The middle ground

It’s the last week of Slow Fashion October: KNOWN.  Where do our clothes come from, and if we are hand making our clothes where did the yarn or fabric come from?  It’s easy to fall down into the rabbit hole and feel overwhelmed because as  Karen Templer says, quite accurately:

The fact is, knowing is hard — both the finding things out and the knowing what to do about what you know or don’t know.

This entire month of Slow Fashion October has led me to take a deeper look- well, truthfully, just take a look at from where my clothing comes. I found three things in my closet that were made in the USA.  One which is handmade, one a sweater of my grandma’s and a random sweatshirt. The rest were from around the world. Who knows how they were made, or who made them in the USA or otherwise.

In this journey and growing consciousness, I’ve come to the realization that the first thing to do is to consume less. Not all I buy will be made local, not all the clothes will be handmade. I can definitely strive for that but I have to be honest, it won’t be 100% of the time. One thing that’s always been in the back of my head is that yes, it’s great to recycle and have less trash but it’s even better to consume less. Recycling doesn’t cancel out consumption. Buying books/yarn/needles to make sweaters, hats and cowls isn’t necessarily better.  To consciously ask: do I need this? To be mindful of the choice I’m making (because it is a choice) and to find my middle ground.  Because my middle ground won’t be your middle ground.  And if I try and tackle this all at once, I won’t make any change. One thing is for sure, consuming is a difficult habit to break and knowing is hard.