I Can't Escape This Dumb Vest

And yet...I don't hate it

Guilty as charged

This week, a feature story I wrote on the Montreal-based slow fashion designer Eliza Faulkner was published by Business of Fashion. It was a follow-up, of sorts, to last year’s story I wrote on the slow fashion recession. Back then, I had noticed a number of brands that catered to sustainability-minded consumers—Beaton Linen, ARQ, Selva Negra, Mara Hoffmann etc.—announce they were closing up shop and wanted to learn more about the challenges these businesses were facing and figure out why they weren’t able to survive. Things are looking even bleaker now than they were last year. In 2024, “climate urgency” ranked as a number 2 priority in McKinsey’s annual State of Fashion report; for 2025, addressing “the sustainability collective” dropped to number 10. But one designer in particular seems to be bucking the trend: Eliza Faulkner. Her brand’s success represents a rare bright spot in the world of slow fashion that I thought deserved a closer look. I spoke to a lot of different people to try and figure out what her special sauce is and the result is a fascinating deep dive into Eliza’s unique world. My hope is that other slow fashion labels are able to take away some nuggets of wisdom and apply them to their own business models. There’s a lot that didn’t end up in the piece so I wanted to highlight this quote from the always insightful Marielle Elizabeth: “I hope that [the slow fashion and sustainable brands] that weren’t able to survive understand that it wasn't because what they were doing wasn’t important, or people didn't care.”

I hope you enjoy the read.

• I’ve seen like 18 different versions of this office siren vest in the past week which makes me think we’re going to be seeing it everywhere this summer.

  

• Did everyone read this absolutely bonkers Rolling Stone article about people with Chat GPT-induced psychosis?

  Her partner of seven years fell under the spell of ChatGPT in just four or five weeks, first using it to organize his daily schedule but soon regarding it as a trusted companion. “He would listen to the bot over me,” she says. “He became emotional about the messages and would cry to me as he read them out loud. The messages were insane and just saying a bunch of spiritual jargon,” she says, noting that they described her partner in terms such as “spiral starchild” and “river walker.”

• I want to read this book. And this one.

• The estate of the late recording engineer and Big Black/Shellac alum Steve Albini is hosting a closet sale, which will apparently include zines, posters, t-shirts and more. I wonder if there will be any jumpsuits available.