Aja Barber > Quotes

“When I think about colonialism in the fashion industry...they literally are taking our resources from our lands, selling it back to us and burying garbage next to us; it's colonialism at its finest.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“Our world has created a society with messaging that wearing the same thing twice isn't cool. And we have to reverse that, because it's a huge part of the problem.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“We can't accelerate to satisfy our needs this quickly without someone bearing the brunt. This hyper-inflation of want reflects how our consumer habits have changed. We want immediate gratification because of our endemic short-terminism, which leaves us on a collision with the rest of humanity and the planet.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“Fast consumption. Fast living. Fast spending. I was buying because I was happy. I was buying because I was sad. I was buying because I wanted certain people to like me. I was buying to fill emotional voids. I was buying because everyone else was. I was buying because I didn't know how to stop. I was buying because I was being constantly bombarded with messaging telling me to buy! Buy! Buy!”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“Well, that’s just the way things are done,” but does that actually have to be the way things are handled in our future? If so, what is the point of even trying to progress?”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism

“Every consumer has the right to know who produces their clothing and under what conditions, whether it be labor conditions or environmental, just like the ingredients written on the food packaging that you buy.” —Anannya Bhattacharjee, Asia Floor Wage Alliance, and Garment and Allied Workers Union”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism

“Recognizing where you're at before you claim poverty, because that mindset keeps this system churning, and it involves recognizing your privilege and whether you are 'poor' instead of 'broke”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“The business model of consumption is making you feel bad, and then selling you something to make you feel better.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“We have become a nation of consumers. Our primary identity has become that of consumer, not mothers, not teachers, farmers, but consumers. The primary way that our value is measured and demonstrated is by how much we contribute to this arrow, and how much we consume. And do we!”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“Wearing Western-style clothing began to signal proximity to power, and the media also played a role in dictating what was appropriate or not. This meant that when secondhand clothing began pouring into Ghana (post-independence) from the Global North there was a market ready to receive it, not because citizens did not have clothing, but because wearing foreign clothing became a tool for visually crossing class barriers and for navigating the oppressive legacy of colonialism.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“Remember that there are billionaires at the top of so many of these multinational corporate fashion brands. Is there really any excuse for those at the bottom to be living in such abject poverty? The idea that these countries need us to be in charge in order to ensure they have profitable and successful economies is a hangover from colonialism that we need to interrogate.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“Look for worth in the objects around you and in yourself. It's important to realize that sustainability isn't rushing out to buy 'sustainable products'. Sustainability in its purest form is being sustainable with that which you already own.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change

“The constant need to consume is built off the back of you, the consumer, and your lack of awareness about your habit, and the need you have built inside you to chase a better and improved version of yourself, which you can then project to the world.”
― Aja Barber, Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change