Wells, Kaitlyn (18 July 2022). "Purging Old Clothes? Here's How to Responsibly Donate and Repurpose Your Castoffs". The New York Times. Aja Barber's debut book "Consumed" challenges you to change the fast fashion system as we know it". The Tempest. Barber skilfully links this consumption to racism, colonialism and exploitation of non-white populations. The book explains colonialism as “when a country with power and resources dominates another country and extracts resources (both material and labour) while imposing new cultural norms,” while sharing a mindset with racism and the slave trade. She posits that, although officially colonialism like the British Empire ended before most consumers of fast fashion were born – the current global set-up of design and marketing in the rich countries of the north, and production in the global south at cut-throat prices – mirrors that of the historical definition and is just as harmful. The book, in my opinion, gets much better towards the end of this chapter and then into the following ones - however I still have one remaining critique, and that is simply that the book is really repetitive in this part. I think an editor could have chopped this remaining section down a tonne simply by removing expressions or paragraphs which had already been said in a slightly different way earlier on. It still would have been as impactful and thought-provoking for the reader. I think that Attenborough's 'A Life On Our Planet' is a great way to format books like these: start off with your witness statement (how the issue has personally impacted you), then delve into the reality of the issues (here is where the facts come in handy) and then a 'how we fix it' to tie it all up at the end. All of these elements were present in Aja's book, however they came in at random moments, accompanied by asides which were often productive discussion topics (e.g. the mispronunciation of ethnic names) but were put into sections about different issues entirely, which only detached you from what you had been reading previously.

This is a genuinely bad book, and I don’t say that lightly, but for a non fiction title covering such broad and significant topics, this is an awful attempt. Barber's isn't just a voice we should listen to - it is a voice we MUST listen to.' - Clementine FordAja Barber always wanted to be two things: a published author and a ballerina. She’s still working on the latter, but the sustainable fashion writer will have accomplished the first by Sept. 23 when Consumed , her very first book, publishes in the U.K. It’s available in the U.S. Oct. 5. I think this is a great book for people like me — those who have used consumption to fill a void, who used to pride themselves in not wearing the same thing twice, who was led to believe that the more you have, the better you are. As someone who works in the social media / fashion world, it definitely was a wake up call to the ways I perpetuate consumerism.

Barber, Aja (19 December 2019). "Conscious, ethical and cruelty-free: a guide to the language of sustainable fashion". The Guardian. This powerful, speaking-truth-to-power book is an essential read for everybody who wants to stop feeling clueless and helpless about the impacts of cosumerism, and start doing their part to help create a more sustainable world’– Layla SaadThis powerful, speaking-truth-to-power book is an essential read for everybody who wants to stop feeling clueless and helpless about the impacts of cosumerism, and start doing their part to help create a more sustainable world' - Layla Saad