The Importance Behind Sustainable Fashion & Conscious Consumerism: An Interview with Megan McSherry
As told to Maddie Walker by Megan McSherry
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Megan McSherry, a sustainability content creator, blogger, and activist. She has influenced thousands of people on TikTok and Instagram through her easy-to-follow and relatable content. Being a huge fan of Megan, I was very excited to get to know her and her brand a bit more.
Madeline: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background, and what you would want our readers to know about you?
Megan: I have always been interested in fashion. When I was in high school, I started a fashion blog but was just talking about all the cheap fashion that I could afford, which was fast fashion. I came to college to study Business Administration, and in my first semester of college, the first paper I ever had to write was about sustainability issues in the industry I wanted to work in. So, the first college paper I ever wrote was about sustainable fashion, issues in sustainability, and social justice in the fashion industry. This changed everything about my life interests and my career goals! This also changed what I talked about on my blog. For the past 5 years, I've been discussing sustainable fashion, conscious consumerism, and just little sustainable lifestyle changes on my blog “Acteevism”. Lately, I've been talking a lot more about larger-scale changes and individual action vs. collective action.
Recently, I got a Master's Degree in Supply Chain Management with hopes of working more on fixing the fashion industry areas where there are unsustainable decisions continually being made.
Madeline: So imagine you’re talking to someone who knows nothing about sustainability -- what are some ways that one can get involved right away and what would you want to discuss with them?
Megan: Great question! The first thing I would suggest them doing is using all the products that they already have. I think there's a misconception that in order to be part of the environmental movement or make more sustainable lifestyle choices as an individual, you need to buy things. Really, the most sustainable option is what you already have. This means looking at the products you already have and before you decide to buy anything new, using up every last drop of whatever product you're replacing. Also, just becoming more aware of how you use products and how you shop and consume. I use the term “conscious consumer” really broadly -- we should not only think through products that you buy in a store but think through products that you use in your home. If you notice there's a plastic product that you go through really quickly in the bathroom, next time you finish it, see if there's a more sustainable option. If it's something that you don't use as often, maybe that isn't what you should prioritize right up front. When you're starting out the most important places to start are with products that you replace often or products that create the most amount of plastic waste in general.
Madeline: Are there any collective actions you would suggest?
Megan: Getting involved in a group or organization is a really great way to multiply impact. There are so many of these opportunities if you're a student, such as with a student organization that cares about sustainability issues. You could get involved in a group to try to hold your administrators accountable for offering sustainability education courses, having plant-based food options in the dining hall, or even having recycling bins on campus. My college didn’t even have recycling bins on campus until 2 years ago because the administration didn't even want to spend the money on them. That was something that as a group of students was a lot easier to tackle than just an individual. Anytime you're able to multiply your efforts as an individual to other people. Another example could be talking to local restaurants and persuading them to use compostable take-out containers or omit plastic cutlery in every take-out bag. Look for those opportunities locally, on campus or even in your office if you have a job.
Madeline: Those are some really great examples. So we know that the word "sustainability" is a huge umbrella term that encompasses a lot of terms. You’ve discussed fashion as one of those topics you really care about, so are there any other topics you like to tackle? Any other sub-genres in that giant umbrella term that you like to focus on?
Megan: Fashion is definitely my main focus. I’ve always been interested in fashion and so when I found the connection of those two interests that really took off. More so recently, I’ve become very interested in making sustainable solutions accessible. I live with chronic invisible illnesses and have learned a lot about how having different abilities changes the way that you are able to participate in the traditional individual sustainable solutions. Going into a climate rally doesn't really make sense if you can't stand for long periods of time. Switching all of your products to whole foods that you have to chop yourself might not make sense of your chronic pain. so I become really just getting more interested in bringing accessibility and people's different abilities into the conversation to make sure that when we're talking about Sustainable Solutions it's including everybody and not placing the blame on individuals but instead trying to find solutions that work for everybody while we were able to still work for holding larger corporations responsible.
Madeline: This is so important. I mean, with that topic, unless you have a chronic invisible illness, you don’t know much about it.
Megan: Exactly, and because it’s invisible you can't tell that somebody is experiencing something like that unless they talk about it. So I've been trying to talk about that more on my platform since it's growing because it is something I deal with everyday. Anytime that I can bring that to light I try to.
Madeline: Even just encouraging that mindfulness is such a huge step. Okay, to switch gears and delve back into fashion and conscious consumerism topic -- why are those topics so important to educate people about and advocate for? Is there any additional information you’d like to share about these topics that you think that readers should know about that they might not necessarily know?
