Sustainable Fashion and Why it Matters?
Sustainable fashion refers to clothing that is designed, manufactured, distributed, and used in ways that are environmentally friendly.
“Inclusivity, diversity, and equity are no longer optional: in 2021, fashion brands need to build these principles into their business model authentically.”
In recent years, sustainability has become a buzzword and turned a few heads. Just as consumers today are taking a closer look at the food they consume and the chemicals they put into their bodies, they are also shifting their purchasing decisions to create a cleaner environment through the clothes they wear.
One of the biggest culprits in the fashion industry is “fast fashion,” or clothes made cheaply to meet demands for the hot new styles. However, fast fashion is putting our future planet at risk.
“Last spring, I saw at firsthand the impact our clothing is having in the remotest corners of the planet. ‘I sailed over 2000 miles into the South Pacific Gyre, and every water sample we took contained fibres from our clothes,’ — Carry Somers, co-founder Fashion Revolution.”
What so many of us forget or perhaps don’t realize is that sustainability is not just about using bamboo based fibers and slapping the term ‘sustainable’ on the hang tag. True sustainability comes when the entire supply chain of that bamboo is sustainable. Sustainable or slow fashion encourages the use of locally produced, biodegradable fabrics which have little to no adverse effects on the environment. So these fabrics can eventually return to the ecosystem, once you are done wearing them.
While “fast fashion” describes clothing that is cheaply made and intended for short-term use, “sustainable” fashion is the opposite and is sometimes even referred to as “slow fashion.” It takes into account the full lifecycle of the product ,from the design, sourcing, and production processesand looks at everyone and everything being affected by it, from the environment, to the workers and communities where it’s produced, to the consumers who purchase it.
There are five main issues being addressed in the fashion industry:
1.Water usage: The demands for fresh water for drinking and agriculture is far surpassing what’s available. As a result, some brands are now looking at the supply chains to see how they can cut back on how much water they’re using.
According to the WWF, it takes more than 20,000 liters of water to produce just one kilogram of cotton, which roughly amounts to a single t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Dyeing, bleaching, washing: there are many manufacturing processes in denim production that require water, but a number of brands are using pioneering technology to reduce their water footprint.
2. Hazardous chemicals: Dyes and finishes from the production processes are dangerous for the workers, plus they get into the community water sources. \Fashion and outdoor brands are now tasked with coming up with new ways to address dyes and finishes for features like wrinkle-resistance and water-repellency.
3. Short lifecycle: Stores are constantly launching new designs and consumers are regularly updating their wardrobes. The biggest goal in sustainable fashion is to buy less and use things longer.
4. Waste: On top of having a short lifecycle, there needs to be a way to create less trash by making products useful again once they’ve run their course.
5. Agriculture: Natural fibers like cotton are often grown using pesticides and treatments that are harmful to the farmers, workers, and wildlife in the area.
A considered way to shop is to consider an environmental metric, and work to reduce it. McKinsey’s ‘Fashion on climate’ report published in August 2020, concluded that in 2018, the sector was responsible for some 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions, which is about 4 per cent of the global total and the same per year as the entire economies of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined.
“I think designing with a carbon number is going to become a really interesting way to talk about the topic of sustainability in the future’ — Tim Brown, co-founder and CEO, Allbirds.”
Another sure fire way to reduce your carbon footprint — reducing the distance that manufacturing components and finished pieces travel around the world — is to shop from brands that produce in studios and ateliers local to you.
“We spent a lot of time finding the right workshops and suppliers here in New York — it’s much more efficient to work with them in person’ — Peter Do.”
Brands working towards making a change:
A) A website called SUSTAIN YOUR STYLE is an independent platform made by people who like fashion and style but are concerned about the current practices of the fashion industry. This is a resource that provides you with all the tools you need to make informed, sustainable fashion choices. This is something i found very interesting and helpful for those who are looking for sustainable options.
B)“Sustainable Fashion Matterz” is a brand that Create networks of educated individuals who use their knowledge, skills and consumer power to steer the fashion industry in a more sustainable direction.
They work to :
1.Produce and share solution oriented content.
2.Educate on sustainable practices in the fashion industry.
3.Use 10% of all profits to fund non-comercial creative projects via Creative Matterz Fund.
Hope for a more sustainable future in fashion
With all of the above said, fashion can be made more sustainable in numerous ways from using organic materials, using biodegradable dyes, to engineering patterns that create zero waste.
The sheer number of different ways to improve the industry, though, means that shopping “more sustainably” can prove to be overwhelming at first, with a multitude of factors to consider.
My recommendation for you is to think about which social or environmental concerns you feel most passionate about and then to first prioritize those focuses as your entry point into sustainable fashion.
The industry is still learning how to best elevate its social and environmental standards, and because the movement is still evolving, it definitely helps for us to focus on continuously doing better, rather than striving for and expecting perfection right now.
In summary…
Sustainable fashion focuses on clothing that’s designed, manufactured, distributed, and used in ways that are environmentally friendly.
To green your wardrobe, you can prioritize:
- Purchasing clothes made locally or in facilities run on renewable energy or clothes made with low impact, natural and organic materials, recycled, up-cycled, or deadstocks materials, eco-friendly dyes, and/or zero- or low-waste designs
- Purchasing thrifted or secondhand clothing; and
- Prolonging the life of your clothes by taking care of them well, mending and tailoring as needed, and making alterations to modernize their looks to match your current tastes.
“Regardless of what your background is, we can all agree on some really basic things — no one should die to make a T-shirt, and we shouldn’t be pouring toxins into our planet.”
— WHITNEY BAUCK ON GREEN DREAMER PODCAST EPISODE 129
