If you’re new here, we’re on a road trip down the West Coast this summer with our sustainable clothing company, {r}evolution apparel. You can track our journey here!

This summer, we’ve talked a lot about sparking conversations. Our goal, when we set off on this Sustainable Fashion Tour, was to get people talking about fashion, consumption, and the environment.

We’ve met with industry insiders, people on the streets, CouchSurfing hosts, organic farmers, professors – you name it. And from each conversation, we’re learning something new about what it will take to spark change and start a movement.

With six weeks under our belts, this is what we’ve learned:

• People know all about local, organic food – the slow food movement is full speed ahead. But fashion? It’s early in the game. It’ll be awhile until we realize that a t-shirt is no different than a hamburger. You don’t hear people bragging about the $2 quarter-pounder they ordered – eventually, the same will go for a $2 t-shirt.

• It’s important to compromise. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and compromising will get you there quicker. We can’t be perfect in the choices we make, but we can be better. And it has to be a collaborative effort of many companies, organizations and people.

• We are a materialistic culture, but we are also quite detached from our material things. Our culture promotes “buy, buy, buy” without much thought as to where or how something is made. But that’s changing – we can see it. Stories are becoming more important in the way we shop.

• Enthusiasm is great, but action is what matters. To change an industry, we can’t just get excited about a revolution. We have to provide actionable steps for getting there. Conversation is just the first step.

This week’s video is a recap of where we’ve been and who we’ve met. We’ll be sharing more adventures in sustainable fashion next week, so stay tuned!

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