Megan: I think sustainable fashion is so important to talk about because it isn't really talked about in traditional places where you learn about sustainability issues. I took all of my elective classes in college somewhat related to the environment -- oceanography or environmental issues -- and even in those classes we didn't really talk about fashion. That was something that I had to look into myself.
I also think that sustainable fashion is really unique in the sense there is so much “greenwashing” that happens from fashion brands that say that they have sustainability initiatives, but don't actually have anything concrete enough for it to actually make a difference. If you aren't aware of the issues, you're not going to recognize the greenwashing. You're going to think, “This is great! I’m supporting this great company doing amazing things” but it's actually doing more harm than good. Some of the warning signs of greenwashing are if a brand has a specific sustainable collection but not all of their products are sustainable. That's always key for me because if you're showing that you can put in the effort to use more sustainable materials and maybe pay living wages to your garment workers with a small collection of clothing, why not do it for all of the clothing? It's proving that they're just capitalizing on a trend rather than actually from the goodness of their hearts.
I also think an issue with fast fashion is general overproduction. If a brand is releasing new clothes every single week and has new clothes on sale, they're producing way too many clothes. Even if it's more sustainably made -- Do we really need all those clothes? No. And what do they do at the end of the season if they still don't sell? Many times what happens in the fashion industry is that the clothes get burned. And if it's a plastic face polyester material, that’s horrible.
Madeline: I notice that a lot of the times with these fast fashion brands that they have these “sustainable” collections. The first brand that comes to mind is H&M.
Megan: Exactly!
Madeline: You really urge that the idea of perfectionism is not the solution to climate change; instead you urge that many people doing little things, or doing things “imperfectly” is the way to go. Can you elaborate on this idea?
Megan: When I started my sustainability journey freshman year of college, the only people I found that were participating in the movement at that time were zero-waste bloggers who have trash jars. I was thinking, I’m a freshman in college -- there's no way that I can reduce my waste into a trash jar every year. What's the point of even trying? If this is the ideal way to be sustainable and I definitely can't be that why would I even try to accomplish that? So I gave up. For a year I believed that I can’t do this, so I'm just not going to do anything. But the issue is that we need everybody doing all the little things that they can. There’s a quote from Zero Waste Chef: “We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly”. You can have a much bigger impact.
I think as the years have gone on, I've come to understand that the role that corporations play in the climate crisis is way more impactful than individuals. Even if I try to live a perfectly zero-waste, plastic-free, strictly vegan lifestyle that doesn't mean that all of the issues of the climate crisis are going away. There are still corporations that make a way bigger impact than just I do as an individual. So, I do think it's really important to push this imperfect narrative for individual sustainability because not everybody is going to be able to live perfectly zero-waste or plastic free or strict vegan lifestyles. Yes, they would make a difference, but it's not on our shoulders as individuals to fix the climate crisis. I think from the outside looking in if that's your perspective of a sustainable lifestyle like it was when I was a freshman, it deters a lot of people from the movement. However, if you just eat one non-meat meal a week, you are part of the environmental movement. You're making a difference. We could have so many more people involved and excited and as time goes on you build new sustainable habits instead of deterring people because they think they have to be perfect. I try to keep that mindset or mantra through all the things I share because it can be really intimidating and off-putting if you think your lifestyle has to be a certain way or “good enough” to be part of the environmental movement. We need everyone to be doing the little things that they can.
Madeline: What is your favorite part about being a sustainability content creator and blogger?
Megan: Over the past six months since I really started growing up a community on Tik Tok and Instagram, I've gotten a ton of messages and DM's from people saying, “Because of you I made this sustainable swap in my life.” or “Because of you we started we started composting in my family home”. It's really cool to see that talking to my phone about this issue has been able to inspire people to make changes. I think that's by far the coolest part because that's actually making an impact. I always hate the term “influencer” because what are you actually influencing people to do? Buy clothes? Like swipe up and buy something from your link? I love that my influence is having a positive impact on the environment. It’s the ultimate compliment.
Madeline: That’s amazing! Okay, so as we wrap up, do you have any last words before we end the interview today?
Megan: Don't ever doubt your worthiness or your place in the environmental movement. Everybody brings different strengths, different experiences, different perspectives that are all needed in the environmental movement. There's no “ideal member.” If we're really going to push toward sustainable solutions for the future, we need everybody's voices to be heard. I know that social media can be really dominated with this kind of “white environmentalism” picture and I don't want that to deter people from wanting to get involved. Just know that everybody's voices are valid and are welcomed in the movement and if people aren't listening to you send me a DM and I’ll get you in touch with the right people.