Am I about to become a nudist?! Noooo! #NoNewClothes is a is a challenge just like pouring ice water over your head or eating a spoon of cinnamon except way less cold and dangerous! Can I do it?!! Can I go without buying ANY NEW TEXTILES for 90 days?!! Let's go inside to find out!
Hey, I'm Miranda Black, the DeGrowth Diva and this summer I set out on the No New Clothes challenge - a 90-day commitment to abstain from buying new clothes. In this episode, I share my unexpected revelations, and the steps I took to get my family onboard with the challenge. Trust me, you'll want to hear about the hilarity that ensued during my kid's PJ emergency!
As an ambassador for Remake - a not-for-profit championing climate and wage justice in the fashion industry - I encourage you to try the No New Clothes challenges. This annual movement is a call to arms to change our relationship with what we wear.
Across the next five episodes, we'll delve into the origins and life stories of our garments. Whether you're itching to take up the challenge yourself, or simply wish to understand more about sustainable fashion, this episode takes you on a mindful journey into the world of clothes that might just change your shopping habits forever.
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Speaker 1:
Hello all you D-growers out there. My name is Miranda Black, and this is what's this Place Behind the Clicks and Mortar, where we talk about degrowth in fashion and retail, and today we're going to talk about an internet challenge that I am doing called no New Clothes. So what is no New Clothes? Is it going to turn me into a nudist? What's this place? What's this place? Okay, let's go inside and find out.
Speaker 1:
I am an ambassador for remake, which is a not-for-profit which focuses on climate and wage justice and the fashion industry. I know that sounds boring and not very sexy, but hear me out, okay. So no New Clothes is a challenge just like any other, like pouring ice water over your head or eating no meat on Mondays or dry January, except it's about fashion and clothing. You signed this pledge with remake that you're going to buy no New Clothes for 90 days. Now, last year, 2022, which is when I first heard about it I did not plan on signing the pledge because I was already on my own personal no New Clothes mission, because I had owned a store and, as a result of being in retail, I have even more clothes than the average person. I'm pretty sure I have a wardrobe that could last me 10 lifetimes. So I didn't think I needed to sign the pledge. I was just going to do it over here in the corner, quiet like. But then I heard through remake that only about 900 people had signed up. This was early January, sorry, early July 2022. The challenge runs from June 1st to September 1st, so it was still early days, but it still kind of shocked me, because 900 people out of all the fashionistas out there I mean, fashion is about, or should be about, creativity. Creating something new and stylish from what you already own should be in the wheelhouse of every single person who claims to be fashionable. People can and do make fashion out of tree branches and moss and like seaweed. So surely, with all the clothing already on this planet, surely more than 900 people can go without buying new clothes for 90 days. I'm a big believer in strength and numbers, so I immediately signed up to add my name to that pledge, even if it's just to make it 901, just to keep the momentum going.
Speaker 1:
But the funny thing, what that act of commitment did, just that simple act of it going from being in my mind on my own in the corner to writing it down on internet paper, it shifted my mindset by a degree, because now I was accountable and I became acutely aware of all the little things that may have slipped through the cracks without my new awareness and commitment the concert t-shirt, the new hair ties that are made from textiles, the new tea towels that scrolled by my feet and made me just for a second believe that I would have a better kitchen, if only for those tea towels Signing their remake no New Clothes Pledge. Going public gave me more focus and it also made me feel part of something bigger than just my own personal crusade, like when I had to say no to something. I had 900 people at my back and PS. By the end of the challenge, over 1300 people had signed up, and this year they've already surpassed that. So it's growing, and I also started doing it with my kid, so we did all our back to school shopping last year at a thrift store, which they loved. You know who has zero resistance to thrift stores Kids. And then my partner wanted me to go with him to buy new jeans and I said okay, if you want my help to buy a denim, can you just first evaluate your inventory, sort through it, to help us better know what you're looking for. And once you go through what you already own, then we'll go shopping. And the crazy thing was that he came back to me and said I am so glad I did that because I realized I already have enough jeans. I have like four pairs. I totally forgot about this is what the no New Challenge looks like. So if you've ever done a sports challenge or a diet challenge no, let's not equate it to diet challenge, because I don't like diets, but, like you know, maybe a TikTok dance challenge If you've done those things, you can do this. And even after the no New Clothes pledge was over, our whole family has shopped way more consciously, more thrift, more vintage, more hand-me-down than we ever did before this spring.
Speaker 1:
I'm going to tell you a little story here. This spring, my kiddo needed new PJs like ASAP and I got worried I was going to have to resort to one of the major kids online stores because, let's face it, it really is the easiest and fastest thing to click and receive PJs the next day. There was no way I was going to be able to get to a kid's thrift store in the limited time we had. It was a PJ emergency. Let's just leave the nitty gritty details out of it. But before I clicked and let me tell you I was on the site, there were PJs in my cart and I had even been given a discount code. It couldn't have been easier to do the easiest thing.
Speaker 1:
But right before I clicked I texted five friends with kids all around the same age and I asked do you have any extra lightweight summer pajamas that are headed for hand-me-downs? And four of them got back right away and said no, no, we do not. But one of them texted me back and said we actually have two drawers full of pajamas we never use. Please take some off our hands. And by that evening my kid had three new pairs of PJs with zero carbon footprint, because the friend even walked them over to us. They delivered to my door. That was a good friend. So that's no new clothes. It's making a public commitment and then finding alternatives to buying new when these emergencies pop up, because they will. But it's like a game. You've got to find a way Now.
Speaker 1:
This year I signed up right away, started June 1st, but you can still sign up and the fun aspect of being part of a group is seeing other people sometimes struggle and then win, like I did with the PJs, but also share stories from their wardrobe. You know old Miranda I don't like those two words together, but old Miranda used to like to tell stories of how little I paid for something, and this is super common, but I think it might just become dated in the next few years. I hear it now and I cringe at how many times I have said this kind of thing in the past. Well, I got this really expensive sweater for this really cheap amount. I got these Dolce and Gopalna shoes brand new for $100. But the truth is somebody made those things and probably they were not paid a living wage. And that's how I got them for so cheap. My joy was coming at the cost of somebody's quality of life. It really makes me cringe. Now you know what happened to people telling stories of how something was made or how long you've had something.
Speaker 1:
Well, the remake community inspires stories like this and created these many challenges within the bigger no New Clothes challenge.
Speaker 1:
So for the next five episodes, I'm going to share these remake mini clothing challenges that you can take part in wherever you are and whatever time of year it is. It doesn't have to be June 1st to September 1st you can sign your own personal no New Clothes pledge. If you find this podcast in December or April, you can do it solo and know that I have your back when you need to say no, and the 2,000 people who have signed on to no New Clothes this year, they also have your back. So try it for a week or a day, if that's all you can do. Maybe 90 days is overwhelming. Just start really small. I think there's a way into this movement for wherever you are right now in your fashion degrowth journey. But if you do want to take the remake pledge, you can find it at remakeworld and you can also find that link in my podcast notes.
Speaker 1:
If you decide not to do no New Clothes at all and just want to come along for the ride, join me for the next five episodes as I do no New Clothes mini challenges. I'm Miranda Black. Stay tuned for the first mini challenge. Let's go inside and find out.