“You don’t really think about the results that are your shopping habits.”
While some of us in North America take a look at mass activism, based on reports released by large-scale activist groups, vintage entrepreneur Orpa Vwomba, who is originally from Kenya, has been exposed to our over-consumption and our Understanding of over-consumption.
“When I was younger, I had cousins and friends and I loved finding unique pieces that reflected our personal style,” she recalls dropping out MitumbaSwahili word for second hand. “The way items are sold comes in large plastic-wrapped bales of clothing. The older I got, the faster I came to know about fashion. And with moving to Canada and experiencing the ‘buy now, later donate’ mentality, I found myself thinking about the effects of the fashion industry. “
Wavomba noted that Kenya once had a thriving local fashion economy that became depressed as imported second hand and unused clothing was discontinued in various regions around the world. “In 2018, [Kenya] Approximately $ 21 million worth of clothing has been imported from Canada. “And because a lot of these items were made cheaply, they still ended up in landfills.”
Now based in Toronto, Wavomba has launched a second-hand e-commerce business, Mode de Mitte, which blends her love of fashion with her interest in environmental and ethical issues, saying that her perception has changed What and how it comes buy. “You don’t really think about the consequences [that] You have shopping habits, ”she notes.
Mode de Mitte’s current warnings have a romantic flavor – blouses with delicate embroidery and flowing slips. “I’m a bit of a modern romantic, but it depends on the day you ask me,” Watomba said of her selection for the ETC-based business. “My most important focus is to find clothes that are made of natural fibers, and then I think about the direction in which the pieces should be.”
She says that she has always been heavily inspired by pieces prevalent in the nineties. “I let my husband do the runway show with me,” she says with a laugh. Versace and Christian Dior’s collections are her favorites from time to time, such as ‘Supers’ Naomi Campbell, Yasmine Gauri and Tyra Banks. “I don’t have the right words to describe it,” Vavamba speaks of his dedication to the decade and its fashion icons. “It transports you to this time where women were like goddesses.”
But Wavomba’s drive does not rely solely on clothes and accessories that speak of her love for ages; He is also committed to using Mode Day Mit as a transformative shopping experience in every way possible. For example, she uses compost packaging to sell the pieces she sells. “It’s important for me to monitor the store’s carbon footprint,” she says. “Whatever way I get [an item] For my client, I want to make sure that it is not just put in the box. Packaging is something they can put in their indoor plant gardens or compost bin or soil, and it disappears in six weeks. “
She is keenly aware of the negative social impact of fashion, addressing the fact that “fast fashion apparel workers are women of color; they earn peanuts for the work that they do.” Since Black Lives Matter The movement has attracted more customers to its site in recent months, expecting it to increase greater awareness of the figure and the overall importance of continuing to black-owned businesses. As it rightly said: ” The difference between people and the planet cannot be ignored. “
