Elizabeth Joy

👚Nearly 10 years of running conscious fashion businesses — from content creation to freelancing to community building — and these are some of the most important lessons I’ve had to learn… 💚 If you’re a founder or freelancer in sustainable fashion, you don’t have to figure it all out alone. In fact my biggest lesson of all has been: find your community as soon as you can in your journey. It makes everything feel lighter. 🧵 At Conscious Fashion Collective, we’ve built a curated community of values-aligned creatives and small business owners where you get honest feedback, expert insights, and support that actually moves your business forward. 🪡 Applications for our next cohort close April 30. Comment APPLY for the link!

Hi! It’s been a while, my friends! I’ve been sharing my Slow Fashion Saturday newsletters weekly for the past months, but my IG break was longer than expected. And to be honest, it was quite tempting not to return... But at the end of the day, I miss this community and do believe that sustainability-focused content will matter now more than ever. That said, the *best* way to make sure you see slow fashion content like this consistently is to subscribe to the free Slow Fashion Saturday newsletter! Comment “SATURDAY” and I’ll send you the sign-up link 💚 xx Elizabeth

Slow fashion can look so many different ways! 💕Comment “SATURDAY” for the link to join my free Slow Fashion Saturday newsletter to get tips and inspiration each week. ⁠ 🎙And you can find more deeper dives into all things slow fashion on the Conscious Style Podcast.

Meet Elizabeth Joy, Director & Community Manager of Conscious Fashion Collective! Elizabeth is moderating the Affordability & Access in the Secondhand Clothing Market event. This keynote panel examines the tension between the growing popularity of resale clothing and the rising costs that can limit access for local communities. Bringing together perspectives from resale and mutual aid models, the discussion will explore how organizations are working to keep clothing affordable (or free) while maintaining dignity and meeting urgent needs. Get your day pass for the Symposium and Runway Show in the link in bio or go to sfwchicago.com/events

👚 When I first met Mireya Fouché, it was clear she was committed to doing things differently. This conversation felt less like an interview and more like a masterclass in what it looks like to run an organization with genuine integrity. 🌿 Mireya Fouché is one of those rare people with sharp business acumen and a soul for community — and @shopmonarchthrift is the kind of model the entire industry can learn from. Community-centric. Transparent. And yes, strategic. 💌 Read the interview with Mireya on Slow Fashion Saturday via the link in bio!

🧵 One of the key elements of slow fashion is quality — in fact, we talk about the importance of quality ad nauseam in this space! 👀 But just like the word sustainable, there are a lot of different interpretations of the word — and a good dose of greenwashing (quality-washing?) — which can cause confusion. 👗🪡 That’s why I looked to the professionals on this one. 9 fashion designers, product developers, and brand founders from the @consciousfashion member community weighed in on what quality really means in their category of expertise — from undergarments and activewear to denim and sweaters. 💌 Viewed over 12,000 times, this has become the most popular post on Slow Fashion Saturday to date. 🔗 Visit the link in bio to read the full piece (or comment “quality” and I’ll send you the direct link).

It’s easy to fall into all-or-nothing thinking. But building a better fashion system doesn’t look like perfection or not bothering at all. Wherever you’re able to contribute this week, this month, this year: it counts. 💌 Keep reading this piece on Slow Fashion Saturday on Substack. (Link in bio.)

In light of @remakeourworld ’s announced closure, I’m reflecting on some of the words founder Ayesha Barenblat shared in two interviews on the Conscious Style Podcast, which helped change how I saw fashion — and what it’d take to transform this industry. Ayesha grounds her work in personal identity, noting that as a Pakistani American, she feels a particular responsibility to elevate voices of women in the Global South who are “hidden from our consciousness.” She’s been fighting for the rights and dignity of fashion’s most essential workers for decades, describing it in one interview as her “life’s calling, and not just a job.” As she closed out one interview saying: “A better future for fashion is a kinder and more just fashion industry, that’s paying fashion’s most essential workers to live a life of dignity and safety. That’s an industry I can buy into.” And that’s exactly the future Remake worked hard to build towards the past decade. I hope these quotes will also help you connect the dots that Ayesha helped me connect in my own work, to ensure that the legacy of Remake continues to ripple forward in the industry. To read the full article, head to my newsletter Slow Fashion Saturday. Comment “Saturday” for the link. 💜

👖 The biggest mistake I made in my early closet clean-outs? Rehoming pieces without reflecting on why they weren’t working first. SO many more pieces could have stayed in my wardrobe! Now, I pause and go through these steps before “decluttering” anything… 🕵️If you want to dive deeper into how to do this in your own wardrobe, you can sign up for my upcoming workshop THIS week! Just comment “workshop” down below and I’ll send you the link to save your seat. (And yes, if you can’t attend live, registrants will still get the replay afterwards!)

👕 So much energy and money in fashion is optimized for everything in the process leading up to the sale. But then what? Crickets… Let’s change that! ➡️ Next week I’m hosting a free community workshop: 5 Steps to Fall Back in Love With Your Closet. 👖 Expect to learn tips for maximizing your underutilized garments, a system to make finding fresh outfits in your closet easier, and a process for intentional shopping/swapping that amplifies your closet ~ instead of just adding more stuff. 📆 Visit the link in bio or comment “workshop” below and I’ll send you the info directly!

🛍 There’s a reason intentional shopping feels so hard — just about everything else around us is working against that goal! 😅 👗 But that doesn’t mean we can’t take back control over our closets — ➡️ Swipe through for some tips on avoiding regret purchases. 👖 This is just the start, though. Curating a closet you love is also about understanding our existing wardrobes more deeply! 👚 I’m sharing a whole lot more in my upcoming free community workshop: 5 Steps to Fall Back in Love With Your Closet. 📆 Just comment “workshop” below and I’ll send you the link to save your seat!

🛍 Focus cultivates style — and what no fashion media platform seems to tell us is that chasing trends on the consumption hamsterwheel just causes more closet chaos. From faux fur to long-sleeve striped polos, the fall trends have been rolling in. Cue the listicles filled with psychological triggers that leave us with clothes we’re not even sure why we bought. That’s not to say all trends are always bad. Maybe you already own a trend, maybe you enjoy finding an aligned trend secondhand! But filters are key: 1️⃣ Why do I want to buy into this? Is it my style or just FOMO? 2️⃣Is this something I’d wear or could restyle after the trend cycle? (Or do I love it enough to wear when it’s “outdated”?) 3️⃣Does it work with the rest of my closet? (Or does it create intentional differentiation and contrast?) Not sure if it “works” with your wardrobe? My free Closet Audit Guide is designed to help! 🔗 Just comment “Audit” below and I’ll send you the link.