Why choose slow/sustainable fashion over fast fashion? Slow fashion teaches consumers how to build a healthy wardrobe while protecting the planet. Fast fashion can be equivalent to fast food (food that is unhealthy, cheap, and easily available). Fast-fashion garments produced in the most toxic conditions are now the most widely available and comparatively cheaper.
We always think about taking a step towards sustainability and our environment, but we often don’t know how to make a change.
Here are the ways to adopt sustainable fashion in your life.
1. #30 Wears Campaign
Started by the founder of Ecoage, this campaign is about asking ourselves a question before buying any clothing item – “Will I wear this item 30 times?” You’ll be a bit too shocked to see the number of times the answer is NO. Pick more versatile items that can be styled in different ways than that you know will definitely fall out of fashion in no time.
2. Wash Less And Dry Naturally
Drying clothes naturally is a great way to save a great deal of energy. Drying with the dryer may look like a great way to save time, but it’s a lesser-known fact that many dryers leave carbon footprints on the clothes. Overall, drying clothes produces a great deal of carbon dioxide.
3. Organize Your Wardrobe
Organizing and sorting your things is a great way to start. This will help you give clarity, and you might find some great clothes you had forgotten existed. This organizing habit can help you get ready on time as you have everything sorted already.
4. Donate Your Clothes
Donate your unwanted clothes to a noble cause rather than having them hanging in your wardrobe. You can also try the one-in, one-out policy, and by sticking to this mantra, you can go great ways such that every time you buy something, you’ll donate something else in your wardrobe.
5. Look After Your Clothes
Looking and caring after your clothes so they last longer sounds obvious, but it is very important. Caring for them helps you to save a great deal of money which otherwise would go on buying new clothes now and then. Repairing and redefining your clothes is a great way of sustainable fashion.
6. Go For Quality Over Quantity
Buying better quality, more sustainable fashion pieces will likely cost you more than purchasing a fast fashion product. Buying high-quality items yearly, rather than the cheaper, less eco-friendly pieces, will dramatically reduce your carbon footprint.
7. Read Your Clothing Labels While Shopping
One should always be a conscious buyer. Words like “organic cotton,” “conscious,” or “sustainable” can be used by any brand to fool the masses. Still, the original “organic” comes up with legal conditions set by (GOTS) known as Global Organic Textile Standard. It is also important to check the clothing labels that assert the Fair Trade certification. Many cases crop up where famous fast fashion brands are dwelling in factories with unhygienic and unsafe working conditions.
8. Don’t Buy Fast Fashion On The Theory Of Donating It Later
Many people still fall into the traps of fast fashion. Fast fashion sometimes results in people buying really expensive items thinking they need them, but they don’t see them using them much. Fast fashion is not that good as it thrives on buying an item, believing that you will donate it later after wearing it a couple of times. Fast fashion does not contribute at all to sustainable fashion.
9. Never Throw A Piece Of Clothing Into The Dustbin
Clothing placed in regular garbage is either burned or ends up in a landfill. This is not nice for the environment, and it disturbs the ecology to a great extent. Donating is a great way to start if you don’t want to wear something anymore. If the thing you donate is in a wearable condition, it can be used by someone else. Many thrift stores thrive on it. It is a great way to make sustainable fashion grow.
10. Try Renting Clothes
Renting clothes is not something to be ashamed of. It is a great step towards sustainable fashion. The renting business in India is limited to special occasions. People have started renting clothes for weddings as they are not to be worn multiple times. This step is a superb way to save money. It also supports sustainable fashion.
11. Materials To Look For While Shopping
It is a basic guide that the best materials are recycled, and some of them are wool, polyester, cotton, and nylon. The list is topped by some organic materials, mostly linen and hemp but in some cases cotton.
Hemp is one such clothing material that ranks above many other clothing materials as it requires less water than cotton, which requires a great deal of water. It can grow without pesticides easily. It takes up more CO2 than other plants. Also, hemp is a very comfortable and breathable fabric. It has the best capacity to absorb moisture. It also provides some UPF protection and is antimicrobial.
12. Up-cycling Clothes
Upcycling is an efficient technique of processing clothing to make it look different and even better than the original. Many people soon realize the ill effects that fast fashion has on them, and they switch to the skill of upcycling, which gives them a completely different look than the usual fast fashion trends. This upcycling can not change people’s wardrobe, but the apparel can also result in a kind of fashion revolution. Many Indian and international brands practice this skill of upcycling, and they are building blocks toward sustainability.
13. Ask/Tell Your Favorite Brands About Being More Sustainable
Lakhs of brands are available in the market, and we have our favorites out of these many. We often shop from these brands we love repeatedly, but the initiatives carried out by our favorite brands may or may not be sustainable. Instead of following your usual shopping pattern, you can once in a while shop from brands that are not too much of hype but have a sustainable fashion statement.
14. Try To Build A New Sustainable Fashion Wardrobe
Another smart way is selecting outfits that you are sure about. Often one falls into the trap of useless shopping, which results in regrets. Thus, buying items you know will work all year round is advised. Overspending and unnecessary shopping for seasonal clothing is a mistake many people make. On the other hand, the money should be spent on things you can reuse for many seasons. Some things that should be bought are a pair of jeans, black and white T-shirts, denim, timeless blazers, and classic dresses.
15. Finally, Don’t Quit
One may not encounter success on the first go, but a little change is a great deal too. Becoming a conscious consumer is something that we not can embark upon. It is a journey, and every purchase decision, which is a positive one, impacts you.
This article contains amazing information and fifteen ways to adopt sustainable fashion daily. Starting is the most difficult thing in this direction, but when one switches to this mode, there is no going back. One might change the choices one usually takes, but all of this will eventually result in the overall betterment of the planet and you.
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