As the Hmong modernize with the world around them, so too do their traditional clothes. With access to more textile choices, sewing machines, and a growing interconnected global community through the internet, traditional clothes are increasingly changing to fit the modern context.
What were once specific regional styles of clothing can now be shared between different Hmong subgroups who used to be separated by geography. Nowadays, one will find that Hmong who live in in the U.S. and urban areas of Southeast Asia can choose to wear whichever style of traditional clothing that they want to regardless if they belong to that style's subgroup or not. Style mixing has become socially acceptable though not everyone participates in it. Despite this, the Hmong still wear their family's regional style of clothing for important life celebrations such as weddings and funerals.
Part of the reason that the styles of traditional clothing are becoming intermixed is due to its growing demand. In fact, since the start of the pandemic in 2019, there has been an emergence of a subculture within the Hmong community where Hmong sellers utilize Facebook live to conduct the selling of traditional clothes online. This is where Hmong-Americans and Hmong in mainland Southeast Asia are connecting with one another in a system of supply and demand. Hmong-Americans are increasingly buying more traditional clothes than they used to, and Hmong in Southeast Asia are creating new styles to meet this demand. Some critics within the Hmong community argue that this phenomena has negatively transformed traditional clothing from its original context to fast fashion.
Whether the value of traditional Hmong clothes has changed or not, they still play a very crucial part in symbolizing Hmong culture and identity. Especially as representation for the Hmong community continues to grow, Olympic gymnast Sunisa Lee for example, Hmong individuals are increasingly showing their pride for their people and culture through what they wear. As a Hmong person myself, I see both the negative and the positive of how my people's traditional clothes are changing. On one hand, traditional textile-making and its value to our culture is becoming lost, but on the other hand, our clothes are changing along with us to fit into our modern context. In my opinion, I think it is important to maintain and preserve the meaning behind my people's traditional clothes, but at the same time, I believe that it's okay for it to transform with us because it tells our story of where we currently are at as a collective people.