Versatile Fashion That Doesn’t Hurt the Planet or Your Budget
How to find sustainable alternatives for your closet.
Whether you’re into the latest fashion trends or not, comfy and stylish clothing is nice, wouldn’t you agree?
An added bonus would be if it wasn’t wasteful or didn’t consume a lot of resources.
It would be even better if it were made of sustainable materials.
The only issue is that a lot of clothing stores still don’t carry a wide selection of eco-friendly fashion brands.
The fashion industry is one of the leading causes of pollution in the world.*
Clothing you buy now, probably doesn’t last as long as it did a decade ago. They often take gallons of water and resources to create and ultimately end up in the landfill. But there are more options now.
You can totally find beautiful, sustainable clothing in your community and online, and more and more are available at affordable prices. Also, there are steps you can take to minimize you and your family’s fashion waste impact.
I’ll share a couple of ways below:
1. Consignment boutiques.
Consignment boutiques are pretty cool, because clothing is often hand selected. A good consignment shop chooses quality clothing and offers items at a fraction of the cost you would normally pay. You can also take clothing you own and no longer wear to be sold for store credit. Depending on where you live, you can find consignment shops for both yourself and your kids. When my daughter was a baby, I used to purchase all her clothing from either a local children’s consignment boutique or a bi-annual sale event for second hand clothing for babies and kids. This helped save quite a bit of money as she would outgrow her clothing quite quickly.
2. Thrift Stores
Well organized and clean thrift stores are actually fun to shop at. They have a wide variety of types of clothing and you can find children’s clothing that’s in good condition. My daughter loves to shop with me when I go to the thrift store and chooses some of the clothing she’d like to wear. I don’t have to stare to long at the price tag, because the prices are significantly low, sometimes 5 times less or more than what I would have paid at a regular children’s clothing store. (Note: after purchasing clothes from a thrift store or consignment boutique, make sure to wash them before wearing them, no matter how new or clean they look.)
3. Festivals
Many art, music or similar festivals have vendors that sell creative and beautiful clothing with unique patterns and designs, often made with sustainable materials such as cotton or hemp. Depending on the vendor, you can even find stylish and modern clothing too.
4. Sustainable Brands
Brands like Synergy, NAU, Prana, Patagonia and others like them, use sustainably harvested, up-cycled or recycled materials to create their products. There are so many options. You can buy many in stores and most online. A lot of them have simple return or exchange policies too, so that if you purchased an item online and it doesn’t fit, you can exchange it. Some also have incredible sales and programs where you can get 50% off or more a year. One way to get notified about them, is to sign up for their newsletters.
5. Repair your clothes
Quality clothing that you love is totally worth repairing or adjusting. You can do it yourself or take it to the local tailor for help.
6. Sales
Check out local event websites and pages for thrift sales for kids or fashion pop-up shops for yourself. You’d be surprised at how many there are in a year.
7. Reuse what you currently have.
Do you really need that new top or dress. Sometimes the answer is a resounding “Yes!” but in other cases, scan your closet and try some of the clothing items you haven’t worn in a while and pair them with different accessories. You’d be surprised at how many different combinations you can find.
8. Reconsider the costs.
Initially it might seem like a good quality sustainable shirt that costs $60 is way to expensive, when you can get a similar and lower quality one for $15. But if you take into account the quality, the former might last you several years, while the latter might only last a few washes before holes appear.
I used to think it was difficult to purchase sustainable clothing, and while I liked to, I only had a few items, because they were pricey and I thought I needed more than I actually did. I will still buy clothing on sale 2–3 times a year but I try to opt for more eco-friendly brands or make a trip to the local consignment shop when I can. Today, I’d rather have fewer items, mostly those that are made ethically and sustainably. Ones I love and wear more often.
What about you? Are there any sustainable clothing brands you love? What are some ways you try to reduce fashion waste?
References:
* Environmental Impact of Fashion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_in_the_fashion_industry
This post was originally published November 6th, 2018 on the authors own blog at https://www.insidermom.com/versatile-fashion-that-doesnt-hurt-the-planet-or-your-budget/ and updated here.
Hi there, I’m Royah Loie. I write about creativity, parenting and life. I’d love it if you’d support and follow my work on Medium here.
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