About a month ago, I posted that I’ll be giving away some of my unwanted clothes for free on my Instagram story since they’ve been sitting untouched in my closet for way too long. Shortly after the story was posted, people started replying to my story asking if they could have them. I felt an unexplainable joy after realizing that people wanted to wear clothes that I would never wear again and it made me realize how convenient it was to recycle clothes.

Linda’s Instagram story

In an age of consumerism, our urge to purchase is evoked both by our natural desire to own what appeals to us visually and the inclination to use shopping as a coping mechanism for what bothers us. Stressed out? Shop. Failed a test? Shop. In a bad mood? Shop. We come up with all kinds of excuses to justify our compulsive purchasing habit; Vanessa Zhang, a 16-year-old student, agrees, “my desire for shopping mostly ensues when I feel stressed out or anxious, it [shopping]helps relieve some stress.”

The result of our expressive buying results in similar items repeatedly entering our households; the fashion industry is no exception. We buy far more clothes than what we realistically need, as Sofia Strelnikova (age 15), says, “Actually thinking about this, my closet is filled with clothes that I don’t know I have. Maybe not to that point, but it’s like I know I have them, but I also know I’m never going to wear them.”

The truth is that while we often get a thrilling and enraptured feeling after a shopping spree, the same feeling ceases when one is reminded of their untidy closet filled with unneeded clothes or exposed to the negative environmental impact of shopping (which happens to be often trivialized and shunned.) According to the United Nations Environment Programme, approximately 10% of the annual global carbon emission and 20% of the total wastewater in a year come from the fashion industry.

Whether you hope to help our ecosystem by reducing textile wastes or to simply save the plight of your wardrobe, I have suggested four easily attainable ways, here in Beijing, that could get you started on your journey to fashion sustainability.

1. Clothing Swaps!

“Who can say no to free clothes?” One of my followers texted me that after the clothing giveaway story I posted on Instagram. Just like what I did, you could exchange clothes with your friends through popular media platforms or simply through personal contacts. A pair of skinny jeans that you would never want to wear again could be something someone else has long-sought for but couldn’t find. What’s better than a mutually beneficial exchange, especially when it’s between you and your friends?

2. Roundabout

Since its opening in 2008, Roundabout has been a charity organization that directly passes on your donated items and sells them in their retail store to acquire funds for those in need. You are encouraged to donate second-handed items to their retail store; in fact, clothing is currently one of their biggest needs! Just make sure that your clothes are clean, stainless, and in good condition. Check out this page or follow the official Roundabout WeChat account for more information on donation details, drop-off points, and alternative ways to donate items!

3. Clothing Transformation

Transforming old clothes into new fashion could be done with simple cuts and sewing, and minimal skills are required. A large, oversized t-shirt could quickly turn into a mini top with a few meticulous changes. There are a ton of videos on YouTube and tutorials on Pinterest that could inspire you to transform your own unwanted clothes into another shape or form.

4. Textile Recycling Programs

Plenty of other recycling alternatives are also available; search up “旧衣回收” (jiù yī huí shoū) on WeChat and you’ll find a variety of clothes recycling programs that offer home pick-up services. This way, you could merely wait by the door for the courier to show up.

Indeed, the above methods can achieve some level of fashion sustainability, however, it is not to forget that none of them fully gets to the heart of the problem. The truth is that we need to simply stop buying. This by no means is to say that shopping for clothes is a sin or that we can’t purchase garments at all, but rather that we need to stop vindicating our excessive consumerism. It’s almost undeniable that buying new clothes gives us ecstasy, but perhaps this is also an indication that the natural foundation of our happiness should be reassessed. It’s time to abolish the mindset that one should buy fewer pieces of expensive clothing so that they could buy more clothes at lower prices with the same amount of money. It’s not a matter of money (though it could be argued that economizing is equally important); the ultimate goal is to buy less so that the production of clothes and textile wastes from unwanted garments could be lowered and thus reduce the demand for textile and apparel.

As a culprit of modern consumerism and overbuying, my expertise certainly does not lie in the field of sustainability. There is still so much more for all of us to learn about being environmentally friendly, but the four ways to recycle clothes provided above could be the starting points of your path to fashion sustainability, right here in Beijing.

KEEP READING: Who Pays The Price For Our Clothing? The True Cost

Images: Linda Huang, pexels

At some point in our lives, we have probably all been criticized for the way we dress, or told that there is only one way that beauty should be expressed.

