Money Matters Festival: Challenging Our Consumerist Culture to Better Our Planet with Aja Barber
Aja Barber is interviewed by Meerak Kumar, our The Wallet podcast producer. Aja holding those in power to account by campaigning for a sustainable, inclusive fashion industry that doesn’t exploit workers and our planet.
*This is the recording of Money Matters Festival held on Oct 9th, 2022 at The NED in London.*
Aja Barber is a writer and fashion consultant, holding those in power to account by campaigning for a sustainable, inclusive fashion industry that doesn’t exploit workers and our planet. Aja works tirelessly to find ways that we can all be more conscious about consumerism, while learning about all the ways systems of power affect our buying habits.
Interviewed by Meera Kumar, The Wallet podcast producer and a freelance audio producer and presenter, who has created shows for Sony, the BBC, Waitrose, Uk Parliament and a number of other brands. She recently won a British Podcast Award and was shortlisted for Best New Producer in the 2021 APAs.
Money Matters Festival: Challenging Our Consumerist Culture to Better Our Planet - an Interview with Aja Barber and Meera Kumar
A fast fashion system of exploitation
Aja points out that she was inspired to take on this subject because the system made me angry. It made her angry because it obviously exploits people, it made her angry because it exploits our vulnerabilities. And it made her angry because we're in a cost of living crisis and we have these systems that make us feel compelled to buy things that deep down inside we know we don't need.
She is passionate about making things better for the person who's making the clothes, the consumer who's buying the clothes, and the person who ends up with the clothing in their backyard once it gets discarded.
The people that are making the clothing are making pennies and are not making living wages in the countries that they live in. If your system isn't lifting anyone out of poverty, then you're not doing anything good for anyone but yourself.
One of the things that we know is one of the ways in which we all feel the most exploited is through the pressure of social media, which is why Aja wanted to be the person who had the instagram where she was going to give you facts that might make you feel uncomfortable.
There's a lot of different reasons and psychology around why we buy, and Aja wanted to make that really clear to people so that they could tackle it for themselves. As she says, she can’t shout at you when you're about to buy a polyester dress that you're probably going to only wear once, but she can give you the information and you can make the decision for yourself.
It’s thus very important to know that where we put our money is, in a sense, voting for that company. We have a lot of power with where we put our money.
Meera Kumar
Aja Barber
The power of the collective
Until we change our culture, we're not going to get significant, credible change and that looks like changing ourselves.
When it comes to holding companies to account, angry letters can work. Aja once nterviewed a garment worker rights activist, and one of the things that she says is they have seen changes come from consumer outrage.
Sometimes there might be a problem somewhere in the Global South and if enough people get really mad and start talking about it on social media, all of a sudden the brand goes, oh, actually, we do need to do something about that. So, while social media can prey on us and be quite pernicious, it can actually be an amazing tool.
Money also talks with these big brands — which is partly why there has been so much greenwashing. Brands are keen to show that they’re in it with us together. However, if there is more pressure being applied, eventually true change will be unavoidable.
Brands look like they're doing the right thing and sometimes they are, sometimes but very often they're not.
We don't necessarily have all of the pieces and we don't always have all the time to do the research into these companies. We may not know where to look, how to check whether these companies that we're investing our money into are doing the right thing.
If you want to know whether a brand you’re buying from is legitimately ‘good’, look for living wages. When it comes to any brand on the high street, you go to their website and look for any information that says every person who makes our clothing is paid a living wage, because the majority of them cannot ensure that.
This is the difference between a small ethical brand and a gigantic multinational — living wages.
Brilliant talk by Aja!
Aja Barber signing copies of her book: Consumed at our Phlox popup bookshop
Why we over-consume
Brands tell the consumer that they’re just responding to consumer demand. Except, they put out 50 new seasons of clothing a year, and every time you go into the store, there's new things to be bought. They arrange things in a way which really nurtures your brain to think that you need to buy something the minute you come in.
Everything from the music we take to the oxygen in the store to where the cash registers are placed, are put there to inspire you to buy things.
Unpacking consumerism is a lifelong journey and it isn’t easy, but if you have the right tools, you begin to understand why you feel that way.
If you decide to take a break from certain stores, when you go back, you might find the clothing doesn't look so shiny anymore.
Fast fashion is a bit like eating sugar. When Aja moved from America to the UK, she could only taste the absence of sugar. After a few months, the sugar cravings taper off, and on the contrary — things with sugar begin to taste far too sweet.
We've tained ourselves to accept certain quality — but if you give yourself a nice, lengthy break, what you'll find is that you start to see the things that aren't so great and you don't feel as compelled as you used to.
Obviously, there is cost factor and for some people, they might have to take between buying the trousers from Primark for work and not having trousers. But it's all about being honest with yourself and where you're at in the system.