{{short description|American fashion activist and writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Aja Barber | honorific_suffix = | image = Aja Barber.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Reston, Virginia, United States | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | citizenship = | alma_mater = | education = | occupation = Sustainability consultant, author, activist | organisation = | years_active = | employer = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = ''Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism'' (2021) | style = | title = | party = | movement = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = | website = {{url|https://www.ajabarber.com}} | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}
'''Aja Barber''' is a writer, sustainability consultant, and activist who promotes ethical consumerism and warns against the environmental impact of fashion, especially fast fashion. Barber advocates for ethical and sustainable fashion and fair treatment of garment workers within the fashion industry.
== Life and work ==
Barber was born in Reston, Virginia.<ref name="Kapoor2020">{{Cite web |title=Black Americans never got their share of the American Dream, says US activist Aja Barber |url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features/black-americans-never-got-their-share-of-the-american-dream-says-us-activist-aja-barber-5532591.html |last=Kapoor |first=Aekta |website=moneycontrol |date=July 11, 2020 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> As a child, she recalls wanting to either be a published author or a ballerina.<ref name="Funes2021">{{Cite web |title=Aja Barber on Replacing Your Shopping Addiction With Inspiration |url=https://atmos.earth/aja-barber-consumed-fashion-sustainable/ |last=Funes |first=Yessenia |website=Atmos.Earth |date=September 20, 2021 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> As a young adult, Barber pursued internships in the fashion industry, in addition to blogging and writing about fashion.<ref name="Attwood2021">{{Cite magazine |title=How Consumerism, Climate Crisis and Colonialism Are Linked |url=https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/13558/consumerism-climate-crisis-colonialism-aja-barber-interview-consumed-book-review |last=Attwood |first=Naomi |magazine=Another Magazine |date=September 23, 2021 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
Barber is a critic of fast fashion, and admits to being a "fast fashion shopper" herself when she was younger.<ref name="Pepper2024">{{Cite web |title=Fashion activist Aja Barber is encouraging us to change our buying behaviour |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-28/activist-aja-barber-on-fast-fashion/103814796 |last=Pepper |first=Fiona |website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=May 27, 2024 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="OConnor2024">{{Cite magazine |title=Threads Of Change: Aja Barber On Creating The Perfect Sustainable Wardrobe |url=https://www.elle.com/uk/fashion/a61554265/aja-barber-sustainable-fashion/ |last=O'Connor |first=Tamison |magazine=Elle |date=July 10, 2024 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> She cites both peer pressure and larger societal pressure into buying lots of clothes and accessories, even to the point of purchasing items she didn't actually like or appreciate.<ref name="Pepper2024" /> As Barber became more aware of both the environmental impacts of fashion and the impact on the workers producing the clothing, she reduced her consumption of new clothing items and primarily focused on purchasing second-hand clothes.<ref name="OConnor2024" /> Barber advocates for shopping at local consignment stores and other places where the consumer can talk directly to the seller about their business practices.<ref name="Well2024">{{Cite news |title=Purging Old Clothes? Here's How to Responsibly Donate and Repurpose Your Castoffs. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-get-rid-of-old-clothes/ |last=Wells |first=Kaitlyn |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 7, 2024 |access-date=March 9, 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Barber became aware of larger pushback against fast fashion.<ref name="Funes2021" /> In 2021, she published her first book: ''Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism'', which explores "the intersections of consumerism, racism and climate change".<ref name="Williams2021">{{Cite web |title=Book review: Consumed, by Aja Barber |url=https://earthbound.report/2021/09/20/book-review-consumed-by-aja-barber/ |last=Williams |first=Jeremy |website=The Earthbound Report |date=September 20, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Isador2024">{{Cite magazine |title=Meet the Fashion Influencers of Climate Activism |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-fashion-influencers-of-climate-activism/ |last=Isador |first=Graham |magazine=Vice |date=February 1, 2024 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> The book links clothing consumerism to historical forces of colonialism and capitalism.<ref name="Nguyen2021">{{Cite news |title=Americans throw away too many clothes. Poorer countries are left with the waste. |url=https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22700581/aja-barber-consumed-book-fast-fashion-ghana |last=Nguyen |first=Terry |website=Vox |date=October 6, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> ''Consumed'' was called a "powerful cry to opt out of consumption culture", and praised for its coverage of the environmental impact of fashion. The book cites environmental scientist Roland Geyer who quantifies how much CO<sub>2</sub> would be reduced if industry started to pay garment workers a living wage.<ref name="Dunthorne2023">{{Cite web |title=Fashion Activist Aja Barber - 'We Keep Buying Thinking That We Will Magically Get Happy' |url=https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/style/fashion-activist-aja-barber-we-keep-buying-thinking-that-we-will-magically-get-happy/ |last=Dunthorne |first=Tessa |website=CountryAndTownhouse.com |date=July 10, 2023 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
After publishing ''Consumed'', Barber cites the positive reaction she got from non-white women, and how they "felt seen within the work".<ref name="Spanoudi2024">{{Cite magazine |title=Brazen acquires Aja Barber's 'irreverent' debut novel Bad Vibes |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/brazen-acquires-aja-barbers-irreverent-dbut-novel-bad-vibes |last=Spanoudi |first=Melina |magazine=The Bookseller |date=October 3, 2024 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Barber plans to publish her second book, ''Bad Vibes'', through Brazen, in July 2025.<ref name="Spanoudi2024" />
== Works ==
*''Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism'': Balance (2021). {{ISBN|9781538709849}} *''Bad Vibes'': Octopus (2025). {{ISBN|9781840918540}}
== See also ==
* Anti-sweatshop movement * Consumerism * Ethical consumerism
== References ==
{{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Aja}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century African-American women writers Category:21st-century American women writers Category:21st-century African-American writers Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American women activists Category:American women non-fiction writers Category:Anti-consumerists Category:Fashion writers Category:People from Reston, Virginia Category:Sustainability advocates Category:Year of birth missing (living people)