Weekend Reading: Could Co-ops Solve Income Inequality?

A Mexican art student in San Miguel de Allende that I crushed on last year –– a talented singer and beautiful fashion plate for Mexican style. 

Hi readers,

If you’ve been reading EcoCult for a while, you might have noticed that I care about all things sustainable consumption: fashion, food, beauty, home, travel, and weddings. But despite the fact that I believe ocean plastic is a pressing problem, factory farms are a shocking injustice, travel should benefit the people of the country you’re visiting, and we spend way too much on ineffective and often toxic beauty products, I’ve realized that what I really am most passionate about –– and what I’m the most well-versed on –– is sustainable and ethical fashion. I’ve also noticed that fashion is what you come to me for.

So from now on, I’m going to do what I do best and spend 90% of my writing diving into issues in the fashion industry. Starting today. All my links in this weekend roundup relate back to fashion in some way, at least tangentially. For example, microplastics include microfibers, and I’ve seen first hand how the worker-owned co-op model can be applied to a fashion brand.

So, I hope you enjoy my new renewed focus on the global fashion supply chain. Please feel free to email me tips on stories or investigations I should do, to [email protected].

Here’s What I Read This Week

Could co-ops solve income inequality? | Craftsmanship Quarterly 

Canada Goose is not only opening sewing facilities in Canada and training Canadian employers, it has a special charitable collection coming out soon designed by Inuit craftspeople –– and it’s gorgeous. | Sourcing Journal + Narcity 

Is the rise of watchdog accounts like Diet Prada actually working to improve the fashion industry? | Business of Fashion

Fast fashion exploits everything it touches. | Quartz

There’s a startup that says within 10 years it will be recycling tons of mixed cotton and polyester waste. | Forbes

For Days is moving into bra recycling. But it won’t say exactly how the bras are to be recycled. (Unless they’ve partnered to pilot test it with the above startup, my guess is downcycling into couch stuffing or the like.) | Glossy 

Sneakers made out of slaughterhouse blood are definitely a Rorschach test for whether you’re a vegan or conscious carnivore. |  nat 2

Britain has proposed taxing fast fashion to pay for fashion waste collection. YAS. | Vogue

Videos criticizing fast fashion always show b-roll of fashion shows. As if fashion shows are the problem and not a relic of the era of slow fashion that is dying. | BBC  + Vox

Getting the litter out of glitter. | Dazed

Designers were creating around climate change at NYFW. | Fashionista

Why some people have stopped buying new clothes, and what they do instead. | The Guardian 

Reformation is helping customers offset their carbon footprint. | The Current Daily 

This collection is designed to help you survive the apocalypse. | Fast Company

What is going to happen to H&M and Zara if consumer tastes are changing, for the worse and better? | Forbes

Hello welcome I’m John. | Vestoj

What are microplastics doing to our bodies? An all-female team of researchers is trying to find out. | Grist 

The reusable water bottles as a status symbol. | The Atlantic