Can Most Americans Actually Afford To Be Sustainable?
What does Sustainable Fashion look like for those living on under $50,000 a year?
If sustainability dictates clothing cost more, where does that leave those who depend on fast fashion for self-expression? Will sustainable clothing remain accessible for only the well off? There’s a lot of questions to unpack regarding sustainability and accessibility.
78% of American workers are living paycheck-to-paycheck says, Forbes. But what blows me away, is this statement from Forbes: “28% of workers making $50,000-$99,999 usually or always live paycheck to paycheck, and 70% are in debt.” To take it a step forward, I’ll point out that Forbes does not include, the 39.9% of Americans who are making under $50,000 a year.
But really, how are most Americans supposed to make real sustainable choices if they don’t have the disposal income to spend, say $75 on a plain white t-shirt?
There are several ways to approach this topic:
I can speak directly to someone who is making under $50,000 a year and give them a list of affordable sustainable brands (there aren’t many.)Or, I can speak to those making $50,000+. The MORE sustainable purchases they make will help bring the price down for everyone (which would help.)But —
I want to take this time to speak about is the current culture of fashion, that we as consumers help keep alive.
The Zara Model
The idea of fast-fashion is perpetrated by the Zara model. Every 5 weeks, 20 times a year, the fast-fashion retailer is dropping a new collection. It’s the same basic model most fast-fashion retailers have built their own business models based on. It works for these retailers, and it works really well, because people have this mindset;
“that more and new is always better, and a big fear of missing out.”
In the past several decades consumers demanded new, frequent, and cheap. So retailers took the shortcuts they needed to in order to secure their customers business. The fast-fashion model is no longer sustainable, we all know that. You know that. Retailers know that. I really like this comparison by EcoWatch Contributor, Deutsche Welle,
“Fast fashion is the SUV of the fashion industry. It will never be sustainable. The fashion industry needs to shift away from production and towards service provision.”
While the fashion industry just might need to shift away from production and towards service provision — consumers honestly need to be doing more as well.
Yes, Americans Can Afford To Be Sustainable.
“Okay,” you say “I would love to be sustainable — but it’s not accessible.”
While I agree there’s big issues surrounding accessibility within the fashion industry, being sustainable doesn’t have to mean buying sustainable. If the question is to be answered in a cut-and-dry way — then yes Americans can afford to be sustainable.
We can be sustainable by consuming less.
Shopping less.
Capitalism, well, capitalizes on-trend. Trends motivate excessive buying. If clothing that was bought last summer no longer seems cool, people will throw it out and buy something new. It’s a loop. No one wants to be seen in the same outfit twice in our increasingly “all-eyes-on-me-please” digital world. If you really want to make an effort to be sustainable, and you’re making under $50,000 a year, a good start would be shifting mindsets.
Adopt a more sustainable mindset by using these 4 steps:
#1 Personal Style Over Trend
- Define your personal style
- Piece-by-piece build a capsule wardrobe
- Thrift statement pieces
- and wear everything you buy more than once.
#2 Buy Less
- If you needed permission to stop trying to keep up with all the influencers on Instagram, this is that permission.
- When you do buy make sure you really love it — and aren’t just infatuated. (Kind of like that person in high school you thought you’d die without…but didn’t.)
#3 Buy local or Fair Trade
- Buying from local vendors or retailers supports your community and puts money back into it.
- Fair Trade works similarly but, when buying fair trade people are being supported around the world. Usually, women who would normally be underpaid by the garment industry.
#4 When making big purchases make the sustainable choice
There’s always a sustainable option. Like skipping the next sneaker drop, and instead buy from one of these sustainably made brands: Trainers? Try Adidas by Stella Mccartney. Casual Sneakers? Try Veja. Customizable Heels? Try Rafa
The reality is until retailers are forced to be more sustainable by the urging of their customers, they might not be motivated to adopt responsible practices. They’re making money, why change their business model?
So, for the moment, a $75 Organic cotton t-shirt may remain accessible for only the well-off. We should remain hopeful, that with the growing momentum of sustainable buying, the price points will come down for all.
But until then, sustainability the concept itself is not out of reach.
We can always do quote-on-quote something —
If it means shopping less frequently or looking closer at our personal style, we should do that. Making sure to ask ourselves, is this purchase only satisfying my need to stay current? Will this piece work with any of my other clothing?
We can even go a step more and make sure we’re taking proper care of our clothing, using microfiber laundering bags to wash synthetic fabrics in. A washing machine filter will also work to help keep out plastic microfiber pollution from our water sources.
We remain responsible citizens of this global economy.
Then we continue by putting more care into what we purchase and from whom. Ensuring the companies that we give our money to are paying their workers a living wage.
One of the biggest things fast fashion took away from humanity was a living wage and respect — It’s easy to forget sometimes when buying clothes, that so many hands helped with the production of that single garment.
There are so many choices each day we make regarding fashion. But it’s always good to remember that many of our decisions can be made with sustainability in mind.
