this is my story, but is it yours, too

we all start somewhere

At the beginning of 2022, I realised I didn’t have a great relationship with clothes. My thoughts and feelings about getting dressed were negative, and I began to pay attention to the devastating environmental and social impacts caused by the fashion industry - both toward people and the planet.

At the time, it would have been ten years since I had willingly donated my money to fast fashion. I say donated as it wasn’t social or environmental issues that first changed my behaviour, but more so the realisation that I often walked into Zara feeling rich, buying multiple items I was sure I would wear. Only to realise some months later that these pieces would never be worn - therefore, the money spent was, in truth, donated to Zara and the unwanted goods that would later end up in the local Salvation Army around the corner.

I didn’t identify as someone who had a problem.

I didn’t ‘go shopping’ on weekends - obviously, the hours I spent scrolling on the couch didn’t count - or catch up with girlfriends to try on outfits before a night out.

I didn’t obsess over what I was wearing. I was confident with my choices, and wasn’t afraid to repeat an outfit.

I didn’t have identify as someone who had a problem, but I felt pressure to show up wearing new clothes all the time.

The first question I ever contemplated - Do you have a good relationship with clothes? - stirred an irk within me. The answer, a solid and undeniable ‘no’, meant life as I knew it in fashion began to shift beneath me, whether I wanted it to or not.

I started to dive deep into my own behaviour, first trying to understand and later trying to undo what a decade of being in the fashion industry had created within me… a deeply unhealthy obsession with newness.

This is my story, but is it yours, too?

Do you have a good relationship with clothes?

- Liz

*This post is part of a larger body of work that explores Our Relationship With Clothes. Australia is the largest consumer of textiles in the world; we ask questions in the hope of encouraging self-reflection and change.