I traded homemade baked goods for a punk picture, an acrylic art piece that was bigger than the measurements on the Craigslist post. The poster said he’d Googled me, saw I was a ‘creator” and asked if I had anything to trade. Rumballs & lemon curd, I told him and he was cool with that. I’ve also gotten a snowboard with full kit, a universal remote (from girl who didn’t even own a TV) and some designer boots. Oh, and an almost new, expensive trash can. Yep, free from strangers, people I’ll probably never meet again. I was happy and so were they. Gagné- gagné as an old boss used to say.

In the dumpster fire that was 2020, most of us questioned what was important to us. After returning to NY after being in Australia for almost 6 months, I struggled to settle back into the new Brooklyn. But as things calmed a little I slowly reconnected with friends, having socially-distanced coffees outside on a bench or weirdly distanced friend-dates at someone’s home. We’re all working on our new normal, whatever that is to you. But connection for me also came from an unexpected place- Facebook, meaning I had to actually use it again.

It started with an introduction to my local Buy Nothing Group by a friend. I had already started considering a deeper level of purge after being separated from my belongings while I was away and realizing that it was time to actually let go of the things I don’t need. I didn’t miss them, so…

Enter the weird and wonderful cast of characters that are part of my new community, the Brooklyn version of Broad City, where we trade curb alerts, plants and occasionally things we need. There’s plenty to go around as people continue to leave big cities, apparently with little more than their personal belongings based on what’s left on the street, and we’re taking advantage in that lemonade out of lemons kind of way. And while Work From Home usually means more casual outfits, I was recently greeted for a pick up by a woman in a fabulous black velvet robe and yellow heart-shaped glasses, exemplifying that there are those who are out to break rules even when no one is there to see (and it SO made sense when you see the shoes I got from her!)

Without going to the office and diminished social occasions, the craving for contact is affecting many of us. The internet gives us the ability and groups like BNGs give us the reason to come together with a common interest and goal. The reality is that I’ve made friends from this new group and we’ve saved items from landfill that I didn’t think anyone would want. Now, in 2021, with the situation not looking like it will be much different for a while, I’m looking forward to handing off what I consider junk to whoever may find a need for it. And there’s no end to what you may end up receiving- one of my new friends gave me a tarot reading. And I gave her bubble wrap. Gangné-gagné. 

Package Free In Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Considering I’m usually preaching to the choir, you may already know about Lauren Singer and her famous jar of trash. As Marie Kondo and minimalism collided with zero waste as trends picking up steam, she was the ultimate poster child, albeit an extreme case. I mean, who has only a mason jar’s worth of trash for FOUR YEARS? Well, her, obvs (see here if you want to know about it.)

The rest of us make small improvements as we can accommodate them and strive to continue to do so on our quest of low impact living. Personally, I’ve composted by dragging pounds & pounds of food waste into Union Sq from Queens and Brooklyn and not been bothered by it, thinking of the bigger picture. I also recycle textiles, corks, Brita filters and batteries, as well as any electronics- all pretty easy to do with the cooperation of the City of NY and Whole Foods supplying collection facilities.  

So, I was pretty excited to see what this pop-up, Package Free, had in store to help make lives even less impactful on the environment. Singer teamed up with another well-known face in the eco-world of NYC, Daniel Silverstein, a fashion designer known for zero waste in his work. He was working the store when I called in and some starstruck visitors were taking selfies with him- awww, cute. Loved that they knew who he was.

The store is stocked with the expected items (see their website) and was pretty much what you’d expect from a store that eschewed packaging and clean living, including Singer's own brand of laundry products, The Simply Co.. Classes and lectures are also offered in the space, helping create conversation in addition to educating. A temporary space for now, if proven successful, a more permanent spot may be up for consideration.

As the amount of people (re-)considering their environmental footprint increases, stores like this should become more commonplace- as they are in Europe. Awareness is a great start and, let's remember, small actions, amplified, have large impacts.

This past weekend London-based luxury retailer, Matches, hosted what they dubbed 'In Residence': a presentation/ virtual trunk show with a series of events that are taking place in NY and Paris. We're seeing more online stores going into brick and mortar, even in a temporary way, so the idea appears to be a smart move. Setting the mood, the roaring fire in the entrance lobby on a chilly, drizzly day was certainly a warm (literally) welcome...

It was a packed house for the Sustainability: The New Luxury event, which had long-time eco-fashion advocate, Julie Gilhart interviewing Gabriela Hearst about her collection. 

I go to a lot of talks about sustainability in the fashion industry; it's a topic I've been closely following for more than 10 years. Often, it's more of the same with the same questions from the audience with the same challenges and solutions discussed.

I took a few notes at this one as some of the points really resonated and I thought they were worth sharing:

* A conversation around the idea of "Who cares if you have the bigger brand if the environment is suffering?" Riiiggghhht?

* Talk of trends- or rather, of not following them- and the idea of 'timeless' pieces: Something should pass the 10yr test- is it still stylish after 10yrs? If so, it probably still will be 10 years in the future.

* Gabriela talked about buying deadstock from luxury mills and how it allowed her to feel that she was helping to 'clean up,' and that the idea of clearing out is our responsibility too, that we need to use what we already have. This 'waste' means that there are only a limited number of pieces that can be made (for example, she was able to make only 10 coats from a leftover Loro Piana fabric and 50 of another) which also means that in such limited quantities, they are REAL luxury. 

* She is using the wool from her family's ranch to produce textiles for her collection. It was her love of wool that inspired her to show its innovative qualities for the Woolmark award

* Hearst believes in wellbeing and has introduced a textile that blocks radiation from cell phones into her jacket pockets after realizing many of the wearers carry their phones in them.

The elegant townhouse was the perfect setting for Matches to be #inresidence. Their typical shopper may be used to such digs but for many of us it was an escape into that aspirational world where our home (with a WIR that is full of $4,000 dresses!) is graceful, tasteful and the perfect place to host our BFFs that come to sit and chat about fashion that improves the planet.