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True Style By Lakyn Carlton

The Info Gallery

Explore the intersections of fashion, sustainability, and style with this curated collection of infographics created by Lakyn Carlton.

Slow Fashion vs. Fast Fashion. Slow fashion is responsibly made, high-quality clothing produced with a focus on durability and enduring style; it pays fair wages to workers; supports local economies and independent artisans; and ensures accountability with full transparency along entire supply chain; produces locally in small batches; utilizes earth-friendly manufacturing; and promotes repairing, upcycling, and circular fashion; and promotes mindful consumption, focuses on long-lasting, well-made garments, and inspires personal style.

Fast fashion is characterized as mass-produced clothing designed to capture current fashion trends quickly with new “collections” weekly, if not daily; exploits workers in developing countries with dangerous working conditions, long hours, and below poverty wages, High emissions due to overseas production and transport; consumes and pollutes massive amounts of water with dye and microplastics; and encourages overconsumption with cheap garments.

The Dangers of Disposable Fashion

Lack of Style: True personal style requires you to sit with your purchases and your possessions in order to truly value them and use them to their full potential. By treating clothing as disposable and, instead, regularly buying them in large quantities, you're not allowing that natural growth to occur.

Burning Money: How much money is wasted on ill-fitting clothes, pieces that bear no resemblance to their online representations, garments so poorly made that they barely last an evening, and the pursuit of trends fabricated by brands to instill a sense of inadequacy in vulnerable consumers?

The Erosion of Quality: As more companies not only anticipate but also depend on customers constantly purchasing new items, quality often takes a backseat (if it's even in the car) to driving costs down with the goal of making overconsumption accessible to people of all income levels. After all, does it truly matter if a piece falls apart after two washes when it is intended to be worn only once?

Human Cost: Garment workers endure grueling hours, hazardous and often disabling conditions, and meager wages. They are expected to produce hundreds, if not thousands, of garments per day with few breaks. Additionally, they are often forced to live on the premises in cramped and unhygienic living quarters.

The Global Landfill: An estimated 100-150 billion garments are produced yearly, but only 80 billion are sold. What happens to the excess? In Europe alone, 2 million tons of clothing are discarded annually, often shipped to countries in the Global South, creating massive piles that clog beaches, water supplies, and deserts, reaching sizes visible from space.

The Domino Effect: As disposable fashion brands compete against one another to make clothes cheaper and cheaper, the true value of clothing becomes increasingly lost on consumers who are unwilling to pay fair prices. This has a profound impact on independent, smaller businesses, forcing them to make a difficult choice: either cut corners to lower their prices or invest time, and in some cases, marketing dollars, to justify charging enough to keep their businesses viable.

These are 12 of the most common fabrics you will come across when you wear clothes. Cotton, linen, silk, viscose/rayon, hemp, and wool are all natural fibers. Cotton and linen keep you cool, although the linen wrinkles easily. Silk must be hand washed. Viscose and rayon are made from wool pulp. Hemp can’t be dyed into bright colors and shrinks a lot. Wool also shrinks a lot but is best for warmth.

Weaves are different from fibers: they are how fibers are woven. Satin can be made from cotton, silk, or polyester. Cotton satin is the least shiny, silk satin is kind of shiny, and polyester satin is the shiniest. Chiffon is sheer, pretty, and Lakyn's favorite textile. Jersey stretches without spandex. Polyester can look like almost anything. Nylon is waterproof but can melt at high temperatures, so avoid open flames. Vegan leather is an animal-friendly alternative to leather and despite popular belief isn't always made of plastic.

Who Are You: e.g. queer, a creative, a first-generation immigrant, Muslim, Texan, a music-lover, three kids standing on top of each other in a trench coat; What Is Your Focus: AKA Your Style Language, e.g. comfort, self-expression, convenience, attraction; How Do You Dress: e.g. simple, tailored, glam, androgynous, comfortable, bohemian, punk, chic, free-spirited, bold, understated; and What Do You Love: e.g. chunky jewelry, heels, sneakers, bold prints, layers, my Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace that I stole from that old lady. Put It All Together: I am (a) WHO (person) who values WHAT through HOW (and/but) HOW silhouettes/looks/pieces and LOVE.

How 2 B Sustainable (No Matter Your Budget or Ability):

Minimum:
* Only buy what you will wear.
* Wear items until they're unwearable.
* Wash and dry garments properly.
* Be aware of "greenwashing."
* Learn about fabrics/fibers to make more informed purchases.

Above:
* Seek out secondhand first.
* Organize/store clothes properly to maintain & keep track of what you have
* Repair garments when needed.
* Rent/borrow/swap garments where you can.

Beyond:
* Ensure all your garments can live beyond you.
* Invest in trans-seasonal garments to get more wears out of your clothing.
* Educate others on sustainability.
* Support sustainable brands.

The classic white button-down is a long-time staple, and there are many ways to wear them. You can layer them over jeans, a coordinated set, or shorts for a more casual look. You can tie a white button-down at the waist over a dress or a black top with black bicycle shorts. You can tuck into your favorite jeans or loosely over your favorite dress. It’s the perfect piece for easily elevating your look, especially in the summer.

Fair Trade: Signifies that a product was made according to rigorous fair trade standards that promote sustainable livelihoods, safe working conditions, protection of the environment, and strong, transparent supply chains.

