Millennials around the globe are attempting to tidy up a messy fashion industry. The $2 trillion industry is liable for 10% of the worldwide carbon footprint, negative ecological impacts including water contamination, the utilization of poisonous synthetic substances and significant levels of material waste, and poor working conditions for millions of employees, mostly women.
You might be thinking about what sustainable style truly involves. According to One Green Planet, the fashion business is the second most polluting industry on the planet, right behind petroleum. From the extraordinary water utilization, colors, textures, plants and waste, fashion intensely adds to ecological damage. The expression "sustainable fashion" signifies protecting the earth by being increasingly attentive in fashion consumption and production.
Adopting sustainable buying habits will help our environment in a major way. The normal shopper buys 60% more garments compared to the year 2000, and each article of clothing is kept half as long. You can make an impact just by wearing your garments an additional nine months, diminishing your carbon, waste and energy footprint by 20-30%.
Sustainable fashion only requires a change in buying decisions, not a change in style. Now that you have an understanding of what sustainable fashion entails, here are nine easy ways to enter the trend of sustainable fashion. Small changes will make a big difference, by the way.
Go From A Fast to A Slow Fashion Mindset
Slow fashion, the opposite of fast fashion, is exactly what it sounds like. Recently, fast fashion's strong reality has caught people all over the world's attention Consumers are paying heed to the unhealthy effects of fast fashion on the planet. Slow fashion focuses on companies that are mindful of the planet and make clothes with a safe environment in mind for the future. Slow fashion as the opposite of fast fashion, demonstrating fashion's slow and more sustainable direction. Companies are able to produce timeless, reliable and trendy apparel with less style shifts and more careful production techniques.
Minimize Your Clothing Waste
The extreme buying habits of consumers lead to 3.6 billion unused clothes per year. Waste in clothing is a real problem today and has a huge environmental impact. The production of clothes is not only harmful to the environment, but because fabrics have been colored, bleached and chemically altered, the after-effects of clothes is just as harmful. Buying smarter and less is the key to reducing clothing waste. But, dressing smarter and reducing clothing waste doesn’t mean you can’t stay up with the latest trends. A great way to always look good and feel good about your closet is through clothing rental. Renting clothes is an easy way to access an unlimited wardrobe and reduce your clothing waste.
Show Green Fashion Some Love
We all think about about the 3 R's; reduce, reuse and recycle. The eco fashion movement is led by DRU; selling, renting, and upcycling. Donating, renting and upcycling clothes are all small options that make big changes to the environment. Green fashion is the term for interconnecting design and sustainability. It could be as easy to support the green fashion trend as reducing consumption, reusing garments for longer and recycling some of your clothes at the end of their lives.
Stay Away From Fast Fashion
You may be thinking about what fast fashion is, but you know it all too well, even if you don't realize it. Fast fashion is the on-trend, cheap garments taking over wardrobes.
Although a few cheap shirts may seem harmless, the planet is highly damaged by fast fashion. Fast fashion companies churn out millions of items every day.
According to the World Resource Institute - "The world uses 5 trillion liters (1.3 trillion gallons) of water each year for fabric dyeing alone, enough to fill 2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools,"
It is not expected that the fast fashion industry will slow down in the near future, with water use only rising. We have the power to make purchasing decisions as customers of the fashion industry to support sustainable fashion companies and slow down fast fashion.
Understand the Impact Of Ethical Fashion
The World Resource Center reports that the water you drink for 2 and a half years of your life is equal to the amount of water it takes to create a t-shirt. The nickname of Cotton, a thirsty crop, is fitting given that it is the culprit in the fashion industry for the substantial amount of water consumption. Cotton is the most common fiber in clothing. It makes up 33% of all fibers in fabrics. Ethical fashion helps the environment by reducing water consumption by carefully making clothes and swapping materials. Ethical fashion brands use materials such as wool and recycled textiles instead of using cotton.
It’s Okay Not To Know It All
Right now, there is no uniform apparel labeling scheme — no way to equate products, no formal standard, and little clarity. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is working on it, but it's all just guesswork before they finally release their labeling system.
Last year's Pulse of the Fashion study tried to break down all the various materials by impact, but there were two glaring omissions: toxicity, and the end of life — a.k.a. what happens to your clothes when you're finished with them. The study this year simply says: "Every fiber... brings its benefits and disadvantages." And then you've got the sorting, dying, finishing, shipping...
We won't even try to give you the best fabrics to purchase a thorough run down. "We don't want people to shop through this problem.
Start Now, Move Quickly
There is already some sort of legislation passed or on the table with most things — personal care products, toys, vehicles. There's a new look. It's a brand new topic, but it's also a critical one as well.
We have a very urgent problem on our hands with climate change in our hands. We're potentially going to melt down this place if we're not running very fast on top of that. I think that forcing the private sector to take responsibility is the faster way to get where we need to go on the road to government regulation.
EVERY LITTLE HELPS
There is no perfectly sustainable brand of fashion out there. There's simply no such thing ( at least, not yet ).
On the Sustainable Apparel Coalition website, there is a good place to look for brands with legit good vibes.
It is a business alliance of companies that want their performance to be strengthened. You can also try out the Good on You app to get the impression of a third party that companies put in the effort for.