When I was in Grade 7, I felt very uncomfortable wearing crop tops and booty shorts in public because I felt like those weren’t clothes that people in Beijing would typically wear. I could feel people eyeing my body while walking down the street in these clothes, the kinds of clothes that people would call “too revealing”, or imply such messages through their judgmental glares.

Having lived in Beijing for 16 years now, I understand exactly why some young girls and women feel uncomfortable and judged whenever they go out wearing clothes that don’t seem to fit in with what everyone else is wearing. In China, women’s fashion has always been more conservative than that of western countries. You often find young Chinese girls and women wearing oversized t-shirts, baggy pants, and non-body-con shorts. Meanwhile, tank tops, tube tops, mini skirts, or anything that shows too much skin or accentuates one’s figure too much are historically frowned upon in this country.

While I do acknowledge that modest and conservative dressing is deeply rooted in China’s culture and tradition, I believe that being able to express ourselves through what we wear, and to portray an image we wish for the world to see is a choice we should be able to make. And I’m not the only one, many other teenage girls in Beijing feel the exact same way.

Delphine Q., a Singapore-born girl who’s lived in Beijing for quite a long time has experienced this first hand. “When I’m in Singapore, I tend to feel very safe, so I’m comfortable with whatever I wear. Beijing is a huge city, but I don’t think everyone in Beijing knows how to view fashion because they tend to have a very traditional mindset on what fashion is. Sometimes I can feel that there are people on the street looking at me like I’m a freak because of how I dress, but I don’t really care since it’s my own style and I like it.”

Emily S., a 16-year-old teenage girl who used to live in Beijing, but now attends a boarding school in North Carolina, US expresses how she views fashion in Beijing. “In many places in Beijing, especially where I live [Haidian], where traditional Chinese cultural heritage is more well preserved, it’s even harder to walk around wearing skimpy clothes because people really do stare a lot. For example, if I wanted to wear spaghetti straps, it’s just not possible around my area.”

But not all are examined under the same judgmental microscope; there seems to be a rigid fashion stigma targeted mainly towards women of Asian heritage. The older generation in Beijing tends to think it is completely fine for westerners to wear skimpy and body-hugging clothes in public, while Asian women are often criticized when doing the same thing.

This is perhaps why Chichi S., who is Zambian, and Mayank S, who is half Swiss and half Indian, both believe that Beijing is an inclusive city for fashion. “I feel like people in Beijing are pretty expressive with what they wear,” explains Chichi, “and that encourages me to be expressive with what I wear and my style because I don’t feel alone, and I don’t feel like an outcast.”

When describing her fashion experience in Beijing, Mayank says, “I feel comfortable presenting myself through my fashion in Beijing. Large cities, in general, are great for wearing what you like, not only can you really express yourself, you can also find inspirations in the personal style of everyone you cross in the street.

But it’s not just about the amount of skin you show. Another common fashion stereotype that is deeply embedded within the Asian fashion industry is the disparagement of plus-size models. Many Asian media still portrays skinny as the only form of beauty, but the truth is, beauty has no limits.

“Some people simply are just plus size because that’s how they are built. Some can’t change that no matter how hard they try because that it just how they are,” explains Chichi, “however, the fashion industry completely excludes them by hiring skinny models and not everyone can obtain that kind of body.

As I become older, my insecurities towards my fashion aesthetic have gradually ceased, because I believe that fashion is a very subjective matter and that each individual feels different about it. Although people still stare at me when I walk around in Beijing wearing skimpy clothes, I’m confident enough to realize that I am only presenting myself, and that when I am happy with what I’m wearing, other people’s opinions don’t matter.

Fashion should be something one uses to express themselves, not feel oppressed by. And cultures and traditions shouldn’t take away our rights to express ourselves as the people we want to appear to be. Perpetuating historical values is important, but preserving and understanding history while having an open mindset that tolerates different fashion aesthetics is what we should all aspire for the people living in Beijing, and every other part of the world.

KEEP READING: How Young is Too Young for Plastic Surgery?

Photos: Unsplash

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 August issue

When I was expecting our first daughter, my sister-in-law gave us our baby’s first gift: a blue babygro set. “Blue?” I asked, puzzled. For although I’m not a pink and sparkly kind of person, I still thought the color blue belonged to the boys’ club.

