How to Build a Sustainable Wardrobe
The fashion industry creates a ton of waste. In fact, Reuters reports that about 300,000 tons of clothing goes to landfills or gets incinerated every year. For this reason, it’s only responsible for us to incorporate sustainability practices in all areas of our lives, especially in the way we consume fashion and clothing.
One way to be more sustainable in the way we dress is by creating a sustainable
wardrobe from scratch. While this may seem daunting, especially if you’re not fond of limiting your choices in terms of trends, having a sustainable wardrobe is the best way to sustainably participate in fashion.
With that being said, let’s discuss how you can build a sustainable wardrobe.
Take Better Care of Your Clothes
One way to make sure that you get the most mileage out of your clothes is by taking good care of them. By extending the life of your clothes, you can lower the carbon footprint and environmental impact of your pieces, as well as make sure that they don’t take up space in our landfills after a few wears. Make sure that you don’t over wash your clothes if you want to make them last. Aside from preventing the fibers of your clothes from weakening quickly, not over washing them can also help you save on your monthly water and power costs. In addition, you should also learn how to repair your clothes yourself and avoid tossing them in the bin if they get minor rips and tears.
Look for Trans-Seasonal Pieces
A sustainable wardrobe should have stylish, timeless, and practical pieces. Because a sustainable lifestyle limits you to purchasing only a limited number of clothes a year, it is important that the stuff you have now in your closet can work for you all year round. This means keeping clothes that you can wear throughout different seasons and trends. Do a wardrobe overhaul to make sure that you have a good selection of T-shirts, jeans, dresses, and jackets that can work for you in more than one season.
Thrift, Thrift, Thrift!
If you’re adamant about adding and subtracting pieces in your wardrobe throughout the year and don’t want to limit yourself, be sure to buy the bulk of your pieces from secondhand sources. Thrift markets and vintage stores often have great pre-loved pieces that have stood the test of time. If you’re not fond of going in-store to thrift, a lot of people put up their pre-loved clothes on shopping platforms like eBay and The RealReal.
Invest in Ethically-Made Clothing
The rise of fast fashion has made it significantly more difficult to avoid purchasing brand new clothes. Today’s fashion industry is mostly focused on satisfying the market by creating cheap clothes with inexpensive designs. However, Lucy Siegle notes that fast fashion is never free and someone, somewhere, is paying the true price for the inexpensive fast fashion pieces.
If you do need to buy brand new clothes or footwear, it’s best that you support ethically made clothing brands. Workers are well compensated well and often use sustainable materials. And thankfully, it isn’t too hard to find ethically made clothing today as even huge brands like Nike are venturing into sustainable footwear as seen in their Space Hippie and Crate Impact line. Other sustainable clothing lines where you can find ethically made pieces worth investing include Patagonia and Madewell.
It can be challenging to let go of your old shopping habits in the name of sustainability.
But if you’re keen on lessening your impact on the environment and want to live a more eco-conscious lifestyle, be sure to use the tips we’ve listed above to create a sustainable wardrobe you can be proud of.
Submitted solely by Queenie Fabron for hamiltonperkins.com