Sustainability issues have been discussed a lot lately. For a reason. Sustainability is a global trend, not only in fashion but across the industries. Global warming is happening, and we should stop thinking and start doing. But how? How to get people to change their habits for a better future? I think we can start from the small things as individuals, how to start at higher levels is another thing. Small is the start of something big and better than nothing. I’m going to focus on how we can do it in fashion.
Fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world. Current generations have used to buy much and cheaply. Cheaper the better. There are clothes and stuff everywhere. World’s population is growing and so is demand. Doesn’t sound like a good combo right? There are some easy baby steps to start with heading to a more sustainable way of consuming. I will get to those bigger steps later.
1) Questioning: Why I buy this? Do I really need this? Do I already have something like this? Could I borrow this instead?
Not sure if I need it / if it even fits / if I’m going to use it, but it was so cheap
2) Never buy something only because it is just cheap. “Not sure if I need it / if it even fits / if I’m going to use it, but it was so cheap” – the worst reason to buy something. Like, why did you do that? First of all, always try a garment first before making a decision, in a store or at home if you ordered online. Make sure it fits and that you are going to use it. And what comes to the price, have you thought about why it is so cheap? I think I need to do another post about that topic.
3) Imagine how you are going to wear it. When designing, I always try to find several ways to use the garment, how to style it different ways to use it more often on different occasions. Same when shopping. Where could you use a garment, how it fits with the rest of your wardrobe? Summer dress goes nicely with heels and bigger earrings to the party, sneakers and denim jacket to the festivals and with thick tights, ankle boots and fluffy knitted sweater in autumn.
These are just a couple of steps to avoid unnecessary consuming and make sure that you are going to use the garments you buy and as long as possible. And for many of you these may sound like so obvious and boring, but unfortunately, it is not self-evident for everyone. However, to decrease and stop unnecessary consuming is important and the first thing that everyone can think about and more importantly: do. In the fashion industry, there are problems on the steps before a garment makes it to the wearer, during and after that. Where do the clothes come from and where do the all wrong sized, unused, destroyed after the first wash, etc. clothes end up? More about this later.
Okay, right now it feels like I could write a book (or two) about sustainability in fashion. However, I’m not going to do that, but instead, I will try to open the topic for you here in my blog: what is wrong in the industry and what we could do to make it better.
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