Fashion and Faith: Why Slow Fashion is Good Stewardship
In 2007, my husband and I were fortunate enough to travel to Uganda with a large group of people from our community. It was the first trip of what would become a long standing relationship between our home church and the Ugandan church we were there to visit and serve. It feels woefully insufficient to say I learned a lot from the experience, and almost none of the lessons I learned were what I expected. Debates about short term missions aside, our community in Huntington Beach, the Ugandan community with whom we are still in close relationship, and my own understanding of the world as an individual were all transformed.
I think very often of a particular young boy there, probably about nine years old, whose mother was a sewist selling her wares locally. He wore a simple button down shirt she had made…in a black fabric printed with pictures of an American celebrity’s face along with images of some of his preferred plant-based hobbies. With a tootsie pop in his mouth, standing in the field of a country school, hills covered in verdant forest and coffee farms rising in the background, the incongruous imagery of the whole scene is forever lodged in my brain. Where did these new friends of ours, living at least a four hour drive from the nearest city, even obtain such a thing as a bolt of hip-hop artist adorned cotton? I found a possible answer upon returning home-much of our unused textile goods are shipped to developing countries, and this can have a deleterious affect on both local economies and the preservation of indigenous culture. It was the first time I ever understood in a serious way the impact my consumption of material goods has on how humans halfway around the world live on a day to day basis. The lesson stuck.
It wasn't until years later that the fast fashion business model would be eviscerated by the documentary film The True Cost and widespread alarm bells would start ringing in the minds of conscious Western citizens. Now, there are many voices shouting out for the safety and dignity of the humans who make the vast majority of our garments-there are many . These voices seem particularly Christ-like to me. If the church reaches the world by serving people’s needs, it must take into account how all of its own actions are connected to the needs of others, not only those actions labeled as missionary in nature. We live in a created world, connected and holistic. Every action we take has it’s reaction.
Even if you are nodding along, I know from real life experience that the higher retail price tag of consciously manufactured goods can feel very inhibitive to people, and sometimes isn’t accessible at all. I’ve had this very conversation in real life many times, and I understand it all too well. Our personal budget is very limited, and I reach for second hand options first, always. However, when second hand is not an option (which, most of the time, it is), the higher price tag is a burden I have a responsibility to bear, and I bear it in the spirit of stewardship.
Stewardship can be kind of a “Christiany” word, so I’ll take a moment to explain it the way I understand it. Stewardship is managing, using, preserving, and caring for resources as a trustee. A follower of Christ might add to the definition that stewardship is using and managing resources in order to practice generosity and service for the glory of God and the care of creation. It is the addition of a reason and purpose for the use and management of resources that sets it apart. That purpose for the apprentice of Jesus is, of course, love.
I know plenty of folks who embrace and understand the idea of stewardship as money management, thriftiness, frugality, and careful spending and investing. These things feel quite counter cultural to many followers of Christ, and that can give them a nice appeal. I wonder, though, if the heart of these practices is always one of generosity and others-service, or if the heart is scarcity, fear, and self-service. The heart makes all the difference.
As someone who actually has the freedom to budget carefully in order to spend more on an item when it is needed, I must ask myself what my greater responsibility is: is spend-thriftiness and frugality the more important impetus in shopping decisions, or is impact more important? If I choose frugality so that I might have more to give to charity or missional work, is the work I support through giving empowering, or is it attempting to rescue those who only need the space to have a voice of their own? Who am I serving, my own personal ability to have and control more, or those who pay the cost for me along the supply chain? How are my choices empowering those people, rather than placing myself in the position of savior?
These are difficult questions, and unless you are the one asking them of yourself, I understand they can feel invasive. However, we have a responsibility as stewards and citizens to ask ourself what the actual cost of our consumption is. Someone, somewhere is paying it, and it shouldn't be those who are already the most vulnerable and voiceless.
If the purpose of stewardship is generosity and service, then stewardship requires us to consider the impact of our spending on those who we are called to serve. And there is always an impact, one way or another.
Some good resources for practicing stewardship through more mindful consumption:
Baptist World Aid Ethical Fashion Guide
Some bloggers I love exploring slow fashion through the eyes of a disciple of Jesus:
Some great Sunday services from Bridgetown Church dedicated to this topic:
Most of the time, if you find an affiliate link or sponsored content here, it will be with a company that I believe maintains ethical manufacturing practices. Here are a few with whom I have affiliate relationships. (Pieces pictured in photo are from Everlane).
Questions or comments about fast fashion, conscious consumption, stewardship, or any of this stuff? I sincerely love talking about it, so leave a comment! Let’s chat!
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