What is sustainable fashion and why do we need fashion that is sustainable?
<Re-sharing this post from last year when I had newly embarked on my journey of being sustainable for all those still new to sustainability.>
I love fashion and being fashionable. The past 5-6 years I’ve had an issue – I became a shopaholic! E-commerce made shopping at home so easy and affordable, add to that the cheap and fast fashion available in Zara, H&M (♥️) and that I had overtime become an emotional shopper. While these were the primary reasons for my out of control shopping, there was a secondary underlying one too – I started travelling a lot. I started following these amazing travel influencers for travel ideas but instead got influenced to buy clothes before each travel to take Instagram worthy photos.
The last few months thanks to the strict lockdown in India, I’ve had to take a break from shopping. I, also, had to pack and move cities. While packing I realised the crazy amount of clothes I own, the crazy amount of clothes I’ve wastefully bought (bought online and forgotten to send back) and the amount of money I had wasted.
My sister has been doing a lot of research on sustainable fashion and minimalism. Taking a lead from her, I also decided to look up about sustainable fashion and try to incorporate as much as possible in my life.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE FASHION:
From an environmental perspective, the aim should be to minimize any undesirable environmental effect of the product’s life cycle and maximizing repair, remake, reuse, and recycling of the product and its components.
From a socio-economic perspective, all stakeholders should work to improve present working conditions for workers on the field, in the factories, transportation chain, and stores, by aligning with good ethics, best practice and international codes of conduct.
As a consumer, this means thinking about what you buy, knowing which philosophies you are supporting through your purchases, and also, asking yourself if you are really going to wear that new piece to the extent that it was worth being made.
BEST PRACTICES AS A CONSUMER:
1. Less fast fashion: I love fast fashion – easy access to fashionable clothes at an affordable price. But the same reasons lead to it not being sustainable both environmentally as well as socio-economic reasons. Disposing off of fast fashion clothes made using polymer mixes poses a threat to the environment. Additionally, to offer consumers fast fashion at affordable prices – brands usually exploit labour in economically poorer countries. Less fast fashion is the easiest way to contribute the sustainable fashion.
2. Slow fashion: slow fashion means sticking with what you have for a long time. I know this is very hard because we all want to buy new, trendier pieces. But for basics, this may not be that difficult. Buy good quality basics and try reusing them for years. Basics such as plain tees, plain shirts, sneakers, blue/black jeans, etc.
3. Buy local: the buy local movement has really kicked off these last few months thanks to this crazy pandemic. Buying locally produced fashion reduces the transportation required to get the items to you and is better for the environment. This will also ensure that you keep a tab on where your clothes are sourced from and whether best ethical practices are followed by the brand.
4. Minimalism: minimalism is the new buzz word in fashion. The idea is to create multiple outfits from a fixed set of items. This will lead to less buying and more reuse of items in your wardrobe.
5. Buying 100% material clothes: as of now there isn’t any technology to recycle blended materials. Hence, using clothes made of 100% products ensures that they can be recycled and reused.
6. Clothes swap/second hand/sharing/donations: the simplest way to increase your wardrobe without spending money is sharing clothes with your friends of the same size. Additionally, another way to increase your wardrobe is to swap clothes with your friends of the same size. But if there are clothes in your wardrobe that you can’t share/swap with someone – donate it to someone else to ensure they’re used thoroughly before being discarded. Another way to reuse clothes is to buy/sell secons hand clothes.
These are some steps I am trying to take to go sustainable. These are some simple steps that we can all take to make our everyday fashion more sustainable. Our Earth is struggling daily, let’s all get together to help in our own small way! The hardest for me is to not go crazy shopping at H&M. Will you try to move towards sustainable fashion with me?
PS: Check out my sustainable brand of products MOKSHA. We are launching our new range of products on 15th July. ❤
PPS: I am on a short break (I hope I go through with it) and will reply to all your comments in a few days.
