By: Elizabeth McLaughlin...

What does manifesting a Miss Sixty set at the thrift have to do with Buddhism?

Before the Buddha was called the Buddha, he was called Siddhartha; "siddha" meaning "achieved" and "artha" meaning "what was searched for." See where I'm going with this?

In a way, when we develop & curate our own personal styles, and then find garments that align with that vision, we are finding what we're searching for.

Let me be clear - Buddhism emphasizes a heavy non-reliance on consumption, or on material goods. Perhaps my analogy between shopping and the philosophy is sacrilegious here. But the reason I make the comparison? Because we could all learn a lot from Buddhist philosophy when it comes to the way we consume and wear clothes.

It was summer of 2021 and I was volunteering for Boohoo at Miami Swim Week, and I was surrounded by influencers galore, each excited to walk for the brand's first runway show. I remember handing Cindy Prado her Boohoo bikini and midway through getting dressed, she called out that the bottoms had torn in half.

The needless, ugly, polyester production of the entire show deeply saturated my bones, resonating more as a circus, a parody of fashion, rather than a genuine showing of a design team's hard work.

I returned home from Miami that July with my capstone looming over me. The topic had been decided earlier that year: Fast Fashion from a Buddhist Perspective. Armed with all the disappointment I had witnessed from Boohoo, I completed my project in December 2021. This work serves as the basis for this post.

So, without further ado: How are fast fashion and Buddhism diametric opposites? And how can we learn to slow down?

Buddhism inherently embodies a profound compassion "for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world." Yet, one glance at the prices offered by brands like Shein reveals that the "many" producing their clothing are likely far from happy—with their working conditions, their compensation, or their treatment.

I mean, come on, guys! You have to realize that if a shirt costs $5, the person who made it is likely earning just a fraction of that—if they're even being paid at all.

This is just one facet where Buddhism and fast fashion clash. I could delve deeper into that rabbit hole—the vast chasm of production where people of color across the globe are exploited to satisfy the First World's insatiable demand for new trends before they’ve even fully formed; a First World that owns more clothes than any generation in the history of the world.

But you're my audience, and if you're reading this, you likely already avoid shopping fast fashion. I'd also guess that you're either working on or have already cultivated your own unique sense of style-perhaps conscious of trends but not completely bound by them.

So let's talk about enlightenment.

You won't find it in a book. You won't find it in another person, and you won't find it in the Anne Demeulemeester F/W 2017 collection.

The Buddha would never prescribe specific steps to achieve Enlightenment. Instead, he outlined the Four Noble Truths as a way to diagnose and address the root of the Problem.

The First and Second Noble Truths summarize the Buddha’s diagnosis of the human predicament, and the Third and Fourth Truths provide his prescription.

To start: the Problem is that we suffer. This is a universal and timeless truth.

Why do we suffer?

We suffer because we tend to attach our happiness to impermanent objects. In doing so, we cling to the illusion that these objects will bring us lasting happiness or satisfaction. This is the essence of the Second Noble Truth.

The Third Noble Truth? The end of suffering! Yay. How does it end?  The Third Noble Truth is about the cessation of suffering—the realization that suffering can end. This happens when we let go of our attachments and cravings, which are the root causes of our pain. By deeply understanding the nature of suffering (the First Noble Truth) and its origins (the Second Noble Truth), we can begin to free ourselves from the cycle of desire and dissatisfaction. The Buddha then introduces the Fourth Noble Truth as a practical guide to achieving this freedom.

The Fourth Noble Truth is the path to the end of suffering. It’s called the Noble Eightfold Path, a practical guide to living a balanced and ethical life that leads to freedom from craving and attachment. The path includes eight interconnected steps: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. By following this path, we can achieve peace and Enlightenment...

I want you to consider this post a barely-scratching-the-surface introduction to Buddhist philosophy. Without really elaborating on any one of those factors, it's clear to make the connection that fast fashion or, more broadly, the way we consume all fashion in 2024, is incompatible with all of them.

Take "right mindfulness", for example. How mindful are you when you purchase a top you saw an influencer wear because you envy her body & aesthetic & "need" it for yourself? Not mindful at all; mindless, really. 

What about "right livelihood" for the people who sew your $15 milkmaid dress—the one you’ll wear once and then forget about? Are they justly compensated, not only in monetary terms but also with gratitude and dignity? Do their working conditions reflect fairness, or do they expose a system that prioritizes cheap trends over human well-being?

By now, I've criticized a lot. So let's talk about what to do next...

First, it definitely helps to have these conversations with your friends. Aren't we all tired of the endless hamster wheel we've placed ourselves on in the name of being an "It Girl"? Don't you think we've transformed, self-helped, optimized and regurgitated ourselves enough over the past, say, five years, to fit a lifetime?

One way I stop myself from overconsuming is by exclusively shopping secondhand. There exists enough clothes on this planet right now to clothe the next six generations, no new garments necessary. That's disgusting! And, quite frankly, some of the stuff that they're making nowadays, whether it's Chanel or Shein, is butt ugly.

I'd rather wear something with a history, something made in a time before TikTok shop ever existed.

I also find myself liking/saving on secondhand sites far more often than I ever hit purchase. You can independently curate your own style without actually having any new clothes at all. Style is a state of mind.

So to recap: You can't get two more opposite things than Buddhism and fast fashion. One of them evinces greed; the other, satisfaction. One is about consumption; the other, existing. One creates hellish landscapes of plastic mountains that won't degrade for thousands of years, the other is a state of mind.

Which are you craving right now?

Sources: 
Bell. "Dharma Talk: Right Action: Waking Up to Loving Kindness." MindfulnessBell, 11 Oct. 2019, (https://www.mindfulnessbell.org/archive/2016/02/dharma-talk-right-action-waking-up-to-loving-kindness-2).

McLaughlin, E. Fast Fashion from a Buddhist Perspective. 2021. Scribd, (https://www.scribd.com/document/605651580/Fast-Fashion-from-a-Buddhist-Perspective).