5 broad tips for progressing in sustainable fashion
An insight into some of the rules I try and live by when making decisions about my career in this field.
As I've written about before, one of my main reasons for hosting virtual drop-in calls about sustainable fashion, was that I realised many of the questions I get asked (largely via DM on Linkedin) are the same, or certainly similar. It's one part to do with how I got to the position I'm in, what it's like to do it and what the work itself entails, and the other part how to similarly progress in it, who to connect with and what job roles to go for.
Recently, two of the young women I've had the pleasure of speaking with over the past year, asked me to share some of my thoughts in an interview for their site, The Stitch. The piece explores five of my tips for working in sustainable fashion - though frankly it could be for working in many other fields too. They are shared in summary form below, though please also check out the full piece here.
I find that each time I host another one of my sustainable fashion office hours, these same themes pop up, so I'll likely dig into some of them individually in due course too. There are many more where they come from, of course, but these are five I myself try and live by...
1 / Say no
Figuring out what you don't want to do is just as important as what you do. That might be about the nuance of the role but it could also be about which parts of the industry you're not willing to go towards - morally or otherwise. Write it down. Use it as a guide when making your decisions about your next steps, even if financial security at this point has to supersede it (at any age or stage). Are you working towards a place where you can indeed say no to something because it doesn't align with your core values? Are there other reasons to stay or to take something if it instead provides you with contacts, knowledge or experience to help you then get to that point in future?
2/ Say yes
My Dad has drummed into me the phrase "you snooze, you lose" since a really young age, so I've always been aware of positioning myself in such a way that opportunities might be more likely to present themselves. Essentially, this is about showing up to things, be it events, conferences, networking occasions, meetings, talks, dinners or beyond. It can be a very conscious practice to actively say yes even when something seems a touch left field to your day-to-day or you may not feel inclined (introverts and socially anxious types included!) Start doing so with everything sustainable fashion related in your area, or at your university, and see where it gets you. Progress is rarely linear.
3/ Keep learning
This one is a very obvious one - with the sustainability field moving and changing as rapidly as it is, there's huge value in continuing to educate yourself on it. That might be about reading the vast amount of material published about it each month, or indeed by jumping into any number of the available online courses focused on specific subtopics related to the work. And this goes for all levels of careers too; I try to do a new course as often as I can. (I will share a list of some of these in a future post).
4/ Network horizontally
This is perhaps the one tip I repeat the most: your peer-to-peer network will become one of your most valuable career assets, so put in the legwork to establish it now. In short, it's not always about meeting the most senior person in the room. Of course, there's benefit to be had there, but networking sideways so you can meet someone at a similar level to you will not only pay off in spades ahead, but may benefit you today too.
5/ Put yourself first
Burnout and variations on that theme are very real when doing this kind of work, so setting yourself up to thrive is vital. Part of this is about establishing boundaries with the work you do (which I'm definitely still learning too), but sometimes that actually means stepping away from it all in a planned sense. Under the constant urgency of the climate crisis and the personal aspiration to step forward in your career, it is easy to miss signs our mind and body send. Listen to them.