5 ways to make your wardrobe more sustainable
The word sustainable is everywhere right now, but stylish and sustainable are words that often don’t go hand in hand. We think it's time for that to change: your dream wardrobe should be one that looks great without having a negative impact on the planet.
More and more people are rethinking the way they shop because of the environmental impact of the fast fashion industry. Did you know that it currently produces an incredible 100 billion new pieces of clothing every year? A massive number of these end up in landfill within six months. All this contributes to making the fashion industry the second largest polluting industry in the world. So it's more critical than ever to rethink our fashion choices.
Want to make your fashion choices more sustainable? It’s much easier than you might think! Here are five ways to ensure your wardrobe is more sustainable, while still looking as on-trend and fashion-forward as ever:
1. Choose your fabrics wisely
Think carefully about the fabrics that you buy. 99% of the world’s cotton is grown with harmful chemicals and uses 25% of the world's insecticides. The fashion industry is also the second largest polluter of water in China, where many of these ‘fast fashion’ garments are made. If you’re buying new, therefore, you should think about buying from sustainable and organic brands that minimize the environmental impact of their manufacturing process or, better still, don’t use harmful chemicals as part of that process at all.
2. Clear-Out your wardrobe
The average woman has 152 items of clothing in her wardrobe but wears just 44 of them on a regular basis. If that sounds familiar then organising and streamlining your wardrobe will both help you to find your favourite pieces more easily and see where you have any genuine gaps you need to fill. When clearing your closest, don’t just send those unwanted pieces to landfill. More than 2.5 billion pounds of used clothing ends up in landfill each year, and this could be avoided. Instead sell or donate them so that they can have a longer shelf life, form a key part of someone else’s wardrobe, and ultimately break the fast-fashion cycle.
3. Shop Pre-Loved
Buying key pieces second hand is one of the best ways to ensure that your shopping trip is sustainable and guilt-free. An average pair of high street jeans takes an incredible 900 gallons of water to make. By buying these jeans second hand, you can break that polluting manufacturing cycle while still finding the perfect pair of jeans for you. It might even save you some money in the process too!
4. Shop online
Did you know shopping online uses, on average, 30 percent less energy than buying the same garment from a traditional retail environment? All the more reason to enjoy those late-night, online shopping sprees!
5. Repair your favourite pieces
If you have a small hole in your favourite jumper or a missing button from your warmest coat, don’t just discard them. The art of mending your clothing is making a huge resurgence and is a wonderful way to prolong the lifespan of your favourite garments. The longer you can keep those pieces from landfill, the better it will be for the planet. It’s time to stop seeing our clothing as disposable items and start seeing them as essential additions to our lives that should be respected and taken care of. Love what you’ve got because, when it comes to sustainable fashion, less really is more.