Can fashion and sustainability go hand in hand?
I don’t know about you, but I love fashion. I love styling my friends, picking my outfits in advance, and being on top of all the new fashion trends that the cool kids are following. I’ve always been very fashion-forward and I’ve always tried to have as many matching pieces as possible. I have a huge shoe collection that goes hand in hand with all my favorite coats and outfits.
As painful as it might be to admit this, the truth is I am all in favor of sustainability but my clothing choices are not as eco-friendly as they should be. Thankfully, I’m learning how to change that, and you can too.
The point is, for all of us that like to dress to impress and to make a statement, we need to start looking for ways to do that without hurting our planet.
What am I talking about? For those of you that don’t know this, the fashion industry is one of the biggest wastewater producers in the world. Just so you have an idea, 20% of wastewater and 10% of carbon emissions are caused by the fashion industry.
Not convinced yet? It takes approximately 20,000 liters of water to produce just one pair of jeans and a t-shirt. This means that, if every year you buy around 4 pairs of jeans and 4 t-shirts, you are consuming 80,000 liters of water just on your clothing.
Girl, yeah that’s a lot, but are we supposed to walk around naked to save the planet?
I’m glad you asked! While walking around naked would be a statement, there are some other more ‘’normal’’ ways to do it.
The first thing you can start by doing is decluttering your closet. I’ve done it and you can read all about it here. But, quoting the lovely Marie Kondo, when decluttering or simply just buying something you should always ask yourself: ’Does it spark joy?’’.
If your answer is A. yes, then you can always FIRST check if a friend will give/lend it, look in a 2nd hand store, create it yourself, and only then actually buy it, and preferably in the most sustainable store you can find or keep it if you already have, if your answer is B. no, then you should either leave it in the store or just throw it away.
Just keep in mind that if you are ‘’throwing something away’’ you should always, I mean, always either give it away to other people, donate your clothing, or sell it to second-hand stores that will be able to give a new use to these things. Clothes in landfills stay there for at least 200 years.
Since we are talking about second hand or thrift stores, I want to add that thrifting can be an excellent way to be fashionably sustainable. How, or better WHY? Because you are essentially buying a piece of clothing that is being reused by a new owner. This means you are sharing that clothing article’s water consumption with someone else, reducing yours and their footprint.
It’s confusing, but it is sustainable. That’s my point.
If this is still not a good enough option for you. You can always read the clothing label. I know, it sounds silly. But if you read the label you can see if the clothing that you are buying is made out of sustainable fabrics.
If the clothes you are buying have a label certifying them as being eco-friendly, that means that at least 70% of the materials used to produce that article are organic fabrics. Which is also a good thing. You can read more here to find out how to read your clothing labels.
Furthermore, the important thing that we both have to do is not to overbuy. We don’t need 7 pairs of jeans, 4 skirts, 10 dresses, and 20 t-shirts. Plus a few jackets and I don’t know how many pairs of shoes. There are only 7 days in a week and I know Sharpay said she doesn’t use the same outfit in the same month, let alone in the same week, but I’m sure she would have been all for sustainability if she knew about it.
We know about this problem and we can solve it together. I’m in the same boat as you so it’s ok if you screw up here and there. It’s better to try and screw up a few times than doing nothing at all. So please go on and screw up, because at least that means you are taking action and taking action will forever be better than not doing anything at all.
