http://www.clotheshorsepodcast.com/

Clotheshorse, PO Box 193, Bird in Hand, PA (2025)

12/08/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Twelfth Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...SLOW GIFTING STARTS WITH YOUUUUUUUUU!!

I can’t believe this is the last day of ! ! I’m so excited about the prospect of changing the way people view gifts...the whole nature of gifting in this century has been sort of fast-fashionified: maximum amounts of stuff with minimal quality and intention.

Gifting is an easy place for us to begin to educate others and have a serious impact! Communicating our own boundaries and the reasons behind them is a great way to share knowledge and spread the ways of Slow Gifting! We are all influencers to the people around us.

One person can’t change the world alone, but when we all work together, we can make some major changes.
Don’t forget: you can find the previous parts of this series on my profile. In a world of fast everything (including fast gifts), talking about slow gifting (and sharing slow gifting inspiration) can be a really radical thing to do!

So how’s your slow gifting going so far?

12/06/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Eleventh Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...SHOP YOUR VALUUUUUUEEEES!

You don’t eat foods you don’t like or listen to music that annoys you, why would you give your money to someone you just don’t like? And that includes when you are shopping for gifts. One of the magical things about gifts is that it gives you an opportunity to introduce others to the issues that are on your mind and model how to do it better.

🎁 Yes, we want to give people gifts they want, need, and will like. BUT we can also introduce them to a new way of relating to stuff and the act of acquiring stuff. Gifting is a great time to get that conversation started. Tell you parents that you don’t want anything polyester. Or nothing from Amazon. No fast fashion. No big businesses. Maybe you don’t want “stuff” at all because there’s already too much stuff in the world. Maybe you only want secondhand gifts.

🎁 Whatever your personal boundaries are, share them with others. One thing I’ve noticed with the people in my life is that most of them never thought about the things I discuss around here, but after talking to me about this or that, they admit that it totally made a difference in the way they look at their clothes, consumption, and shopping.

🎁 Furthermore, with so much shopping happening right now, this is a great time to make an impact with your spending (or lack thereof).
Supporting small, ethical businesses helps them grow.
Skipping big, unethical/wasteful businesses forces them to do some re-evaluation of their business model (or just go out of business). In my experience, only TWO things force brands/retailers to change their ways: the law or lower sales. Yep, NOT giving a company your money is just as powerful as giving it! And not giving it during a time of year where they are hoping to make some major sales? SUPER IMPACTFUL.

And lastly: good values = good vibes, and the best gifts have the best vibes!

12/03/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Tenth Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...DON’T FORGET THE PACKAGING!

Of course you knew I was going to bring up wrapping paper, gift bags, boxes, and all of the trims. Because I’m obsessed with packaging waste! And that includes all of the gift wrapping. I know it’s what inside the packaging that counts...but to be fair, I also love an aesthetically pleasing gift presentation.

🎁 The theme of is rethinking our approaches to everything gift-related, and that includes how we present them.

🎁 I did a bunch of reading about more sustainable gift wrapping options, ranging from a little weird (like “put it in a bucket”) to extra dramatic (“wrap it in a rug”). Whatever you choose to do, consider the extended life of the wrapping/box/“vessel.”

🎁 Wrapping paper and bows tend to have a short life that goes a little something like: buy—>wrap—>unwrap—>trash. Think about the materials (trees, oil, coatings, colors) that go into making that wrapping, the trucks that transported it around from factory to warehouse to store, and even the packaging that the packaging is packaged in. Whoa!

🎁 Let’s break that cycle of “near-future garbage” and remember that nothing is disposable, not even wrapping paper and packaging.

Tell me you best reusable/recycled/repurposed gift wrapping ideas in the comments!

12/01/2025

New clothes ARE kinda garbage these days, from low quality synthetic fabrics...to zippers that are a problem from the very first wear...to lack of detail and poor fit. And the low quality and short lifespan of this clothing is creating an environmental and ethical crisis for the planet and its people.

Just about every garment produced by fast fashion brands starts as a great design....that is “too expensive” to make in order to meet pricing and profitability targets. So the team chips away at it until the math starts to math. And often you’re left with something that only slightly resembles the original design.

Last year I released a three part series of the podcast about why new clothes are kinda garbage these days.

Among other things in that series, we discuss:

★ What is planned obsolescence and how does it impact cars, phones, electronics...and clothing?
★ The process of clothing creation, from design to sample to finished product.
★ The changes buyers make to hit the profitability targets set by company leadership.
★ How fabric is a big part of the formula (and why so many garments are synthetic now).
★ How overproduction is impacting product quality.
★ How the illusion of free shipping is widening economic inequality AND driving down the quality of the things we buy.
★ How the nonstop parade of DEALZ DEALZ DEALZ is also responsible for a sharp decrease in clothing quality
★ And how/why brands will continue to make terrible clothes as long as we are still buying them.

See? I told you it is a lot to break down! You can start the series with episode 187.

So now tell me: what is your least favorite thing about new clothes these days?

11/30/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Ninth Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WAAAAAAAAAANNNNNTTTTT!

