This article was originally posted at www.thelocalgood.ca
Haven’t you heard? Supporting local is IN, and it’s always best to give back in style! That’s why today’s #LocalGoodnessYEG focuses on the Edmontonian fashion gurus that help us dress to impress, whatever the season.
Whether you’re an on-scene regular or not, there is a TON you can do to support the local fashion creators driving the industry in Edmonton and across Alberta. And while many of our best and brightest have had to cancel shows and photoshoots to cater to new operational standards, the Edmonton crowd isn’t giving up fast and are producing more great works than ever! (I’m looking at you Workhall!)
So, from textiles to design, from the runway to your closet, it’s time to use your time, money, and voice to support the fashion moguls who make Edmonton home, as well as all the stylists, creators, and beautifiers who make their final creations possible.
And besides, who isn’t in the mood for a unique new piece to shake off the last of their winter/ COVID blues?
Here are a few things you can do to make sure you show your love for #yegfashion while supporting local today:
Break Open the Piggy Bank
The first way that you can help is easy, and it helps you too! That’s right, today you can use your money to support some of the local fashion retailers lining our recently reopened streets, all while decking out your closet in the latest runway styles. Better yet, you won’t have to wait for prolonged delivery times, as you can take a walk or drive to most locations for safe shopping and pickup! Shopping for local fashion is also a great way to support sustainability, as most of our local producers and manufacturers keep operations efficient and environmentally friendly.
So plan an online shopping date with friends, and get clicking around some of the great local retailers and design houses below:
Love making your own designs instead? There are so many great local textile retailers that you can find throughout the city, like Rhythm Fabrics, Johnson’s Sewing Centre, or Quilter’s Dream, and we encourage you to share your favourite with us through #LocalGoodnessYEG today.
Dress Your Head
As you break open your bank account and dish out for some new threads, it’s also important to remember why shopping for clothes and textiles locally benefits the economy (and yourself) on so many levels. There’s a riveting history behind the fashion industry, spanning workers rights, to environmental regulations, and even economic production, and the time is right for you to school yourself on that history.
Here’s a quick snapshot to get you started:
Defining Fast Fashion
After years of big-box stores offering a huge variety of low-quality items for unbeatable prices, I think we’re all ready to hunker down and invest in clothes that work for us, and which last. But why do we have such a huge prevalence of these retailers? Well, we can point all the way back to the Industrial Revolution, when clothing began being made to order and shifted in bulk. Clothing could suddenly be produced extremely quickly, with much less hands-on labour, and often resulted in steep declines in product price.
By WWII, mass-production had become rampant, mostly to accommodate for fabric restrictions placed on consumers, and to appeal to the middle class. Suddenly, manufacturers were able to create and make their own clothing, without needing the skill and depth of individual sewer and design teams. In a move that has become familiar to our historical arc, production at this level began to evolve, and soon dispersed into low-wage countries to boost manufacturing profits.
Nowadays, we see store after store filled with synthetic materials meant to adorn our bodies. Women and children in other countries are often forced to create these clothes for our benefit, for literal cents. The cost of human capital, mixed with the environmental impact has brought to the surface just how important it is to support sustainable, small-batch production as we move toward more environmental protections and improved sustainable futures.
Now it’s your turn! What else can you learn about mindful clothing production or the fashion industry as a whole? Learning more about these topics will make you a smarter consumer, and will help relieve any guilt you may have about spending a few extra dollars to support a local retailer in need!
Show Us Your Style!
With Edmonton’s own Western Canada Fashion Week postponed until September, it’s time to bring the runway online and show us how you’re rocking the latest Edmonton styles and breaking new ground in the fashion industry. Elevate the brands of the local designers you love (we’re OBVIOUSLY dying for Shakatell, LUXX, and M.O.B.I.L.I.Z.E. right now), or give the local fashionista in your life a shoutout!
This may also be your chance to give voice to some of the humanitarian issues surrounding not only childhood textile labour and environmental sustainability, but other issues like cultural appropriation in fashion. If you have some special insight, or want to share a personal experience you had with fast fashion or unsustainable fashion practices, now’s the time to make yourself heard.
And if you learned something new about Edmonton fashion today, or purchased a great new item for yourself or a friend, we want to hear about it! Be sure to use our hashtag for all of your fashion-forward posting today, at #LocalGoodnessYEG.
Jessica Barratt 