Sociology Commons^™

Convivial Clothing: Engagement With Decommodified Fashion In Portland, Or, Sarah Guldenbrein

Dissertations and Theses

In a capitalist system demanding perpetual accumulation, producers invest significant resources into proving the superiority of new products over existing ones. When the normative concept is "better" rather than "good" consumers can never reach a sense of sufficiency. One countermovement is that of degrowth. Degrowth scholars advocate for a voluntary and democratic transition to a post-growth future. This thesis contributes to the emerging literature on degrowth by examining alternatives to "fast fashion," an industry with a huge environmental impact and notoriously high turnover. Drawing on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with participants in Portland, Oregon's clothing swaps and Repair …