Hi friends! Happy holiday season to you!

As we come to the end of another year, how about a fresh new challenge for a fresh new 2020? I’ve started up Slow Fashion 2020, where you decide what challenge you want to set for yourself in terms of being more sustainable with your clothing making/purchasing.

As you probably know, textile waste is a serious problem, and we are now buying (and disposing of) more clothes more quickly than ever in human history. This is environmentally unsustainable, and contributes to dangerous working conditions for garment workers overseas. (Remember the Rana Plaza Disaster in which over 1,100 garment workers were killed when the unsafe factory building they were forced to work in collapsed?) Growing water-guzzling crops like cotton, and making other fabrics and dyes that are chemically intense cause serious environmental degradation and human health problems. For more information about some of these issues, check out Fashion Revolution, or watch the documentary The True Cost.

Slow Fashion 2020 asks you to decide what you will do to mitigate your impact on the planet with regard to clothing and textiles.

For me, I’m not going to buy new clothes in 2020 (except for underwear & socks if needed, because, c’mon!). Instead I’m going to buy second-hand, swap with friends, find new ways to appreciate and wear the clothes I already have, or make clothes as needed.

This is similar to the Ready to Wear Fast I did in 2018 (you can read what I learned from that experience here), but there are no pre-set rules. You make up your own rules that will work for YOU. Maybe you know you buy too much fabric and your stash is huge, so maybe you will pledge not to buy any new fabric in 2020, and/or unsubscribe from all marketing emails from fabric stores. Or maybe you will pledge not to do any online clothing shopping. Or maybe you will pledge to not buy any clothing at all, and only sew what you need. Or maybe your pledge will involve the 30 Wears Challenge, and you will only sew or buy an article of clothing that you know you’ll wear 30 times or more. The possibilities are endless, and completely customizable to what works for you.

Want to join me? Make up your own sustainable pledge, for all or even just part of 2020. Join the Slow Fashion 2020 Facebook group where we share tips for avoiding fast fashion & making more sustainable choices, and cheer each other on throughout the year. It’s a judgment-free zone: only pledge to do what is comfortable for you (as long as you are making a change in the direction of sustainability with your clothes buying/using/sewing habits).

If you don’t use Facebook, you can make your pledge on Instagram using the #slowfashion2020 hashtag. Follow me there @frivolousatlast for ideas and encouragement on your Slow Fashion 2020 challenge.

Feel free to share any of these Slow Fashion 2020 images on your own website or blog, and on your social media channels. Please help spread the word of sustainable fashion, and get your friends involved! Note that you *do not* have to be able to sew to participate.

Over to you: what #slowfashion2020 pledge might you make? Got ideas for a great pledge? Please share in the comments or on your social media channels!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

— Lori