Trump, the Unwitting Sustainability Warrior
Take a deep breath, and suspend your justified knee-jerk reaction at mentioning Trump before you read on, as I had to do in order to write this article.
There is much debate about the economic damage of Trump’s harsh tariff policies. Even though most tariffs have been suspended for 90 days, let’s go ahead with the scenario in which they go into effect. Many outcomes are still hazy, but one thing is clear, they will likely decrease consumption, especially in America. And in the world of overconsumption, isn’t that what so many of us who are concerned with sustainability want? The developed world, and the US especially, groans under the weight of cheap stuff that the current world economy, especially in Asia, overproduces, and that ends up in landfills. The cycle of planned obsolescence has sped up across the board, but especially in fashion, where we no longer talk about fast fashion from the likes of H&M, but about ultra-fast-fashion from the likes of the Chinese giant Shein.