Sustainable fashion

I love fashion, and I am very passionate about sustainability. A love for fashion and the environment can coexist if we are conscious of the choices we make. Fast fashion might cost less money but it has a higher cost on the planet and ourselves. Often people believe they can buy more from fast fashion stores and stay on trend every season. However, those items don’t last because the material quality is often synthetic. Clothes are not meant to be worn for one season and then discarded. Sustainable fashion brands and vintage shopping may sometimes cost more, but it is better to buy less and only purchase clothing that you believe you will keep for a long time.

My mother has always taught me how important it is to have a capsule wardrobe, clothes that you will wear all the time. As a result I have always been more interested in styling than shopping. I once heard Emma Watson say that she only buys a clothing item if she knows she will wear it more than thirty times. I also shop this way. Then, instead of buying every season’s trend, it is fun to see how you can style these items in different ways, with maybe a few additional pieces.

When thinking about sustainable fashion, I also connect it to the philosophy of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” I have been following Eco Age on Instagram for years, and learning about innovations within sustainable fashion and practices we can learn. They posted a quote saying “As a consumer, the key to lowing the fast fashion cycle is tackling the amount of times we wear our clothes, and the speed at which we discard of them.” Following from my mother and Emma Watson, we can reduce our clothing wastage by only buying items we know we will want to wear for a long time, and that are of good quality and will also long.

We don’t need countless garments if we learn how to reuse our older clothes by upcycling them in new ways through DIY projects or styling them differently. My favourite clothing pieces I own are ones my mother kept from the 90s and early 2000s and gave to me. These items are my most treasured pieces because they have personal meaning to me, are unique, and are good quality and have lasted the years. They also happen to be on trend at the moment, because fashion always goes through cycles. If fashion could cycle in ways more similar to nature, where we recycle older pieces to create new ones, it would be a much more sustainable industry and world.

Fashion is one of the largest polluters in the world, and only a small percentage of clothes get worn regularly. “The fashion industry is one of the leaders of pollution, making up about 10% of the carbon emissions leaking into the environment.” It is said that “By the year 2030, which is less than 10 years from now, fashion waste could increase to 148 million tons.” It is very important that the industry evolves completely to reduce the waste and become carbon neutral, and hopefully even positive through innovations. When we are ready to move on from some of our clothing items, it is so important to find ways to recycle the clothing, hopefully through finding a new home for the pieces where they will be worn and loved.

Fashion is moving at such a fast pace. Not only in the production and consumption but in the trends and seasons. Years ago, fashion brands created less collections than they do now. As a result, trends moved slower and there wasn’t such a greed and desire for more constantly. Now, with more seasonal collections and the internet, the rate at which trends change is very fast.

The fast fashion companies need to change their philosophy and the way they function. Equally, the culture of fashion needs to change. There are brands and celebrities who are highlighting this cause. Often there is a dichotomy within the industry, because department stores like Selfridges sell many items, but have also created a Project Earth as part of their store. They repurchase pre-loved items from people to resell through their store, they also rent and repair items, and highlight sustainable brands in their store. There are other companies that work in the traditional fashion industry and are shifting towards including more sustainable practices. Now there are well-known companies like "The Real Real which is a consignment store that sells pre-loved designer garments and accessories. There are also companies that rent clothing and accessories like Vivrelle and Hire our Drobe.

There is an area of fashion that is still connected to fast fashion but making changes that support sustainable fashion. For example, models like Bella Hadid have worked with fast fashion brand. However, she also is her own stylist and her favourite place to find clothes is at vintage stores and on Depop. Bella Hadid, along with other celebrities and influencers have been part of the movement of creating a trend out of thrift shopping and vintage clothes. Sustainable fashion can often be quite polarising. There is no simple solution to achieving sustainability in fashion because it is such a huge polluter. But this makes it even more important for the people who are in the public eye because of fashion related careers to show how they can change their practices in the industry as producers and consumers.

Through shopping on sites like Depop, you buy vintage or thrifted items, that aren’t on shelves at the moment. The way thrifted clothes can make your own style unique is something that has become very desirable. I also sell my clothes on Depop when I feel that the item needs a new home. I sometimes find it a challenge to know where to take my pre-loved clothes. It is important to do your research because some donation places end up putting clothes in the landfill. I like to sell items on sites like Depop because if people buy my clothes I know they are going to a home where they will be worn. Alternatively, I find charities or centres where I know my clothing will go to people who need it and will wear it, instead of being sold or put in a landfill.

Sustainable fashion is a growing area with so much innovation. The mushroom leather being developed in Indonesia could be a great alternative to animal leather. It is made with plants not animals, and the material is made with a fraction of the water required normally. My favourite pair of boots are vegan leather, and they are the most comfortable and durable boots. We know that “Companies have made shoes out of recycled materials like plastic and rubber tires to mitigate the effects of the 300 millions pairs of shoes thrown out every year.” This is an extreme amount of waste, and if existing materials can be recycled for mew items it lowers the landfill waste. There are brands like Veja, who make sneakers from ecological materials like organic cotton, natural rubber, and recycled plastic and polyester. There are also many swimwear brands that use recycled plastics or even fishing nets in their swimsuits, although I’m not sure how good this material is on our bodies.

I’ve noticed over the last few years that the quality of fabric in most stores is reducing. T-shirts I’ve had for years are still better quality than most I could buy now, particularly from fast fashion stores. This is why I value quality and material over fast fashion. There are new innovations in bamboo fabric, which is breathable and comfortable to wear, and also sustainable to produce. Bamboo grows at rapid rates, and regenerates very quickly. Bamboo plants also generate 30% more oxygen than trees and therefore can absorb more carbon dioxide too. Companies like Boody, are making garments and underwear with organic bamboo, which is better for your body, it is hypo-allergenic, thermoregulating, and anti-bacterial. It is also better for the environment because the bamboo doesn’t require artificial irrigation, it is watered with rainwater, and all water from production is recycled to be used again. Organic fabrics also require no pesticides, and are far more comfortable that synthetic fabrics.

There is a company called Pangaia, who started as a lab who created innovative new fabrics and techniques that they taught and shared with other companies. They now have their own fashion brand that sells loungewear and popular hoodies and sweatpants. Their mission is to “protect and preserve the biodiversity on Earth.” Their fabrics are innovative. It takes thousands of litres to grow cotton, so they are creating fabrics from other planet like bamboo and fruits, particularly the leaves of pineapple and bananas, aloe, eucalyptus, and seaweed. The filling of their puffer jackets are made from wildflowers. The dyeing of clothes wastes a lot of water and energy, and also pollutes water with chemicals, so they are finding other ways to dye clothing through collaborating with other companies. They have created two funds that they support, the Tomorrow Tree fund and the Bee the Change fund. When you shop with Pangaia, they plant and restore trees for every item, and you also get to chose at checkout an organisation to support with your purchase, from Black Lives Matter, the UN, Choose Love, and more. They show how sustainable fashion is intersectional and through supporting the environment we can also support other forms of justice. We can only look after the planet through caring for everyone who lives on Earth.

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