The fashion industry is ranked the second greatest contributor to global environmental pollution. Fortunately, you can play a role in changing this sad reality by making more sustainable and comfortable fashion choices.
However, creating an ethical wardrobe starting from zero can be challenging, right? Perhaps you’re worried that this might limit your options concerning the current trends. Whereas that may be a genuine concern, it doesn’t need to be that difficult. Particularly, with several eco-friendly fashion brands striving to minimize their carbon footprint, you can easily find fashion choices that are sustainable and comfortable.
Here are five fashion choices you can make that are eco-conscious and comfy:
1. Develop a Habit of Repairing and Upcycling Your Clothes
As an eco-conscious fashionista keen on making sustainable choices, you must shift away from purchasing low-quality clothes that aren’t long-lasting. Also, you should develop a habit of darning clothes with minor defects. Moreover, you can boost your effort to conserve the environment by purchasing upcycled fashion products like headbands made using waste fabric. Furthermore, if some of your older clothes bore you, try giving them a second chance! For instance, you could decide to block print your plain old T-shirt or include patchwork to your jacket or top.
2. Rent Out Single-Event Outfits
Have you ever bought an expensive outfit only to put it on for a single event and leave it to waste away in your wardrobe for years? Whereas some single-event wear outfits can have some unique sentimental value to you, there are some that you don’t need to purchase. Instead, you could decide to rent out such outfits for special events, and in doing so, you’ll have made a sustainable fashion choice.
3. Choose Clothes Made Using Organic Materials
Researching the materials used in manufacturing the clothes you buy is one way you can make sustainable fashion choices that conserve the environment. For instance, you can opt to buy merino wool socks manufactured from the all-natural USA-grown merino wool. The other way is to purchase clothes manufactured from organic cotton, cultivated from untreated, natural, GMO-free seeds, and picked through natural defoliation.
Additionally, naturally occurring fabrics, including organic silk, merino wool, and organic cotton, don’t release microplastics into the water bodies. On the contrary, conventional cotton is often treated using insecticides or fungicides and, in most cases, is picked with the help of harmful chemicals. Furthermore, most synthetic fabrics manufactured by mass-production companies may consist of microplastics, particularly if they’re of a cotton-polyester combination.
Therefore, opting to purchase clothes manufactured using organic materials implies you’re saying no to the carbon footprint being perpetuated by eco-unfriendly fashion brands. Ultimately, by doing so, you’ll be making sustainable fashion choices.
4. Embrace Slow Fashion
Slow fashion encourages zero-waste fashion designs, slow production schedules, and small-batch collections. A 2017 study undertaken by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicates that thousands of micro synthetic fibers get washed into the water bodies every time a garment gets cleaned.
The same report also approximates that nearly 35% of the microplastics unleashed into marine habitats come from inorganic fibers, including elastane, polyethylene, acrylic, and polyester. Furthermore, fast fashion leads to extra production and purchasing of excess clothes that end up being discarded, causing environmental pollution. In light of this, embracing slow fashion would imply fewer microfibers will be released into the water bodies and less environmental pollution.
5. Make It a Habit to Treat Your Outfits as Recommended by the Manufacturer
Are you one of the individuals who like throwing their garments together in a washing machine because you lack time and patience? Well, it’s time you reconsider this and start adhering to instructions on your clothes’ care tag to extend their lifespan. That way, you can avoid discarding them due to slight color fading. Cleaning your hand-wash-only garments by hand and steering clear of tumble drying are examples of habits that can extend your clothes’ lifespan.
Wrapping Up
Making sustainable fashion choices is an everlasting trend that will help revitalize the planet. That’s why you need to be on the front line in reversing the negative effects the fashion industry has inflicted by making sustainable fashion choices. In light of this, the above five fashion choices are a great starting point if you’re keen on conserving the environment.
