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Woman who hasn’t bought new clothes in four years has no regrets as she looks in horror at ultra fast fashion’s rise
- Environmental activist Tanja Wessels’ year-long experiment in only wearing second-hand clothes has now lasted four years. It has changed her whole outlook
- We need to break the stigma surrounding pre-worn clothing, she says, and realise that the party dress we’re looking for is already in the closet
Reading Time:4 minutes
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Born to South African parents who were diplomats and travelled the world, Tanja Wessels studied filmmaking and art in Lisbon, in Portugal, and London before heading to Asia in 2006. She talks to Kylie Knott about her passion for environmentalism and sustainable fashion.
Tell me a bit about yourself and your eco journey
As someone who spent most of her childhood eating dirt and climbing trees, the value of nature was always very clear to me. From leaves to lizards, flowers to foxes, we are all connected.
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In 2017, I started feeling panicky and confused by the headlines about climate change and what I saw happening. If the environment was in such a fragile state, why were we all consuming so much and ignoring the warning signs? Why didn’t anyone care?
I would later understand that I was experiencing eco-anxiety, an overwhelming fear of environmental doom. It helped me frame what I was feeling in a more productive way. It also gave me the tools to help others experiencing their own version of that.
Is it true you have not bought any new clothes for four years?
Absolutely true! In 2017, I attended a podcast recording where Regina Larko of Hashtag Impact interviewed Christina Dean, the founder of Hong Kong NGO Redress. Cristina was sharing her experience of only wearing clothing from rubbish bins for a year. I recall thinking that if someone so elegant can experiment with something like that in a city as conservative as Hong Kong, I should give it a shot.
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