FASHION FORWARD
What started as a holiday project for local law student Megan Manley has turned into a flourishing fashion line that promotes sustainable, environment-friendly clothes.
In December last year, Manley started making wrap skirts from repurposed fabric, which she sold on Instagram to earn some holiday income. However, her passion for recreating and designing outfits, as well as her commitment to making more sustainable fashion choices, has turned her holiday hobby into her own brand of up-cycled, repurposed and pre-loved clothing. Sold under the brand ‘Yellow Aloe’, it’s available from The Well Café, at The Knoll Historic Guest Farm in Hilton, and from her Instagram page, @Yellow_aloe_ .
Using fabric off-cuts from a local designer, as well as tablecloths, curtains and upholstery fabric, Manley designs and makes clothes from scraps of old, unwanted fabric and clothing. She has also expanded her brand to include quality second-hand clothing, her way of promoting and sharing her passion for slow, sustainable and locally sourced fashion in an attempt to decrease the demand and environmental strain resulting from the fast fashion industry.
Manley, who is in her final year of law at Stellenbosch University, has always had a passion for fashion and design.
However, after learning about the dark side of the mass production of the industry’s huge social and environmental impact, she felt guilty for loving and supporting something that contributes to workers’ exploitation, high water usage (it takes 2,700 litres to make one cotton T-shirt) and large emissions of CO2 and greenhouse gasses as a result of the excessive textile production.
Fast fashion refers to the mass, cheap production of clothing due to the highly competitive market. The cheaper the clothing, the higher the demand.
This leads to an overuse of natural resources, such as water, as well as cheap labour, leading to worker exploitation in sweat shops.
“If you watch videos and documentaries on what goes on behind the scenes of the textile industry, it’s horrific,” Manley said. “It’s hard to not love fashion, because clothes are a huge part of our everyday lives, and dressing is a form of self-expression; but I didn’t want my love for fashion to support the operation of sweat shops, or wear clothes that took excessive amounts of water to make, when parts of the world are suffering from a shortage of it.” This discovery prompted her to make more conscious fashion choices and support sustainable, local fashion brands.
Manley said since she was a child, she has always enjoyed dressing up and getting creative with how she has reworked her clothing and styled her outfits. She loves making alterations and redesigning her clothes to “keep her closet fresh”. Her mother brought her a sewing machine and taught her how to sew.
Studying in Cape Town, where the thrifting scene is huge, also introduced her to the world of thrifting and the advantages of buying second-hand clothes as an alternative to the ethical dilemma of fast fashion.
“Thrifting is huge in the Cape and it’s becoming more popular as people realise the need to invest in sustainable, slow fashion,” she explained, adding that for her, thrifting is a “treasure hunt experience where you never know what you’re going to find”.
Due to Covid-19, she had to return to Hilton and complete her studies from home, which has given her the opportunity to become more involved in her clothing business and launch her physical shop.
She hopes her clothing brand will create awareness around the importance and perks of slow fashion. Not only are you contributing to a cleaner planet, you’re also getting quality, affordable clothing.