If you haven’t, checkout my other fun posts –
Happy Panda 
Love this! I used to be the one who’d come home with more H&M bags than I could carry, then wear some items only once or not at all because the quality and cuts…yeah, you know. I’ve taken to the minimalist trend, donated closets and closets to goodwill and my favorite girls night involve swapping out items from each other’s closets. 😀 First time I heard of Slow Fashion… I like it. Thanks for sharing!
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I’m so glad to hear that you’re trying to be sustainable too! Inspires me to try harder.
Giving up on H&M shopping sprees is going to be so hard. H&M has been my happy place. 🙈
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I was in the fashion industry from 1980 – 2000. I still wear clothes I picked up from way back then! I’m not too sure that this is a good boast!! 🤣
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It definitely is a boast! ☺️ Slow fashion is the way to go.
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Enlightening!
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Good post and message, something easy for all of us to do. I’d say the hardest part is being okay with what you have, even if that means wearing the same tee shirts and dresses again and again. Yeah IG can be evil. I had to unfollow a ton of travel accts because it was too hard not to compare and not get depressed.
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True! I hate repeating outfits. But I’m going to try and mix and match items in my wardrobe to create new outfits. 🙈
Definitely IG is evil. Influencer/blogger accounts brainwash followers into buying more than they need. 🙈
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Well, I’ve heard minimalist say and I have to agree, we have a tendency to wear the same things anyway. We have our favorite tee shirts, outfits, comfy pants, etc. So as much as we do like variety (same), we seem to like the idea more than anything else!
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Loved this article! And I learned so much! For instance, I didn’t know it wasn’t possible to recycle items that are not 100%! I have been careful about the fabric but not about this, and I will definitely keep an eye on it in the future! On another note, for me following small shops and ethical brands (or even people that make clothes at home and sell them) on Instagram has been a real game changer! It is obviously more expensive but more valuable, and supporting a shop or person that you like is so rewarding! I highly suggest that for those who are struggling 😊
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Thank you! I didn’t know much about it either till I started reading about sustainable fashion!
Its a great starting point to support smaller shops and local businesses! 🙂
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I absolutely love this post. I have gone through the same situation. I overspent on skincare products – Thanks to Nykaa and its sales, I went crazy! But now I have taken up minimalism as well. It feels amazing to myself and to the pocket 😄
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Thank you!
Same. Nykaa is pure evil in terms of the temptation they cause!! 🙈
That’s great to hear. I hope I can stick to minimalism too. ☺️
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Hello Moksha, I have nominated you for Leibster Award. Check it here : https://wp.me/pczZGQ-jS
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Love the ideas, and sharing ideas with people about sustainable fashion makes more sense than simply telling people to be sustainable! This surely is an area which is very hard to change habits!
Years ago I had gotten into shopping at thrift stores because of budget constraints and I discovered that there is a range of clothes from the very out of style, to the stylish classics. I discovered it’s possible to have an enviable wardrobe and spend little money, which frees up the $$$ for other life items! I’m currently in love with thrift stores which curate their offerings by buying clothes, which means I get very stylish items and don’t need to go to multiple stores to find clothes.
A bonus to buying used? They’ve been washed at least once, so they’ve probably shrunk for the previous owner, but if they fit me, their chances of shrinking more are reduced. That’s been my experience anyway! Happy hunting folks!
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Thrifting is such a great way to be sustainable! I wish we had more thrift stores in India. I’ve seen so many bloggers do thrift store hauls in the UK and they get such amazing buys for 2-3 pounds.
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Maybe it’s a great business model to consider if there’s a lack?
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Swishing clothes is a good idea in sustainable fashion. Thank you 😊
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Thank you! It’s a great way to upgrade your wardrobe without spending money. 🙂
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You are welcome! Some have not heard it and asked me about it.
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That’s a great initiative, Moksha. And those are a lot of amazing tips indeed. I don’t buy any showy clothes and I’m extremely miserly when it comes to spending money on clothes 😂
I have never thought about checking if the clothes are made of 100% of a particular material. Ditto for swapping.
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