About me
What Is Fashionably Kind?
Hello, and welcome to Fashionably Kind! If you’ve made it this far, you’re a fan of sustainable fashion or are at least curious about the topic. Fashionably Kind is a blog I started in August 2016 to promote ethical and sustainable fashion choices, simply because I discovered there were too few sustainable fashion blogs aimed at and featuring Asians.
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During my offline conversations with fellow Asians (as well as non-Asians), I found that there are many, many people in Asia or of Asian descent who care about how their fashion and beauty choices impact people and the planet. I created Fashionably Kind for these kind, conscious people and for people who have the right intentions but are unsure of what steps to take next.
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Why Sustainable Fashion?
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As recently as June 2016, I was an avid fan of fast fashion. I would purchase at least three items of clothing a month. They cost me not more than RM200 in total (that’s about US$50). And so I kept buying and buying, yet never could find anything to wear.
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However, the more I bought, the unhappier I became. Because you see, while the clothes were stylish, they weren’t really made to last. Shoes began falling apart after being worn only once and items of clothing crumbled in the wash.
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Yet, that didn’t stop me from shopping. Not until one fine day, when I stumbled upon the website of the Ethical Fashion Forum while trawling the web for fashion blogs. I started reading the website out of curiosity. This soon turned to alarm as I began to see fast fashion for what it truly was: toxic.
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I am no environmentalist, but the more I read, the deeper my heart sank. It became clear to me that I had to change. I had to live more ethically and do it soon. There was simply no other way for me to exist. This need to change, to be more ethical, motivated me to start this blog.
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Who Am I?
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Although I am relatively new to ethical fashion blogging, I have been a journalist in Malaysia for more than a decade (the bulk of my writing involves business and finance). I’m a jazzercise and mandala art enthusiast and I have recently started dabbling in crime fiction. For more on my freelance work, visit www.sharmilagw.com
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Thanks again for stopping by this blog. Remember, a more ethical fashion industry starts with you and me. It’s up to us to make the choices that support and not degrade our people and planet.
Namaste.
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Sharmila Ganapathy