Winchester Green Week - Sustainability & Fast Fashion with Antonia Sullivan
WINCHESTER GREEN WEEK
Some words on Fast Fashion and Sustainability from Antonia Sullivan.
HC: Your pieces are very much made to last, and it is the kind of thing you pull out every autumn. People don’t mind spending a little bit more on things that they know are going to last, and that they know has been made by an individual who has worked really hard and who has used beautiful materials to create their products.
AS: The whole chain of fashion in general is so long that traceability is usually really difficult, but one of my biggest highlights as a maker is that people know it’s directly from me, that it’s me who has made it. If there has ever been a problem with things, the customer has got back to me directly. If there has been a ladder or something, I can fix that, or sometimes they want to fix it themselves and I can tell them how to do that. Whereas, if you buy something from the supermarket or a big shop, the response is ‘we can give you your money back’ or ‘you can get another one’, that kind of throwaway nature.
HC: How do you feel about the whole fast fashion industry?
AS: It’s something that has upset me for a really long time. I don’t want to say I’ve always been shopping ethically, because it’s not 100% perfect, but I’ve been very conscious of what I buy for about 15 years now, and that again is through studying textiles at college and discovering what has been happening [in the fashion world]. It can be really difficult having that conversation with other people, because it’s such a complicated system. With food, you can pinpoint exactly where stuff comes from, and you can say ‘that’s a massive problem there and we can address it’, whereas with fashion there are so many huge stages before it goes from ‘farm to shop’. Often talking to people about that can be really overwhelming, especially when people do have the mindset of ‘it’s only a couple of quid so that’s great!’, and that’s as far as the thinking goes. In the last five years there has been a big movement against that, and I think that the maker's movement is hugely responsible for people being aware, because they’re genuinely questioning where things are coming from, like why is it that the lady down the road can make a scarf for £40 when I can get something similar in primark for a fiver? It does create that natural conversation about why it’s expensive.
HC: Have people ever questioned you on your prices?
AS: Yes, I’ve had a couple of people tell me my things are horrifically expensive, and being quite aggressive. I’ve just said, well that’s the price! I could bore them with the fact that technically I’m only paying myself a small amount per hour, and overheads - it all builds up. At the same time, if someone is going to feel aggressively about it, they’re not going to be my customer. A lot of the time, my customers know exactly why my items cost what they do. I think i’m really lucky that I have that customer base that does respect and understand it.
HC: What do you say to people that say that the sustainable fashion conversation comes from a place of privilege, because quite often being able to buy sustainably is more expensive?
AS: I think that’s quite a vertical thought process, and that often it’s an excuse. Buying more sustainably doesn't mean that every single purchase you make has to be sustainable. It’s a mindset. You can be sustainable without having to spend money on a kudos product. You can go into a charity shop, you can buy off eBay, you can buy second hand. That’s a massive sustainable act. As a person who hasn’t come from that privilege, I’ve always been very cautious with how I spend my money as I haven’t had much of it. It’s changed how I shop; I won’t go into Topshop, because if I see something that I like, I know I only have a two week window of being able to buy it and then it won’t be available any more. If you go to these more sustainable places, their product turnover is a lot slower, so you can afford to save up for things. It really does boil to mindset. It depends on where you’re coming from - if you don’t have much money, and you’ve got other people to care and look after, like children or elderly parents, and they get through clothes quite quickly, that’s a necessity, you have to do that. But when it comes to having that personal choice, it is that - it is a choice. And that’s the thing about fashion, it’s all about choice.
HC: There are so many levels to it, and it doesn’t mean that you won’t ever buy unsustainably again, it just means that you’re thinking about each purchase. If you’re doing one thing a week, one think a month, you’re still doing something. Doing something unsustainably doesn’t negate the things you are doing that are sustainable.
AS: There’s a saying that has gone round the internet a lot in the last couple of years that is ‘when you buy from a maker they do a happy dance’. I think people should have that mindset about everything they bought. Sometimes you have to buy the thing wrapped in plastic! But when you can afford to buy sustainably, or when you can make a sustainable choice, enjoy it and celebrate it.
