How do we shop now that the world is melting?!

Miranda Black realizes the traditional ways of shopping & staying stylish no longer feel great if it means she's disproportionately contributing to the destruction of the planet.  How on earth can fashion survive?  What does sustainable style mean? How come fashion is so destructive?  Let's go inside and find out.

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Transcript

How Do We Shop Now?

[00:00:00] Miranda Black: Hi, I'm Miranda Black and for almost 15 years, I owned a luxury men's wear store in downtown Toronto. You know, suits tuxedos, bow ties. And prior to that, I had this micro business called The Space Liberator, liberating your home from clutter. I did kitchens, bathrooms and closets. I purged, they purged, we all purged and I would drop the purge off at whatever donation center was closest. It was easy because I never thought about where the purged stuff was going. 

My win was the client no longer had the stuff 

and I genuinely believed their used goods would find a great home. In 2017 when I still had my store still had my tailor shop, I read Marie Kondo's book, which in a nutshell is about keeping only stuff that brings you joy. So I Marie Kondo'd my store because, well, that's where I spent most of my time. And one of the byproducts of the Marie Kondo method is you often discover your joy isn't tied to your stuff at all. 

It's only tied to a very small percentage. And what I discovered when all was said and done and purged is that my store wasn't bringing me joy. So I gave it up. I closed it down, handed the keys back to the land lady on July 4th, 2019. Ooh. When the pandemic hit and the world stopped shopping. You know, I'm going to rephrase that: when the pandemic hit and shopping habits dramatically shifted and funneled down to only five mega companies who made record profits... I'm not going to name them, you can probably guess the top five... small business was almost completely abandoned for six straight months. And even since things have opened up the struggle, it's harsh. 

So I started this podcast as a kind of How I Built This, the famous Guy Roz podcast, for small street side businesses: what is this place? How did they start it? But something else shifted for me over the past two years and it's why I've taken a little bit of time building season two. I realized even when I shop local, I frequently end up with stuff made overseas with the same kind of murky ethics that Walmart or Amazon use. Where's this stuff coming from? Who makes it? I get it home and it's got Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China written on the tag. And the clothing stores, which is my specialty: clothing. Well, clothing in our local stores is frequently coming from the same kind of sweatshops that fast fashion use. So if it all comes from the same place, How is shopping local really making a difference? And if I continued with my podcast, am I again contributing to the cycle of slave labor and waste by promoting shop for the sake of shopping? 

And my biggest question was how do I shop ethically and still stay stylish? Does sustainable style mean I have to dress in hemp and burlap. I mean, that's the stereotype, right? The choice has been posed as an either or situation. So I got to admit I felt pretty effing lost as someone who loves style, loves retail and shopping but can no longer accept doing it with my head shoved in the sand. So I broke up with it. I broke up with this podcast I just couldn't see a way through it. But then I had this dream. I'm not going to bore you with dream details except to say: there was this girl she was an Instagram influencer who was thirsty. She wanted a bottle of water and I looked behind me and there was this tap with free flowing water. 

You see these kinds of taps in Italy, they look ancient and have Moss and flowers growing around the stone base. They're gorgeous. I noticed the girl had an empty bottle in her purse. And then I transferred all this information in my brain to her about single use plastics. In dream I thought, ehh, even if I tell her this she's not going to change, she doesn't care. She's too busy to think about bottled water. But that's not what happened. She had a moment where she really got it, that her one bottle built up over years, was actually a small change she could make. We had this connection I didn't think we were going to have, and I woke up with this, I'm going to call it humble clarity. If I can change just one person's mindset on clothing production, and textile use, 

how they style themselves sustainably, it's worth it. It's worth all the technical headaches and self doubt that a podcast entails. So I dusted off my old Space Liberator skills and I've been doing closet consults. It looks a lot different than when I used to do it. 

I'm way more conscious about where the purged clothing is ending up. I'm teaching clients to recognize the difference between donations and textile waste. I want to teach you that too. I'm keeping pounds and pounds of clothing from going to landfill. I want to show you why this is so important. I am now supportive of clients, keeping stuff they love, but that society has deemed out of fashion. 

I used to cancel those pieces right away. I'd like to help you feel more confident in developing a timeless style so we can cut down on the purges. I'm less interested in promoting a perfect looking Insta worthy closet and I'm more interested in, how do we get more use out of the stuff we already own? 

And finally, how do we shop for new? Because we can't be a hundred percent reused all the time. I don't want to burn all the bridges I have with retailers and suppliers. Retailers are influencers, they curate the stuff we see and buy. Are there some opportunities to shift some of that inventory to more ethical and sustainable choices? 

And What defines an ethical and sustainable choice or an ethical and sustainable brand? Everyone says they're green these days. I know I've been tricked by some savvy marketing campaign that isn't actually sustainable or ethical at all. Is there a criteria we can rely on? Well, it turns out there is and there are apps and directories to help you source great choices that you can feel good about. It's just a little harder to find, but I'm going to make it a little less hard. 

This is a growing industry and I'd like to help influence and inspire you like I influenced that girl in my dream.

Now here's the flip side of this. I'm actually a pretty cynical person. Don't let the pink hair fool you. I tend to see the dark side much quicker than I see hope or change in humanity. But despite my grass is never greener outlook, I do actually believe one person can make a difference to someone creating the stuff in our homes. 

I believe I can spread that cautious, cynical optimism. In fact, my first interview is with someone who specializes in convincing people that they can make a difference. That apathy is not just bad for the planet and humanity, as we know it. It's bad for you. For your soul. 

I'm now convinced that I can make a difference in someone's life, halfway across the planet and I believe you can too. If you want to go on a sustainable style journey with me, subscribe on your podcast app, follow What's This Place Podcast on your socials or book a sustainable style consult for free at whatsthisplacepodcast.com. 

And that first episode is coming up in five. Four. Three. Two.