Bluesign: Bluesign® APPROVED fabrics are tested for consumer safety against a long list of chemicals. The bluesign® technologies group is involved at every step in the supply chain to keep chemicals of concern out of the process.

GOTS: The world's leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibers. It defines high-level environmental criteria along the entire organic textiles supply chain and requires compliance with social criteria as well.

Certified B: Signifies that a business meets high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.

C2C: The global standard for safe, circular, responsibly made products. It involves a continuous process of improvement that looks at health impact; circularity; air, water, and soil protection; climate change stewardship; and equity.

OEKO-TEX: Certifies end-products and their components. Products with the Standard 100 label have been proven free of toxic substances; Standard 1000 certifies that facilities where products are made use environmentally and socially-friendly practices.

Made Safe: Made Safe means that a product is made with safe ingredients by tracing and testing every component for over 6,500 chemicals known to harm our health. It is, by far, the most stringent non-toxic standard.

WRAP: Ensures compliance with the WRAP Principles regarding ethical production and labor including prohibition or forced/child labor, compliance with local laws and workplace regulations and proper compensation.

BCI: The Better Cotton Initiative trains farming communities to produce cotton in ways that improve things for everyone and everything connected with cotton, from soil health to phasing out harmful pesticides and eradicating farmer poverty.

SA-8000: The SA8000 certification provides a framework for organizations to conduct business in a way that is fair and decent for workers and to demonstrate their adherence to the highest social standards.

What Goes Into Pricing a Garment?

Materials: Some fabrics cost more because they are harder to get or make. Natural fibers like cotton or wool usually cost more, and some are of higher quality than others.

Details: Extra things like linings, certain zippers, and different kinds of seams take more time, work, and material. This makes clothes cost more.

Labor: Many people work on each piece of clothing you wear. They all should get paid fairly. This costs more, especially if the clothes are made in certain places.

Overhead: This is the cost of running a business, like paying rent, shipping, and salaries. So, even if two items are made with the same material and labor, they can be sold at different price points.

So how much should clothes cost? These are the average minimum prices you can expect for responsibly made, basic garments with no premium details, in USD. Tees: $25, Jeans $75, Dresses $45-$50, Jackets $70, Coats $150+, Sweaters $60-$80+

These prices might seem high, but remember the three S's: Sales, Search, and Secondhand.

Sales: Ethical brands have sales too! You can sign up for their emails or follow them on social media.

Search: Websites like Good On You and The Honest Consumer can help you find and compare ethical brands.

Secondhand: You can buy resold and pre-loved clothing on websites like Depop, Poshmark, eBay, ThredUp, The RealReal, and Etsy.

How to Dress Your Age: Whatever That Means

Rule One: “Take one thing off before you leave the house.” Maximalism is fashionable, and nothing is more fashionable than pairing a bunch of necklaces, bangles, and bracelets with an opulent print like Iris Apfnel Age 101 (pictured)

Rule Two: “No mini skirts.” If you got it flaunt it. Great legs know no age, as you can see on Grece Chanam, Age 57 (pictured)

Rule Three: “Always define your waist.” Frances McDormand, Age 65 (pictured) shows how all-over volume can make an avant-garde statement.

Rule Four: “Stick to solid colors or classic prints.” Viola Davis, Age 57 shown wearing and printed gown, shows how chic and fashionable prints can be.

Rule Five: “Cover your arms.” Elaine Davis, Age 58 shown wearing a sleeveless halter gown with tennis shoes and does it elegantly so.

Rule Six: “Avoid too much Cleavage” Angela Bassett, Age 64, shows in a deep plunge-caped gown that great cleavage is forever.

Search: You can use websites like Google Shopping, Lyst, Pinterest, and ShopStyle to find what you're looking for. These sites let you compare prices and even tell you when prices drop.

Sales: Stay in the know about sales by signing up for emails from your favorite stores. You can also use helpful tools like Covvet, SaveList, and ShopItToMe. These sites and browser extensions help you keep track of your wishlist items and alert you when there are discounts.

Secondhand: Great clothes don't have to be new! You can find brands you love at a cheaper price on secondhand sites like TheRealReal, Poshmark, ThredUp, eBay, and Depop.
Remember, smart shopping can help you save money and still get great clothes!

Replace Your Jeans: The key to the perfect jean replacement is picking something that goes with everything the same way your favorite denim does. keep it neutral, but have fun! Try wide trousers, an A-line skirt, or a bodycon midi skirt.

Find Your Signature: Whether it's a casual hat moment, jewelry you never take off, boots you live to stomp around in or something else: everyone needs that one accessory that completes the look every time.

Add a Third Piece: Why wait for fall so you can start really dressing? Adding a third piece is the easiest way to take a bland, casual outfit to the next level. Try tossing a white button down over a tank or slip dress: trust me.

If your clothing is not wearable, or it is wearable but you don't care about making money back on it, try a For Days "Take Back" bag or search "textile recycling near me." If it is wearable and you'd like to make some money back on it, you can photograph and sell it yourself on Vestaire Collective if it's designer, Depop if it's trendy or vintage, or Poshmark for mostly everything else. If you don't want to do the work of selling yourself, you can send non-designer items to ThredUp, and designer items to TheRealReal.

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