A few years down the road and our daughter is old enough to pick and choose her clothes. Her favorite color? Blue.

Society has long dictated that garment colors (and to some extent, sports activities, and names) should reinforce gender stereotypes, with certain being ‘for boys’ and others ‘for girls’. And the message runs deep: I admit that I am also prone to color bias. Last week while shopping in a high street clothes store, our daughter chose a … you guessed it… blue T-shirt, from the boys’ section. I pointed this out saying, “Honey, you may bump into a boy wearing the same T-shirt”, to which she – and her dad – replied, “So?”. Consider me told!

I decided to do a bit of digging and try to unravel how gender norms have affected the way we raise our kids in three key ways: clothing, names, and sports.

Clothes marketing at girls is big on pink and purple… but boys deserve flamingos too!

Clothing

A pink T-shirt with a smiling, cute, cuddly animal, emblazoned with the words “Cute Princess” will be most likely seen on a girl – portraying that they are or should be exactly that; cuddly, sweet, domesticated, and not much else.

Likewise, chances are that a shirt with “Surf Champ”, “Explorer”, “Future Boss” or with a fierce roaring bear is more likely to be found in a boys’ section of a clothes store. There’s nothing wrong with these messages. But shouldn’t they appear on the clothing of both genders? Unfortunately, as recently as 2017 the shoe brand Clarks was criticized for selling a girls’ shoe range called “Dolly Babe” and a boys’ range called “Leader”, clearly showing that the industry has a long way to go.

And it’s not only about names or messages emblazoned on clothing, but the actual design themselves: garment stereotyping goes further in the portrayal of pre-destined roles for boys and girls with boys shown as the seemingly more outdoorsy, adventurous and daring type, and clothes to match this perceived nature. On the other hand, girls are stuck with impractical skirts and tights, making outdoor fun challenging while boys will have shorts and other loose clothing for easy movement. And don’t get us started on the great Pocket Problem… 

In close-minded societies, boys and girls who defy these societal norms can be seen as “weak” or “trouble” respectively and these tired notions on how boys and girls should dress don’t stop at children but extend to adults too, with a woman who adopts an androgynous look seen by some as threatening and ‘not woman enough’, while a man who favors pink shirts may have his ‘manliness’ put into question.

Names

Names, and whether they are considered feminine or masculine is intrinsically tied to culture and history, and varies enormously around the world. And in recent years, we’ve seen a rise in epicene first names like Hayden, Alexis, Casey, Jordan, Taylor, Drew, Kyle. Two of the daughters of veteran actor Kelsey Grammar (whose own name is quite androgynous) are named Spencer and Mason, and Jessica Simpson named her firstborn daughter Maxwell, a solidly masculine name. Actress Reese Witherspoon’s mother clearly wasn’t into traditional girl names when she gave birth to her. Neither was singer Billie Eilish’s mum.

Australia has also seen a new trend of gender-bending unisex names like Alfie and Charlie for girls and the name Emerson, which is traditionally a girl’s name, has also seen a rise in popularity with boys.

However, a few journal articles examining androgynous names and the maintenance of gender boundaries have noted that although there has been an increase in the number of androgynous names in recent years, the overall use of these names is barely increasing, especially among parents of daughters.

While parents may hesitate over choosing the best name for their children, when one looks at careers of people like Taylor Swift or Blake Lively, we can see that having an unusual name doesn’t necessarily hurt your career.

There’s no good reason that little girls can’t play baseball… or be called Austin for that matter!

Sports

It’s generally accepted that girls and boys can participate in the same sports activities, on the same team, until the onset of puberty after which, boys tend to gain an advantage over girls in both strength and size. So, for fairness – and to some extent, safety – mixed-gender teams are often phased out at a certain age, although if there’s no team for girls in a certain sport, some laws allow girls to compete on a boys-only team.

A lot of world competitions like the Olympics, both men and women teams are very well represented in many of the disciplines like swimming, skating, boxing and many more.

With the rise of feminist movements that want to dismantle what they consider arbitrary gender distinctions, we may see a challenge to some of these parameters and stereotypes – and a change in attitude around nuances of what society expects in terms of gender behavior.

Pearl Kasujja-Van de Velde  is a dual Ugandan/Belgian national, a mother to two amazing girls, a wife, and a storyteller. To get in touch, visit her website at www.pearlkasujja.com.

KEEP READING: Working Out When to Allow Pajama Parties

Photos: Unsplash