Wake up call to listen!

24th April 2025

I am going to start our latest blog by apologizing for my tone of voice… I don’t mean to offend you, but I mean to ask you to listen.

Imagine, you can change our World by making the right choices. You can single handedly help dealing with the latest environmental challenges by buying or not buying certain goods and overcome your addiction of consumerism. You are not your wardrobe, neither how many pairs of shoes you own. Your handbag does not define you (or rather works for your disadvantage if you ask me).

What’s the fuss and why is she so blunt, you could ask…

I read so many posts on social media about Shein or Temu, and why women cannot stop buying from them. I am proud of myself, for not giving into the super inviting and mesmerizing advertisement in front of me for the last 2 years, at least. All the good stuff, the styles I like and the colors matching my eyes, they know it all and read my mind. Their algorithm is clever and mind-altering way too often, spooky, to put it mildly.

I grew up in a communist society, where brainwashing was part of the system’s strength and have learnt to be alert and cautious of any kind of influence.

People out there: FAST FASHION IS KILLING US! No, don’t click away or dismiss this statement. Think about this:

“We have enough clothing on the planet right now to clothe the next six generations of the human race”. That is clothing for us, our children, their children’s children’s children’s children! Read it again and see why I have the urgency in my voice. This act of overproducing and the love of fast fashion comes with serious consequences:

Pollution and environmental costs are uncontrollable
Issues like human rights and gender equality is outdriven by fast profit creation
Our actions are overpowered by the lack of awareness and conscious choices

And then I hear (including my own Daughter) saying: I cannot afford the choices we have here… everything is way too expensive…

I see the bigger picture. I feel the shift happening from supporting your local economy to feeding into the global greedy monster. I see your wider community suffering to support their families, because you need another bag, the Gucci look alike. So many of your friends are trying to make a living, while you are browsing online to replace their profit with a polyester nylon anorak.

Did you know, that 60% of all materials used by the fashion industry are made from plastic? About 500 000 tones of microfibers are released into the Ocean each year, that is about 50 billion plastic bottles. All from clothing entering our ecosystem, into our food-chain, replacing our own molecules with poisonous substances. The clothing recycling stats are shocking, the waste is unprecedented and the ‘I cannot care less’ is off the charts. When you give in, you don’t feed your own needs. You feed something so out of hand, so wrong and unhealthy, you don’t even see the correlation how it is making you sick.

And now, she is going to promote her own mission you will say. Well, you don’t need to join us to make a difference, all you need to do is:

Buy less, think about the consequences of your habits and where you spend your money and why (affordability is not an answer)
Make conscious choices, embrace what you have
Shop local, pay the price because that way you support others in your wider community
Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (it’s a must in 2025)
Swap with friends and family or with us
Rethink our customs, choices and the way we live with nature – through your actions
Yes, join other 40 000 women who CARE and are part of a wider community
Don’t panic and forgive me for being blunt…