5 Ways To Be More Sustainable in Your Fashion Choices

Fashion doesn’t need to compromise the environment.

There are so many things that we can do to have greener lifestyles, that sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Few people realize that changing your habits in terms of clothing and fashion is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

I can’t enter Instagram or even go on the internet these days without ads for fast fashion brands popping up everywhere. Then we see pictures of Instagram models with their trendy outfits and we get sucked in.

It’s easy to believe that buying a few things from Wish won’t make a difference, but that’s not true. Not only are the workers who make your clothes treated in an incredibly inhumane way, but the clothes themselves are made from unsustainable materials, shipped thousands of miles to get to you, and packaged in layers upon layers of plastic and cardboard.

Fast fashion makes shopping for clothes more affordable, but it comes at a huge environmental cost. The fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions, is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply, and pollutes the oceans with microplastics.

If eating less meat, and reducing your waste feel too difficult, embracing sustainable fashion is fun, easy, and you can start doing it today.

Without further ado, here are five ways to be more sustainable in your clothing choices.

Upcycle

Upcycling represents a variety of processes by which “old” products get to be modified and get a second life as they’re turned into a “new” product.

For example, if your granny gives you an old dress of hers that you know you will never wear, see if you can turn it into something that you will wear. You don’t need to be a master seamstress to do this, a few simple stitches will get you by, and you always have the option of going into a sewing shop, telling them what you want, and having them alter the item for you.

Turn a skirt from your childhood into a flowy top, or transform pair of jeans with some ripping and dyeing!

The environmental benefits of upcycling are mammoth, aside from minimizing the volume of discarded materials and waste being sent to landfill each year, it also reduces the need for production using new or raw materials which means a reduction in air pollution, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions

Donate/sell

If you won’t wear a certain piece of clothing anymore, chances are someone will. There are plenty of charity shops in every corner of the world, it’s really not hard to find one.

Gather the clothes that you don’t wear anymore and bring them into one of those shops, they are so grateful for every donation!

While you’re there, have a little browse! Sometimes you can find some really cool vintage or old-timey pieces in shops. I kind of love when my clothes are pre-loved, it’s like they’ve had a life of their own and have a story to tell.

If you’re short on some cash, selling od clothes can be a great little money-spinner. I personally love the app Depop. It’s like a social media platform where people post clothes that they’re willing to sell.

Loads of my friends have got some amazing pieces from Depop, and have made good money selling clothes, shoes, and accessories too.

It feels great to buy from a peer and to buy clothes that haven’t been shipped thousands and thousands of miles. In fact, most people on the app only sell to and buy from their local area or their home country.

Exchange with friends

Swapping clothes with friends is not only environmentally friendly, but it’s also really fun!

My friends and I wear each other’s clothes all the time, especially dresses on nights out. Doing this was revolutionary because you often don’t want to wear the same thing twice, and it’s incredibly unsustainable and expensive to buy a new outfit for every event.

I love spotting a top that I like on one of my friends because I know that I could borrow it if I wanted!

Once you set up a relationship like this within your friend group, it can be a lot of fun to mix and match your different outfits.

It’s much quicker and cheaper than going into a shop to find what you’re looking for or ordering something online. You also know exactly what the item looks like and what its quality is like before you decide to borrow it or not!

Create a capsule wardrobe

A capsule wardrobe is a kind of compact closet that only holds a bare minimum of pieces that all perfectly match each other leading to great ease and much time saved in the morning. Have fewer, high-quality clothes from ethical sources.

Fashion doesn’t need to compromise the environment.

Have a small collection of favorites that you wear frequently. If you enjoy wearing an item, you will wear it more often, keep it longer and be more likely to mend it.

Building a closet of favorites takes planning and thoughtful shopping. Only choose items that you like at least as much as your existing favorites. If the new item doesn’t measure up, you will continue to choose your existing favorites over the new item.

Create a capsule wardrobe from what you already have, by only adding items that fill the gaps and increase the number of unique outfits you can create.

Consider how you spend your time within a typical week. Match your wardrobe to how you spend your time. If you spend 40 percent of your waking hours working, 40 percent of your wardrobe should be made up of clothes you can wear to work.

Choose well-fitting, well-made clothes, and timeless basics, and watch how your time getting ready and your carbon footprint dramatically shrink.

Support sustainable fashion brands

The latest fashion trend isn’t a seasonal color or a must-have style: It’s the concept of sustainable fashion and ethical clothing.

And while there’s no such thing as “eco-friendly clothing” — i.e. all garments have at least some negative impact on the environment — there are brands working diligently to help make a difference.

If you do need some new clothes, there are plenty of sustainable brands to support who are doing great work.

My personal favorites are TALA, Levi’s, and Able. A quick google search, however, will showcase hundreds of more brands to choose from.

It feels great to know that the clothing you buy is made as ethically and environmentally-friendly as possible.

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Previously published on medium

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