In the spirit of secondhand September, it felt like the right time to reflect on the environmental impact of the clothing industry and the sustainable tips that can help create a unique and eco-friendly wardrobe all year round.
💡 Unfortunately, fast fashion outlets are everywhere! For those unfamiliar with 'fast fashion,' it is a business model replicating recent trends and high fashion designs, mass producing and selling them at a low cost and lower quality in retail outlets. To you and me, brands like Primark/Penney's, Shein and Boohoo are significant players in the fast fashion industry (to name only a few).
🌎 Although consumers feel they have gotten a bargain at outlets like the above, the fast fashion industry has costly consequences on the planet. Up to 100 billion garments are produced annually, contributing 8-10% of global carbon emissions. It is the second largest polluter in the world, second to the oil sector.
📉 All Synthetic fabrics ever produced - still exist. They include polyester, rayon, acrylic, and nylon, which are all non-biodegradable and are made up of non-renewable chemicals, including oil, coal and gas. For each tonne of dyed fabric, 200 tonnes of water is needed, showcasing the clothing industry's strain on natural resources.
🔔 From an early age, I found that clothes are an excellent outlet for self-expression, but garments also tell their own story, which is often lost behind the price tag. Fast fashion brands cut corners throughout the supply chain to give cheap and trendy options to customers, often to the detriment of textile workers. These detrimental impacts are unequal labour treatment, poor working conditions, draining resources needed for survival and driving waste processes that pollute local water supplies and ecosystems.
🌲 Good News: Ethical and conscious consumption is rising, pressuring fast fashion outlets to consider revolutionising their practices and processes. It is exhausting for customers to keep up with continuously interchangeable trends, and the fast fashion industry's exhaustive impact on finite resources to maintain unsustainable and unethical production patterns is why the paradigm is shifting (gradually).
💹 The rise of resale platforms and marketplaces (Etsy, Depop, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Thriftify) creates a sizable shift in the clothing industry, driven by changing consumer preferences and technological advancements. There has never been a better time to dive into the world of pre-loved fashion to find gems that suit your taste and style. Although there are limitations with secondhand clothing, such as a lack of size range and less choice, it is improving year on year.
🤝 Vivienne Westwood perfectly sums up how to become more sustainable by famously saying, 'Buy less, Choose well and Make it last.' Here is a range of tips that helped me to create a one-of-a-kind wardrobe and add a sustainability arc to the stories of my garments:
Thanks for this powerful insight into production's environmental toll, Angela. It's encouraging to see companies make the shift toward sustainable fashion and conscious clothing. Looking forward to reading more!