Over the last few years I have really started embracing the idea of sustainability and learning what is sustainable fashion. Mainly because I want to know that I have done my part in helping to make this world a better place. However, it can be hard to know where to even start. Which can be discouraging before you even begin.
My advice is to start small. Pick one area of your life that you can improve on. For me, that area was fashion because I had started re-selling pre-owned clothing and spent a lot of my time in thrift stores.
Sustainable fashion is the future.
Actually, sustainable everything is the future, but today we are focusing on fashion. So, what is sustainable fashion?
The “technical” definition:
More sustainable fashion: clothing, shoes and accessories that are manufactured, marketed and used in the most sustainable manner possible. This takes into account both environmental and socio-economic aspects. In practice, this implies continuous work to improve all stages of the product’s life cycle:
Product’s life cycle:
- Design
- Raw material production
- Manufacturing
- Transport
- Storage
- Marketing and final sale
- Use, reuse, repair, remake and recycling of the product and its components
From an environmental perspective: the aim should be to minimize any undesirable environmental effect of the product’s life cycle by:
- Ensuring efficient and careful use of natural resources
- Water
- Energy
- Land
- Soil
- Animals
- Plants
- Biodiversity
- Ecosystems
- Etc.
- Selecting renewable energy sources at every stage
- Wind
- Solar
- Etc.
- Maximizing repair, remake, reuse, and recycling of the product and its components
From a socio-economic perspective: all stakeholders should work to improve present working conditions for workers on the field, in the factories, transportation chain, and stores. They can do so by aligning with good ethics, best practice and international codes of conduct.
In addition, fashion companies should contribute to encourage more sustainable consumption patterns, caring and washing practices, and overall attitudes to fashion. (Green Strategy, June 2014)
Let’s break that down.
More Sustainable Fashion
First, I want to point out that this definition describes more sustainable fashion. As a whole, the fashion industry relies on fast consumption. They want to produce as many trendy pieces as they can. Then when those pieces don’t sell or go out of season, they discount the items to make room for more trendy pieces. Which makes the entire industry not exactly sustainably friendly.
Above all, the idea explained in the definition above is to stop consuming fast fashion and focus on clothing that was made in a more sustainable way. One thing to remember here, companies that pride themselves in being sustainable are still learning new practices as they go. Which means that they are not perfect in their sustainability, but they’re doing everything they can to get there.
Environmental Perspective
The next section to break down is how sustainable fashion see the environmental perspective. Part of the ultimate goal of sustainable fashion is to keep the undesirable environmental effects of producing a garment of clothing as low as possible. So, what are the environmental aspects of sustainable fashion? As stated above, they are:
- Ensuring efficient and careful use of natural resources
- Water
- Energy
- Land
- Soil
- Animals
- Plants
- Biodiversity
- Ecosystems
- Etc.
- Selecting renewable energy sources at every stage
- Wind
- Solar
- Etc.
- Maximizing repair, remake, reuse, and recycling of the product and its components
So you want to keep those in mind when you’re a shopping for a new item. It is important to know where your clothes are coming from.
Socio-economic Perspective
Who is making your clothes? A major part of the ultimate goal is improving the socio-economic well-being of the individuals who are making the clothing. From factory workers to seamstresses, the goal is to ensure that these individuals are receiving a competitive wage, safe working conditions and proper codes of conduct.
To really see what it’s like for some of these industry workers, watch The True Cost. This documentary will really open your eyes to what goes on behind the scenes. It definitely did mine.
Overconsumption
Finally, the last part of the ultimate goal is to educate us, the consumers, about over-consumption. We can greatly reduce our clothing waste by:
- Properly caring for the clothing that we already own
- Making educated decisions when it comes to buying
- Avoiding impulses to buy
One thing that I noticed when I owned a retail store is the amount of people who would come in to return something because it shrank in the wash. As a result, a lot of clothing was unwearable because of poor care by consumers. We can all do better at following the care instructions on our clothing tags and helping our garments last longer.
How can we start to live a more sustainable life when it comes to our clothes?
The image below, created by Green Strategy, shows seven ways that you can purchase, rent, or swap clothing that will decrease your clothing’s carbon footprint.
Above all, even by following this image half of the time, you can greatly reduce your clothing waste. There are plenty of places to purchase pre-owned or vintage items. To learn more about thrift shopping, even from the comfort of your couch, check out this blog post.
What are you tips to creating a more sustainable wardrobe? How do you practice sustainability in your life?
