Lowkey, I’d like to talk about a lost art: mending. Why don’t we fix our clothes anymore? People used to value their clothes so highly, simply fixing little holes and tears in otherwise perfectly fine clothing. It’s especially cool because a lot of clothes were self made or bought locally. Throwing away clothes used to be completely unheard of: old clothes were incorporated into quilts, cut into rags, sewn into rugs, and used in all sorts of ways. Shoes were sewn back together, clothes were patched, what happened? Why don’t we value our clothes as much anymore? When our society moved from self-sufficiency to industry we also shifted from making the things that we need to buying the things that we need. We have been trained to consume, consume, consume. We consume our needs, consume our wants, consume things that we don’t even want but are so easy to get. Moreover, we consume without thinking about what happens to the things that we already have; there’s no thought of mending things because it’s so much easier to buy new things. As a result, tons and tons of clothes are sent to the landfills. While we as individuals play a huge part in this, it is certainly not solely our own fault. Fast fashion truly lives up to its name: it enters and exits our closets at alarming speeds. This is completely by design, because if we buy clothes and keep them for a long time, why would we need to buy anymore? We definitely have a consumerist culture, but what fuels it? Fast fashion clothing brands are such a huge reason why we don’t mend our clothes: because they were made to fall apart. Our drive to consume is not solely because of our greed, but because of a need that was built into our clothes. We can do our parts by fixing our clothes and trying to take care of them, but what can we do if our clothes were made to fall apart? Moreover, these clothes are usually the most affordable. The companies that produce fast fashion need to make a change, but what can we do? I know that it is easier said than done, but I think we should return to our roots. We need to move away from the huge brands and towards small clothing shops and boutiques. We also need to take good care of our clothing, trying to fix it if it’s possible, donating it if it isn’t needed anymore, and more importantly, recycling it to facilities that recycle such materials if it can’t be worn anymore. By simply being more intentional with how we treat our clothes, before buying, while owning, and after we need to dispose of them, we can keep clothes out of landfills. In a culture of convenience, let’s make mending trending!