Anyone who has followed us for any length of time can tell how much we love shopping on the secondary market in all its forms. We are of the age where our mothers and grandmothers made and/or mended everything from the food they ate to the clothes they wore. Going to garage sales and shopping in thrift stores was not special or unique when we were young. It was just something that everyone did. As we got older, these habits stuck because a) it is cheaper and b) it is better for the environment. Ok, and c) it is fun and addicting. Once you score your first Chanel purse or Louboutins for less than what you would pay at a department store for something mass-produced, there is no going back. Add in having a closet full of special, timeless, well-made, and unique to you pieces, and what’s not to love?

That is why we are so excited to announce that we have been named Ambassadors for an amazing non-profit organization, Remake. We are so proud to be part of this global ambassador program of over 200 women who are committed to making fashion a force for good. This movement is currently over 150,000+ members strong and growing! We are excited to share more sustainable tips, host workshops, and partake in clothing swap activities in the coming months.

This is not an Ambassadorship that pushes a product on you – YEAH (more on that soon)! Remake Ambassadors want to share knowledge on where your clothing comes from and how your purchasing decisions affect the (mainly) women and (some) men who make your clothing. We want to encourage you to wear your values and make companies choose the people they depend on over profits. #PayUp But first, here is a sneak peek of our bio that will be on their website soon.

A Fashionating Life is a fashion blog for women in their 40s who want to feel empowered by fashion in their daily lives. Inspiring women to take control of their personal style and view fashion as a powerful tool in the story they tell the world. Co-founded by sustainable shopping enthusiasts, Ellen Mason, 48, and Jennifer Ransom, 45, AFL wants to see 40+ women have more representation in the influencer space, with a focus on developing personal style through sustainable shopping. From thrift and vintage stores, to designer consignment, Etsy, and eBay, 85% of our (rather fabulous) wardrobes come from the secondary market. 

Both discovered their love for sustainable shopping at garage sales and thrift stores with their grandmothers in the 70s and never stopped. Ellen has a background in fashion, music, and nonprofit marketing. Jennifer’s experience is in politics, journalism, and nonprofit leadership. They met while working together for the largest arts advocacy organization in the state of Texas where they fought for increased funding for the creative sector, as well as arts education initiatives. 

The most exciting part of being a Remake Ambassador is getting to work with sustainably stylish women who are committed to making a difference in how we produce and consume clothing, as well as cleaning up the fashion industry in general.   

“We are unapologetic fashion lovers. While some might find that frivolous, we believe that fashion lovers have the power and the opportunity to bring about crucial changes that will positively impact everything from women’s rights and our environment.”   

Both of us are the first to admit that we are far from perfect when it comes to sustainable style. For this reason, we are also looking forward to this Ambassadorship for both personal and professional growth.

Learn More About Sustainable Brands
When it comes to eco-fashion, the secondary market is our thing. We are not the most knowledgeable when it comes to sustainable brands outside of Everlane and Reformation – and there is now enough out there to question both their integrity. We shop both local brands and stores as much as we can, but true knowledge of the latest developments and designers in sustainable fashion is not something we have. Remake has plenty of resources on sustainable brands, from lists of approved companies to how to tell if a clothing company is actually sustainable.   

Stay Accountable
The truth is that we love our Target fashion finds and fall victim to a Zara sales special more than we would like to. It is hard to hide those purchases and stay true to our brand. We have said from the beginning, that we are real women with real lives wearing real efforts purchased on real budgets. What we photograph is what we were wearing and not an outfit put together for the ‘gram. Since tagging brands and identifying who we are wearing is an important part of the influencer gig, we will use this Ambassadorship to rethink whether that SHEIN offer really is too good to pass up. Pretty hard to #wearyourvalues when you are literally wearing your hypocrisy on your sleeve.

Effect Positive Change
As our bio states, we have experience in advocacy and by extension, community building, and policy change. We have always tried to use this platform for greater issues than where to buy the best white button-down shirt. Being a Remake Ambassador will allow us to have a bigger voice in changing the industry and people’s buying habits.

Get Realigned with Our Purpose
One thing we have learned is that there is a plan for you. Some call it God, others the universe, or fate, vibrations, or coincidence. Whatever you call it, if you are not listening to it or aligned with it, this force will do what it needs to do to get you on track with your true purpose. This can be something as traumatizing as getting fired from a job you hate anyway or just a negative feeling that something is off that you just cannot put your finger on. All you know is that you are not achieving whatever outcomes you know you are meant to achieve. There are a couple of things I have discovered over the past year of blogging that I thought would be great, measures of success even, that ended up not being aligned with the higher purpose of this blog. This Ambassadorship will force us to face these misalignments and pivot accordingly. But as I said above, more on that in a later post.

We hope you will take the time to learn more about Remake and how you can get involved. You can start by following @remakeourworld on their social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube.  But for now, I want to leave you with what greeted me on their homepage and made me think that these are my people:

We are a community of designers, IG addicts, feminists, storytellers, and all-around fashion aficionados, who believe that fashion can be a force for good. We are using our purchasing power, our voice, and our creativity to make the invisible women who power the fashion industry visible. We are committed to breaking up with fast fashion and have taken the pledge to buy better, remaking our closets with clothes that respect women and our planet. 

Enjoy these outfit photos that are made up almost entirely of my best thrift, vintage, consignment, eBay, etc. finds! 

Images by Breezy Ritter Photography