Giving people what they want (rather than what is convenient or available) is at the core of Slow Gifting. Why? Because loved gifts get use and care, while less intentional gifts end up in the landfill/donation bin.

is all about minimizing waste and hollow consumption by giving with intention...and that includes asking people what they want. And...telling people what YOU want!

11/30/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Eighth Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...SHIPPING IS NEVER REALLY FREEEEEEEEE!
And furthermore, the myth of free shipping actually FUELS overconsumption!!

It’s expensive to ship something. But unfortunately big businesses have been luring us in with promises of free shipping. It gets us to spend more money, more often. The era of free shipping began in earnest with Amazon Prime. Suddenly shipping was no longer the luxury, the service that it had once been. Time after time consumer insights research has indicated that customers are more likely to shop with a brand if they offer free shipping and free returns. Everywhere I have worked, we have found that free shipping equals a massive increase in sales. Remove the sense of risk that a customer has around paying for shipping...and they will open their wallets. After all, if the order doesn’t work out and they return it all for free, too...what did they lose? Nothing.

JUST TO BE CLEAR: free shipping is a marketing tool that gets us to spend more and think less about what we buy. It is not a gift. A bonus. Or even just something we are entitled to have.

Retailers aren’t just going to accept less profits in exchange for offering that free shipping. Nope, they will make it up in other ways. The era of free shipping has changed the quality of the things we buy, resulted in a lot more impulse shopping, and pushed down workers’ wages around the world.

Furthermore, free shipping affects small businesses, too. They can’t afford to cut costs in other ways or underpay their employees (if they even have employees). The pressure for free shipping actually takes money directly out of the pockets of small business owners.

WE ALL PAY FOR FREE SHIPPING!
Two years ago I wrote a piece about dismantling the myth of free shipping for . I will also share it in Stories!

Want to get more people to understand the impact of “free” shipping? Share and save this post! And talk to your friends and family.

11/27/2025

Just a little bit of Japan so far: Tokyo, Matsumoto, Kanazawa, Kyoto, and Nagoya. I’ve seen so much art and walked so many steps…and somehow managed to still work 40 hours a week AND record a new episode of Clotheshorse. Shout out to Pocari Sweat, generic ibuprofen, b vitamins, and combining sweets for making that possible.

Today I’m headed for Fukuoka! You can see more in my stories and saved highlights.

11/27/2025

I shared this post a few weeks ago, but I am sharing it again because it took me four hours to make and not enough people saw it. 😭

I am sure you have noticed a lot of sale emails in your inbox all month. As a person who has worked in buying and retail for most of my adult life, I’ve seen how “shopping holidays” like Black Friday have grown and grown. First a single day event, then a long weekend...eventually an entire month. Businesses who don’t participate are left behind, lost in all of the noise of DEALZ DEALZ DEALZ.

In fact, these shopping holidays can have a negative impact on small businesses, who cannot afford to offer discounts to the level of say Kohl’s or Anthropologie because they don’t have exploitation built into their model. Big retailers can offer low, low prices because they engineer product to sell at a discount by cutting quality and underpaying all of the workers involved in making, shipping, and selling their products.

That said…Shaming people for shopping on Black Friday (or during any other sale) is completely ineffective and it makes you look like a classist jerk! Like, if you’re using “trashy” and “Black Friday” in the same sentence, I want you to do some serious reflection about that.

But knowledge is SO VALUABLE in this situation. A lot of the stuff featured in these sales aren’t really great deals. Unsurprising, since we know fast fashion has been cutting corners and quality for years now. Many things are never intended to be sold at full price and most are highly profitable even at a deep discount. This model extends past clothing...we live in the era of FAST EVERYTHING!

It’s super easy to get caught up in deal-irium. I swear these emails and texts push some secret button deep within our brains. I have worked in this industry long enough to know that the deals aren’t good. I know that I don’t need more stuff. And yet I see these messages, and for a moment I get this sort of heated feeling in my brain that tells me I have to run to check out the sale ASAP. But when we KNOW what’s happening, we can change the way we interact with sales. And that’s pretty radical in a hyper consumerist, fast fashion world!

11/26/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Seventh Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...Let’s revisit Black Fridayyyyyyyyyy!

I’ll just go ahead and confess that I used to get really stoked about Black Friday. My grandma and I would get up early and hit the mall in search of DEALZ DEALZ DEALZ. We would have lunch at Denny’s. It was a fun day, mostly because I got to have lots of quality time with my grandma and shopping with her is always a good time. But then I got myself a career in buying, and soon I was planning all of those Black Friday “deals.” Suddenly they weren’t that fun any more. The last time I took my grandma out for BF shopping, we went to Kohls and I was just filled with rage the entire time. I wanted to scream THESE ARE NOT GOOD DEALS! See why in the slides!

🎁 Shaming people for shopping on Black Friday is completely ineffective and it makes you look like a classist jerk! Like, if you’re using “trashy” and “Black Friday” in the same sentence or you’re making fun of people engaging in BF, I want you to do some serious reflection about that.

