results automatically as you shop, taking away all of the extra effort of finding that same piece yourself. This is a great time-saving measure for experts, and a great way to ease in beginners.
If they’re… Influenced by Pop Culture
This one is surprisingly easy, because the world’s biggest stars are wearing vintage! Everyone from musicians to influencers to major Hollywood actors are wearing secondhand. And even though some red carpet looks are archival pieces that aren’t accessible to the average shopper, the sentiment is still there. Vintage is cool, secondhand is cool, re-wearing the same pieces is cool. Thrifting has provided wardrobe staples for everyone from Kurt Cobain to Remi Wolf, so you can probably find a compelling example from someone your friend or family member admires. Here’s an article with quotes from various celebrities about their love for vintage and secondhand shopping.
Even reality TV stars love vintage! Last week, Teen Vogue brought in stars from a recent season of Love Island to Seven Wonders Collective, a vintage collective I’m part of in the Lower East Side. These girls have millions of followers each, and they spent the afternoon in our shop trying on leather Harley jackets and Cop Copine mesh tops. Fan favorite Leah Kateb bought a pair of Pucci kitten heels from me, and I’m so excited to see how she styles them!
To get your reluctant friend on board, start sending over celebrities wearing vintage looks you love. Resharing vintage looks on your own social pages is also another way to promote the idea to your entire audience.
If traditional celebrity culture isn’t as compelling, there’s still plenty of other figures that make the case for secondhand fashion. Tons of musicians love thrifting and performing in vintage, activists include circularity in their practices, athletes make best-dressed lists in vintage jerseys. Vintage pieces make frequent appearances on TV shows and in movies, sometimes even in ways pivotal to the plot, like Molly Ringwald’s upcycled prom dress from Pretty in Pink. In fact, the wardrobe designer for a very cool show may or may not have recently purchased a 70’s top from me recently…
If they’re… Just Very Practical
For the most pragmatic, no-nonsense person in your life, the streamlined processes of one-stop-shopping like Amazon and Target can be hard to compete with. However, it’s equally as hard to argue with the longevity and quality of well-made stuff. Vintage items are almost always made better, so points like great construction, smart design, and better fiber content are easy selling points. This also goes for wardrobe practices like tailoring, mending, laundry, and other care methods. It just makes sense to make the most of what you buy and what you have, so sharing your favorite techniques can be a simple and informative way to encourage others to follow suit. It may be as simple as buying someone a tub of Oxiclean, recommending your local cobbler, or showing off a DIY repair to convince them to change up their habits.
If they’re… Super Online
When my brother-in-law first joined TikTok, his For You Page was pretty alarming. The only thing that the app knew about him was that he was a 30-something year old man in LA, and the content targeted to that demographic was definitely not what he wanted to see. He recruited me and my best friend to help him “fix his feed” by sending him a constant barrage of cute animals, queer creators, fashion videos, interesting history, recipe ideas, basically anything else that would help cleanse his FYP of toxic manosphere bullshit. And it worked! While he’s definitely seeing way more sports content than I ever do (by choice, apparently), we were able to collectively clean up his feed. Though the results may not always be so dramatic, the algorithms do take into account the content that your friends and acquaintances interact with. By engaging with sustainability and slow fashion on your own page, you’re more likely to encourage the same creators and content to appear on the feeds of those around you.
In a more direct approach, of course, you can repost and send specific content to people directly. As with any topic, the slow fashion community has no shortage of meme pages, sub Reddits, Substack pages, popular YouTube creators, and more. Try deciding which platforms and what kind of content will best resonate with the people around you, and start hitting those DMs. Even if they’re hesitant, just watching or viewing a little bit of content will probably result in more of it showing up in their feeds on its own. You may not win them over with the one meme that you sent, but another that shows up on their page the following week could be the one that does the trick.
If They’re… Full of Feelings
While there’s certainly plenty of emotional pull in environmental crisis, issues like climate change can often feel too big and too insurmountable to even think about. However, the environment is just one of many scary ways that the fashion industry is harming us. Fast fashion is an issue of labor rights, animal rights, gender rights, colonization, resource extraction… the list goes on. You could pretty easily link the fashion industry to any cause that someone is passionate about and make some strong connections.
If activism just simply isn’t someone’s bag, make it personal. Regardless of how insistent that someone may be that they don’t “care about fashion,” there’s a good chance they care much more than they’re letting on. Clothing can provide comfort, clothing can conjure up memories, clothing can create opportunities and open doors. Sometimes your personal stories about the way fashion and style have impacted you, even in the smallest ways, can be the most memorable and impactful. Does a certain kind of flannel shirt remind you of your grandpa? Did a specific pair of sweatpants legitimately help get you through a crisis? Is one of your strongest childhood memories of a bracelet you made at camp? Opening up conversations about the power of clothing is a subtle but effective way to help people start making those connections.
I hope this has given you a few fun and creative ideas to help discuss a tricky topic with the people in your lives. Do you have any favorite tips that I may have missed? Leave and comment and share it with us :)