How to Be Green and Glam: The Trendy Twist of Eco-Fashion

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5 min readFeb 27, 2024

When it comes to fashion and consumerism in Singapore, camps are aplenty — the ones who add to cart every trendy item on TikTok, those who stick religiously to basic staples and thrifting junkies to name a few. And then there are discerning shoppers who adopt and align their buying principles and practices with the global wave of conscious consumerism. However, this last group, although growing, makes up only a tiny fraction of shoppers in Singapore.

While the fashion sector has fast-forwarded on the sustainability trend, the uptake locally has not been as strong. A 2022 Milieu survey that surveyed 1,000 respondents each from various Southeast Asia countries found that 71% of Singaporeans are unwilling to pay more for sustainable products. It also found that 31% of Singaporeans are unaware of sustainable fashion options.

The Downsides to Fast Fashion

The pursuit of clothes that are shiny and new, and seasonally trendy comes with a price. What goes unseen is the fact that fast fashion has always been associated with exploitative labour practices, particularly in developing countries where manufacturers operate without robust oversight. To keep costs attractive, brands often leverage on unfavourable working conditions and inadequate pay.

Globally, clothing production has approximately doubled in the last twenty years. Put this together with the growth of around 30 per cent in the world’s population, it suggests that people are purchasing more garments and using them for briefer periods.

An article on fast fashion by Princeton University that draws on research data showed that about 57 per cent of discarded clothing ultimately finds its way into landfills, contributing to the ever-mounting waste crisis. As landfills fill up, waste is often transferred for incineration which releases toxic substances, harmful gases and poses significant public health and environmental risks for nearby communities. The impact doesn’t just stop there — the fashion industry accounts for 20–35 per cent of microplastics flowing into the ocean, affecting marine life that includes the seafood we eat.

How to Start Making Sustainable Fashion Choices

Transitioning away from fast fashion and rapid consumerism may seem overwhelming, here’s how you can gradually make the change.

First, be more conscious about your shopping behaviour. Instead of unfettered shopping sprees, consider the reasons for shopping and whether these are needs, or wants, or if you are using shopping as a hit of dopamine.

The journey to sustainable fashion is not one that you have to undertake alone. Resources and programmes in NLB’s LearnX Sustainability portal can help you learn from pioneers and practitioners of sustainable fashion, and also connect you with others who are embarking on a journey to live more sustainably.

You can also get a macro perspective of how sustainable choices benefits the environment in this three-minute video on circular economy.

Shopping for Sustainable Fashion

While sustainably made clothes tend to be more expensive, you can also choose to shop from smaller, eco-conscious brands that know exactly where and how their clothes are being made. A lot of these smaller brands have a strong social stance. For example, Maisha Concept, a Singapore-based brand, hires artisans from a rural village in India to create and print their clothes, providing them with a source of income and helping them preserve their age-old craft.

Finally, you can also choose to shop second-hand. In Singapore, there are digital avenues like Carousell, Vestiaire Collective, and offline, a variety of brick-and-mortar stores that offer the thrill of something new to you while still being kind to the world.

In your journey of conscious consumerism, you can also consider building a capsule wardrobe with pieces that transcend seasons. Pieces that tend to be pricier, but treated with care, can prove to be far more durable and more effective overtime as they outlast fast fashion items. The pieces need not be expensive but make it a habit to read garment care labels to lengthen the lives of your clothes — a little effort goes a long way.