Sustainable Fashion Project
I wanted to explore sustainable fashion in video form because fashion is such a visual medium. Fashion is the second largest polluters in the world. This is a huge area to look at with so many areas for conversation. I decided to create a YouTube video where I looked at sustainable fashion through the framework of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” I find these three words are helpful when thinking about how we can be more environmentally conscious in our wardrobes and choices. In the video I talk about resources and research, referring to articles and facts, and showing sites like Depop where you can sell and purchase pre-loved clothing. I also share a website called “Good on you” where you can search brands that you are thinking of buying from to see how they are rated in sustainability and ethicalness. I share sustainable brands like Pangaia, Hunza G, Organic Basics, Redone, Boody, and Veja. And I talk about my journey with sustainable fashion.
In a Vogue Arabia article, they shared a statistic from the UN that “it takes almost 8000 gallons of water – what one person drinks in seven years – to make one pair of jeans. And when those jeans are discarded, they join the 21 billion tons of textiles that end up in landfills each year. Of 100 billion items produced yearly, 14 for each human on the planet, three in five will be discarded within the year. And the Environmental Audit Committee found that 15% of all clothing fabric is wasted at the cutting stage of production, before it even has a chance to get into stores.” I was shocked by this fact, and it prompted me to think even deeper about the cycle of fashion. I believe a really important aspect of sustainable fashion is slowing down the way we shop and discard clothing. In the video, I try on my Mum’s pairs of jeans that she saved from the early 2000s. I think that having a larger emphasis on styling over buying is very helpful. We can wear the same jeans, shirt, shoes and style them in different ways. Thrifting and keeping older clothes gives us the opportunity to have unique style and be creative with the way we dress.
After creating this video, I realise sustainable fashion is a huge area that could be discussed in a series. The fashion industry is the world’s second biggest polluter, but we can all make changes that can make a difference. We all wear clothes, and most of us have way to many items in our wardrobes. This is an area that we can all make impacts in, through being more conscious of the choices we make, and slowing the fast cycle of fashion. If we only buy clothes we love and know we will wear for a long time, we can have fun styling with our wardrobe for years, even decades.