A Rake’s Progress is a blog about ethical and sustainable mens fashion. More precisely, it’s about ways in which both menswear producers and regular fashion-buying members of the public can make more ethical and sustainable choices.
What Do I Know About Sustainable Mens Fashion?
The above introduction might lead the unsuspecting reader to assume that I’m some kind of holier-than-thou, cheesecloth-wearing authority on ethical and sustainable mens fashion. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Indeed, although I’ve worked on the fringes of the fashion industry for several years, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on any of the subjects I write about here. Nor can I claim to be an ultra-virtuous ethical shopper who has never purchased an item of fast-fashion in his life. On the contrary, I have bought – and binned – many.
In fact, I decided to start a sustainable menswear blog not because I’m especially qualified to do so, but precisely because of my ignorance. So while I’m conscious of the necessity to keep things accessible and entertaining for readers, I admit that this blog is somewhat self-indulgent in that it’s primarily designed as a way of learning more about these topics for myself.
Why Sustainable Mens Fashion?
As one of the most ecologically and socially damaging industries in the world, fashion is an ethical minefield. Indeed it often seems like you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
And yet clothing is a human necessity. We can’t stop wearing clothes. But we can, and must, start producing them using methods very different to the ones we currently employ.
But How Exactly?
Clearly I’m still figuring this out. But as I do so, writing about the subject forces me to research more thoroughly than I would have done otherwise. My thinking is that I’ll learn faster – and perhaps help others to learn too – by sharing this process here.
This means that many of you may know much more than me about some of the topics I discuss on the blog. As merely a personal interest and sideline to my day-job (writing about menswear more generally), let me assure you that I have no ego-investment in this venture whatsoever.
So if you believe that I’ve got something wrong, I’d love to hear from you with corrections, opinions, or challenges to the facts as presented here. Certainly, if I’ve misunderstood an important issue, I’d prefer to be set straight: after all, there’s really no better way of learning than screwing up.
Alternatively, if you’re also interested in learning about sustainable mens fashion, and most of these issues are still new to you too, then perhaps we can learn something together.
Either way, I hope you find the blog informative and thought provoking.
- J Bramaan