How I think about sustainable fashion as I'm starting a new clothing company

It feels weird to be someone who produces things. My nature is to look around and see what can be made from what I already have. I hate waste. So being in the fashion industry feels like a difficult balancing act, because garment production usually involves polyester, garment bags, plastic hangers, and other things that might only get used once. Ugh!

I try to walk lightly on this earth. I prefer to leave no trace, or to leave things better than I found them, especially since I have a daughter. I want her to inherit a beautiful, healthy, well-functioning planet and society, as idyllic and far fetched as that might sound right now. 

For years my design business involved making one-of-a-kind custom headpieces that last for a decade or more. Beautiful items but they weren't scalable and didn't pay the bills; but, almost no footprint. 

Now I'm in the industry, and I feel the waste everywhere. I don't want to be a part of it, if that can be avoided. But sometimes a fabric made of recycled materials might have PFAS in it (forever chemicals). So there are choices to be made. I make choices based on what's going to last the longest and be the least toxic material. And I ride my E-bike all over town, don't fly very often, and love eating organic local farmers market produce. Personal choices matter too.

I know there are solutions we could all be participating in if we shifted our focus and energies. I know there are multiple kinds of plastic-eating fungi out there. Can we stop waging war on each other long enough to focus on actions and solutions that make this a lovelier place for our kids?

https://earth.org/plastic-eating-mushroom-of-the-amazon-and-ecuadors-development-dilemma/#:~:text=When%20Yale%20University%20students%20found,landfills.%20They%20taste%20good%20too.

My designs come from a love of the kind of lifestyle where you invest in a smaller number of beautiful things that you truly love, and you wear them for as long as 20 years. I have items in my closet that go back 15 years and more, and I look forward to lending them to my daughter one day.

Bringing beauty into the world is still important. I'd like the beauty I bring in to have a beautiful effect while it's being made - supporting local workers in ethical conditions here in NYC and not creating excess waste - and long after it's bought, lasting years and leaving as little trace as possible. We'll see. It's a complicated world these days. Oof.