Introduction: Why This Book Matters for Fashion Sustainability

After nearly two decades working in fashion, immersed in creativity, design and trends, I believed I understood the foundations of my craft. Yet reading this book felt like a shockwave, a humbling education not only in textiles but in global history, sustainability and the consequences of fashion systems.

Worn, by Thanhauser, is more than a cultural history of clothing. It's an enlightening exploration of how fashion has been shaped by colonialism, exploitation, and ecological devastation. It left me unsettled, sometimes heartbroken, but also deeply motivated to commit the rest of my working life to regenerative fashion.

 

A Textile-Centred Structure

What makes Worn unique is its structure. Thanhauser organises her book around five fabrics: linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, and wool. Each chapter reveals how these textiles have shaped societies, economies, and ecosystems, and how their stories continue to inform the sustainability challenges we face today. This textile-centred approach makes the book essential reading for anyone interested in fashion sustainability and the history of textiles.

This textile-centred approach makes the book essential reading for anyone interested in fashion sustainability and textile history. It shows us that what we wear is not trivial. Our clothes are threads connecting us to centuries of human struggle, environmental harm and, crucially, the possibility of regeneration.

 

Linen: A Lost Craft

The first chapter on linen takes us to the last linen shirt made in New Hampshire, a quiet but symbolic end to a once-flourishing craft. Linen thrives when people cultivate it in harmony with the land, yet industrialisation and colonial trade systems dismantled its heritage.

Reading this, I was struck by how quickly entire systems of textile knowledge can disappear. Within decades, we can erase skills that generations have passed down in spinning, weaving and retting. Regenerative fashion must include reviving heritage crafts because these traditions offer both sustainability and cultural continuity.

 

Cotton: Exploitation and Empire

If linen symbolises loss, cotton embodies violence. Thanhauser's cotton chapter is a harrowing exploration of slavery, colonial expansion and the ecological toll of monoculture. From the Texas cotton fields to the droughts caused by overproduction, cotton tells the story of how textiles powered the Industrial Revolution at the expense of both human freedom and environmental health.

I found the cotton chapter one of the most painful sections to read. Cotton, often marketed today as a 'natural, sustainable' fabric, is in fact rooted in centuries of exploitation. As a British national, I confronted the gaps in my own education, recognising how little the national curriculum acknowledges Britain's role in slavery and the imperial cotton trade.

It reaffirms that true fashion sustainability is impossible without confronting these histories. We cannot separate sustainability from social justice.

 

Silk: From Craft to Commodity

Silk introduces us to the Yangzi region of China, where sericulture (silk production) has deep cultural roots. Thanhauser shows how global markets transformed silk from a craft steeped in meaning into a commodity that fuelled the rise of luxury fashion.

Here, the fashion industry reminded me of how it often reduces textiles to mere aesthetics or status symbols, stripping away their cultural significance. In my own career, working with silk, I had never fully acknowledged its historical significance. Reading this chapter made me rethink what "luxury" means. True luxury lies in the preservation of land, culture and meaning, rather than in endless consumption.

 

Synthetics: The Age of Fast Fashion

Few chapters hit as hard as the one on synthetics. People hailed rayon, nylon and polyester as technological marvels that promised affordability and accessibility. Instead, they ushered in an era of ecological devastation, from microplastic pollution to poisoned rivers near manufacturing hubs.

For me, this chapter was a confrontation with my own professional past. I once celebrated fabric innovation without thoroughly questioning its hidden costs. Now, working in fashion sustainability, I see synthetics as the foundation of the throwaway culture we call fast fashion.

If linen and cotton remind us of colonial violence, synthetics remind us of petro-capitalism's stranglehold on both the environment and human labour. Here, the argument for regenerative fashion becomes undeniable: we cannot keep pulling resources from the earth without restoring them.

 

Wool: Tradition and Transformation

Wool, one of the oldest textiles, is both humble and powerful. Thanhauser takes us through the lives of weavers, the role of sheep in shaping landscapes, and the ways wool economies both sustained and exploited communities.

What I found most striking was the duality of wool: it represents resilience, craft and continuity, but also militarisation and class struggle. Armies marched in wool, while weavers often lived in poverty.

For today's sustainable fashion movement, wool raises essential questions: Can traditional fibres be sustainable if the systems that produce them remain exploitative? Wool reminds us that materials alone cannot determine sustainability. The systems and ethics behind them matter just as much.

 

The Conclusion: A Devastating Pattern

By the end of Worn, a pattern emerges. Whether it is linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, or wool, the same forces repeat: colonialism, industrialisation, and capitalism. The result is devastation — ecological collapse, cultural erasure, social injustice.

For me, this conclusion was overwhelming. The scale of destruction is vast, hard to comprehend fully. But alongside the grief came clarity. If this is the system we have inherited, then the future must be different.

 

Personal Reflections: From Grief to Regenerative Fashion

This book shook me deeply. There were moments I felt ashamed, others when I wanted to cry. As someone who has worked in fashion for nearly twenty years, I realised how little I knew about the actual histories of textiles.

Yet it also gave me a sense of purpose. I will dedicate the rest of my career to regenerative fashion by rebuilding textile systems that prioritise heritage, ecology and social welfare. Whether through localised production, supporting heritage crafts or investing in regenerative agriculture with Wilde Hippi, I will be guided by the insights I gained from this book.

 

Why Worn is Essential for Fashion Sustainability

If you care about fashion sustainability or regenerative fashion and textiles, Worn is a must-read. It is not an easy book. It will make you uncomfortable. However, it will also educate, expand, and transform the way you perceive clothing.

Thanhauser has given us a history of what we wear, but a map of how we arrived at the crises we now face, and a blueprint for how we might begin to weave a different future.

Final Thoughts

Reading Worn has been a turning point for me, both personally and professionally. It has deepened my conviction that fashion must move beyond sustainability as a marketing buzzword and towards proper prioritisation. This fashion system restores rather than exploits local resources, rather than erases them, which sustains both people and the planet.

At Wilde Hippi, that vision will guide everything I do moving forward. If you care about what fashion could be, please read this book and join the movement for regenerative fashion.

 

🌿🦋 Join My Free Online Classes

I am so excited to share a series of free online classes designed to help you connect more consciously with your clothes and the textiles around you. Together, we will explore simple, creative skills such as making natural pigments straight from your kitchen, easy sewing hacks to breathe new life into worn garments, and beginner-friendly patchwork to transform old clothes into beautiful household textiles.

These classes focus on empowerment, creativity, and sustainability. Join me, whether you are just starting your journey or deepening your connection with fashion sustainability, and together we will learn, make and reimagine.

 

🌸🌱 Wilde Reads: Books for Change

Until now, Wilde Reads has mostly been me sharing what I am reading and reflecting on, but I would love to turn it into something more collective. If you are passionate about sustainability and fashion, I would be delighted for you to read alongside me. Together we can explore books that spark fresh ideas, open meaningful conversations and inspire more conscious ways of living.

We are now on our eighth book, Fibershed by Rebecca Burgess with Courtney White. It is a powerful exploration of the growing movement of farmers, makers and fashion activists working to create a new regenerative textile economy. If this resonates with you, I would love for you to join me in turning the page towards a better world. 📚✨

With gratitude,

Tala 🌿💚