🎁 This is where sharing knowledge comes into play! For one, industry experts say that Black Friday no longer offers the best deals, now that we have a million other shopping holidays throughout the year (like Prime Day). So if you are looking for a good deal on something specific, you might find it at a different time of the year. Now imagine telling your favorite Black Friday fanatic that those DEALZ DEALZ DEALZ are designed to be on sale. That’s mind blowing! 🤯

🎁 However, if there’s something you’ve been wanting (or someone on your gift list happens to want) and it’s on sale on Black Friday, go for it! The point of revisiting our relationship with Black Friday is breaking up with impulse shopping and buying stuff we don’t really want/need, not giving us an opportunity to feel superior to others.

Does anyone else have memories of BF shopping with their family? Tell us in the comments!

11/25/2025

Hello from Nagoya, Japan!!
I am here to tell you that there is a brand new episode of the podcast, recorded in my hotel in Kyoto!

This episode is part seven in an ongoing series called “I’m with the brand,” about brands and how they influence our identities and drive consumerism. In this episode, we’ll unpack how the importance of IRL shopping in Japan impacts the ways brands build emotional connections with customers:

🍓 How nature creates the ultimate “Call To Action” for food shopping (and how the US has made most food non-seasonal),
🍓 How Trader Joe’s has built an intensely loyal customer base (and why I am no longer a fan),
🍓 Examples of the “collab madness” happening in Japan right now (All I can say is “Sanrio cream cheese and Kirby ham-wrapped rice balls),
🍓 Why many big brands in Japan includes cafes and other experiences in their stores,
🍓 And how and why western brands are so popular in Japan.

And so much more! I will also explain how the grocery store has changed since I was a kid (sorry, Julie) and why that has made fall (yes, the season) a full-on brand and marketing moment.

This carousel is ripped from the closing moments of the episode, some thoughts I was happening while strolling around the Kyoto Botanical Gardens this weekend.

11/24/2025

🎼🎼🎼 On the Sixth Day of Slow Gifting, my cat Brenda said to me...homemade gifts make people so happppyyyyyyyyyyy!

One year my rad stepmother Karen made me a scarf for Christmas and I literally cried because no one had ever made a gift for me before. Every time I put that thing on, I felt so loved and special! Another year some friends gave everyone homemade kahlua, and it was such a great and appreciated surprise.

🎁 “Made with love” is real! And homemade gifts don’t have to be an epic project like a scarf, quilt, pet painting, etc....but they can be! And they can also be simpler things like food, quick sewing projects, or some bath salts.

🎁 Or my personal favorite: the GIFT BASKET!! It’s like a smorgasbord of cool, thoughtfully assembled stuff! I didn’t include bigger craft/creative projects in this list because you’re probably already at work on those. Instead I focused on other gifts you may not have considered. The internet is filled with recipes and instructions for creating these things.

🎁 I also just want to give a shoutout to food and all food-related items! It’s often easy to package in reusable, non-plastic containers, and it makes people feel pretty darn special. I have celiac disease, so any time anyone has gone the extra mile to make me a gluten free treat, I have felt so loved! Consumables like food and beverages might be gone in a few days, but the positive vibes live on! That said, always check in with the recipient about food allergies before making something. And also ensure that they are comfortable receiving food gifts (not everyone wants food, for a wide variety of reasons). Remember, the goal of slow gifting is to give people what they will want and use. If someone’s worst nightmare is a food gift, DO NOT GIVE THEM FOOD.

🎁 You can find tins and baskets for storing/presenting your edible gifts at just about every thrift store.The same goes for glass bottles and jars.

Tell us about your favorite homemade gifts in the comments!

11/21/2025

Hello from Kanazawa, Japan!

NPR has kept me informed and provided comfort during some really difficult times in my life. And yes, I have listened to NPR just about every day of my adulthood…even here in Japan. The moment I had the financial stability to become a sustaining supporter, I signed up to make a recurring donation. Currently I am a proud sustaining member of WITF here in Central Pennsylvania.

So imagine how excited I am to say that...this week I am a guest on Embodied , a show/podcast from WUNV North Carolina Public Radio, distributed on NPR stations across the country. This is a big dream come true moment for me!! Even from a emotional perspective, it feels like a big moment for me. Believe it or not, there are still people in my life who view my work on Clotheshorse as a silly hobby. We know it’s never been “just clothes,” but trust me, I get a lot of messages about how I am squandering my talent on something kinda trivial. Hearing about this on NPR makes people take it a lot more seriously! And I’m proud to be considered an expert in this space.

In this episode, I talk with host Anita Rao about my journey as a fast fashion buyer, how fast fashion uses emotional branding to keep us shopping, and why we are an important part of breaking the fast fashion system. I also explain how fast fashion become the business model for making and selling just about everything. And I unpack what Anthropologie and TJ Maxx have in common.

For all of you who are not podcast listeners (and I know there are a lot of you), this is a great, digestible introduction to me and my work. What you see here on IG is just a tiny portion of the work, information, and expertise that I share on Clotheshorse.

You can stream it online anywhere you listen to podcasts or listen locally! The last two slides show where and when to listen to it on the radio.

Clotheshorse

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