Sustainable Fashion
by
Holly Day
Firstly may I say I’m not a hobo. I don’t wear rags, and I do like to look well-presented after my own “fashion”.
But for me, the term ‘sustainable fashion’ is a complete paradox. Fashion is anathema to sustainability. Fashion is all about consumption, while sustainability has to be about NOT consuming more than we really need to.
It’s very clever really. A plain jumper in a classic style lasts and lasts. But that is no good when you want people to keep buying; when your profit margins, your survival as a clothing outlet, depend upon ever increasing sales. So what can you do to create a perpetual need? To make people (women in particular) feel like what they have, and what they are, isn’t good enough? Add frills of course, or cut out shoulders, or a Hallowe’en motif! Or maybe make it a quirky shade of mustard that you can declare outmoded in a season or two. Or make it out of cheap material that will soon turn into a shapeless sack.
Perhaps fast fashion would all be harmless fun, were it not for the huge negative impact the fashion industry has, on the environment and on people in other countries. Let me quickly take you through some of the problems before we come to the things we can do to reduce our impact and truly live more sustainably.
The root problem is the throwaway culture we live in, that the fashion industry caters for and has had a role in creating. According to that paragon of truth, the Daily Mail, the average piece of women’s clothing is worn only 7 times before being discarded. Whatever the exact figures, most people do not wear their clothes until they are worn out. We can afford to buy new regularly, so that is what we do, instead of treating clothing with care and making it last, as people have had to throughout history. Clothing is cheap, so we don’t value it. This leads to huge amounts of waste being created, and uses huge amounts of energy and resources during production. Besides, cheap clothes are of poor fabric and shoddy workmanship- they don’t tend to last well even when the will is there.
There are hidden costs to ANYTHING cheap. If it comes cheaply to you, that is because someone, somewhere is paying the cost in your stead, through sweatshop working conditions, low wages, damage to their local environments and to our shared environment. People in less developed countries are exploited by our fashion chains, kept in poverty and misery so we can go shopping of a weekend. We have to act consciously, think about the choices we make when we spend money.
‘Every financial decision is an investment in one kind of future or another. This applies {on every level, government to grocery shopper}. Every buying decision, on every scale, supports some supply chain and rejects others.’- Mike Berners-Lee, There’s No Planet B
Then there is the harm caused by the production of fabric- the environmental damage resulting from growing vast amounts of cotton for instance. It takes about 2700 litres of water to make one cotton t-shirt. The Aral Sea, once the 4th largest lake in the world, had been virtually drained, mainly because of cotton cultivation. And cotton crops are intensively sprayed with pesticides; the toxic dust which is the remains of the Aral Sea is the cause of high levels of throat cancer in local residents. Chemicals leach into the drinking water of local people, and are even found in rainwater in cotton growing regions!
Synthetic fibres carry with them another set of issues. They are made of plastic, and therefore do not degrade quickly once their useful life is over, but hang about on the planet in landfill for hundreds of years. Plus, washing synthetic fabrics results in thousands of microfibres being released into the water system. Washing an average acrylic load (hairy acrylic jumpers, fleeces and sportswear are some of the worst offenders) has been shown to release over 700000 microfibres, many of which will not be filtered out, as they are too small to be picked up by the filtration process. They are not too small to end up in the food chain though- microplastic accumulates up the food chain, and is turning up in a third of UK caught fish.
So. What can we do? The first, most vital action we can all take is to not buy any clothes! Surely everyone reading this already has clothes to last them years! Maybe we’re tired of them, maybe we’ve been convinced they’re outdated, maybe there’s a different version tempting us to spend, but honestly, they’re functional are they not? Are you not decent and protected from the elements? We need to alter the way we think about our possessions. We need to cultivate gratitude for what we have, to really look after things and make them last and last. Counter the prevailing wind of throwaway consumerism with a return to a “make do and mend” mentality. Feel good about wearing your old clothes, feel good when you care for them, or sew up a hole, knowing that this is a small conscious act for the good of the planet and future generations. It is possible to change your mindset. Personally, I have gone through a big shift in my thinking. Now I aspire to reducing my possessions and living a simpler, less cluttered life, so I am committed to wearing the clothes I have until they wear out and not replacing clothing until my wardrobe is a less ridiculous size! I do find renewed joy in the things I have, and the temptation to buy more has abated (though not gone completely!!)
When there is something that really does need to be replaced, here are a few things to consider:
- Spend a bit more on a quality product that will last longer. Quality over quantity is really important in reducing waste and environmental impact.
- Buy something that isn’t going to date, or that you love enough that you will wear it regardless of whether the trend has moved on.
- Buy second hand everywhere possible, so there is no fresh environmental impact as a result of your action. Charity shops are a good option, because then you get twice the good karma! Or eBay offers a range of choice. Or maybe you can attend a clothing swap.
- Buy ethically produced clothing, where the fabric is as sustainably sourced as possible, and the workers paid good wages. This involves a bit of research, and will cost more than Primark. But the clothing will also be of better quality, last longer, and not be causing destruction and suffering elsewhere in the world.
- Support local business over multinational corporations. Do you want to help a local family make ends meet, or do you want to line the pockets of shareholders? Besides, big businesses are the ones doing the most damage, pushing down costs for competitive edge, feeding the fire of dissatisfaction and perpetual need via advertising to keep us consuming.
A final note on the microplastics issue:
It’s a difficult one, because there is no perfect solution. My decision is to keep wearing my synthetic clothes until they wear out, but wash them in a guppy bag (a mesh bag that reduces microfibres that come loose, and catches those that do for proper disposal- incidentally available from Day Zero in Buxon!). When in the future I need another jumper, I plan to buy natural fibre, ethically produced and/or second hand, despite the problems with the production of cotton and wool. I think the key issue is the sheer amount of clothes we all buy. Cotton growing wouldn’t have the impact it has today if a more moderate amount was being grown!
Take home message: Don’t Buy Stuff!
In Love and Hope
