Who doesn’t love dressing up in a sustainable way? It’s no doubt that following the latest fashion trends, shopping for new clothes and accessories, and getting all dolled or dappered up is always fun and exciting. Unfortunately, fast fashion often comes with plenty of environmental costs. The fashion industry generates 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, and 85% of all textiles produced globally end up in landfills each year. This means that many of our current practices related to fashion are unsustainable and cause damage to the environment.
Luckily, it’s not too late to effect change. By being mindful about your choices and actions, you can become an environmentally conscious consumer who advocates for a better, greener relationship between humanity and fashion.
Here are some tips on how to be fashion-forward while promoting sustainability:
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1. Develop Eco-Friendly Shopping Habits
Choosing to be sustainable does not happen overnight. It requires conscious and consistent effort to make better choices, and this includes developing eco-friendly shopping habits. In this time of a pandemic, for example, one of the eco-friendly choices that you can make is wearing reusable antimicrobial face masks. If enough people wear reusable face masks that they can wear over and over again, the demand for disposable face masks can be lowered significantly. Know where to shop for antimicrobial masks and take the first step toward sustainability today.
2. Quality over Quantity
Investing in high-quality clothes such as garments from www.techwear.store is an important aspect of sustainability. Avoid hoarding cheap clothes that get worn out after a few uses. Instead, buy quality pieces that you know will last for many years to come. While these garments may be on the pricier side, they will be usable for a longer time, which means that not only will you save a lot of money over the long term, you will also contribute toward a wider adoption of “slow fashion.”
3. Donate Your Old Clothes
Instead of throwing away clothes you’ve already outgrown, try looking for donation centers or groups that accept them, like an orphanage or a civic-oriented group. Donating your clothes instead of keeping them in your wardrobe or throwing them away promotes sustainability and runs against the established practice of disposing perfectly usable garments. And don’t you just love the idea of giving your old clothes a new home?
4. Take Care of Your Clothes
If you treat your clothes with care, they are more likely to last longer, and you won’t have to replace them every so often. This goes for every type of clothing—from your underwear and button-downs to your jeans and dresses. Take the effort to know how to wash, dry, and store your clothes properly, and you’ll see just how easy it is to maximize the lifespan of your wardrobe.
5. Rent Clothes
Renting clothes is a good practice everyone should develop when it comes to fashion. Apart from being sustainable and eco-friendly, renting clothes can save you a lot of money and wardrobe space because you won’t have to buy brand new and expensive clothes that you probably won’t ever use again for a long time—if at all. Moreover, looking like a million bucks doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank.
6. Explore Thrift Shops
If you’re patient enough, you’ll definitely find a lot of good deals in thrift shops and flea markets. Many thrift shops offer unique items you won’t probably find elsewhere, and at cheap prices that are hard to beat. The rise in the popularity of thrift shops in recent years has also been attributed to the sustainability movement, and this isn’t so surprising considering that many items sold in such stores are perfectly fine to begin with. Selling them at discounted prices is ultimately better than simply throwing them away.
7. Learn How to Repair Your Own Clothes
One of the many bad habits people tend to make is getting rid of their clothes over something that is easily repairable. Needless to say, learning how to repair damaged clothes is a skill you definitely should learn to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Mending your clothes instead of disposing of them right away will allow you to maximize their use. Whether it is a discoloration, a rip, or a hole, there are a number of ways by which you can repair or rework your clothes instead of simply throwing them away.
8. Support Zero-Waste Stores and Companies
Paying attention to where you shop is one of the best ways you can ensure that your shopping habits produce the least amount of harm to the environment. Before you make a purchase, learn about the brand, their values, and their labor practices. This way, you can ensure that the companies you support are eco-friendly, practice fair working practices, and are doing their fair share to reduce global carbon footprint. After all, creating a positive impact requires collective awareness and effort to save the environment, and this includes the participation of your favorite clothing brands.
By simply following these tips and taking them to heart, we can each take that individual step toward sustainability that will bring us all closer to our dream of eco-friendly fashion for all.
