Why You Should Strive For Sustainable Fashion
Impulsive shopping has always been one of my worst habits. I’m a sucker for a cute dress and a good deal - every time. And because of this, a lot of my closet consists of clothes I’ve only worn once or twice, clothes that are poor quality, and clothes that just don’t fit me right. Translation - clothes I just don’t wear. Becoming fed up with this money wasting habit of mine, I started to slow down my purchasing in the end of last year and the beginning of this year. The altering of my shopping habits started out as just a financial decision - but then I read a book that made it become something more.
I picked up the book The Conscious Closet by Elizabeth L. Cline on a whim this year. Cline’s book is a guide to building an ethical and sustainable wardrobe; it’s essentially the younger sibling to her first novel, Overdressed, which delved deep into the hidden toll of the fast fashion industry on the environment. While Overdressed is more of an expose on the fast fashion industry (I haven’t read this yet, but it’s on my list), The Conscious Closet is the step by step guide to how we as consumers can practice sustainable and ethical fashion in our own closets. I had read a bit about sustainable fashion before, but I passed it off as a lifestyle that cost too much money for me to be a part of. Still, I was intrigued. So I read Cline’s book, cover to cover, and when I finished it, I was astounded at how much the book had impacted me. I didn’t even realize it until I noticed that I had not made a single clothing purchase in the last 2 months, something very out of the usual for me. Buying clothes just because they were cheap and trendy no longer seemed deliciously appealing to me; in fact, it made my stomach turn a little to think of all the times I had done this before. To think of all the clothes in my closet from Forever 21 or Boohoo, that I don’t even wear because the cheap materials are uncomfortable or unflattering. Clothes that have damaged not only my bank account but the planet, all for what? No gain for me, and no gain for the environment either. Just gain for big companies who exploit natural resources and human workers for profit.
This book changed my entire mindset on fashion, and revealed a passion I didn’t even know I had: a passion for slow, ethical fashion. So what is the problem with fast fashion, and what is sustainable fashion? These buzzwords have been thrown around for years, but some may not even be fully aware of what they actually mean. Fast fashion refers to the increasingly accelerating cycle of producing and consuming cheap clothing that likely end up in landfills. Fast fashion companies produce mass amounts of clothing and sell them for low prices. To keep these prices low, they utilize unethical practices such as unfair wages and poor working conditions for their employees. And while companies are profiting, the environment is not. The fashion industry, the bulk of it made up of big fast fashion companies, is one of the largest contributors to pollution across the globe. It is one of the biggest carbon emitters, water polluters, and users of toxic chemicals, according to Cline’s book. In other words - it’s destroying our planet.
Sustainable fashion, usually synonymous with ethical or slow fashion, is fashion that aims to improve where fast fashion fails. Sustainable fashion is fashion that employs better environmental practices, such as using sustainable materials, sometimes even recycled from old clothes or plastic. Sustainable fashion companies aim to produce fewer pieces, so they don’t create as much waste. Sustainable fashion strives to be ethical fashion as well, providing workers with living wages and humane working conditions.
Sustainable fashion is what we need to combat this mass pollution caused by the fashion industry. But how can we as consumers make our fashion more sustainable? Of course, there are many companies that practice sustainable fashion and produce clothing that is less damaging to the environment. These clothes, however, tend to cost a lot more than your typical Forever 21 or American Eagle clothes, and this is perhaps one of the reasons many people won’t stop buying fast fashion - it’s cheap. Even when they know that item of clothing is going to fall apart after three wears, the idea of spending 10 dollars is still a lot more appealing than spending 100. I understand this very well myself; it’s one of the reasons I’ve always shopped at fast fashion companies. However, I’ve made it a goal of mine to stop shopping at these stories as often, which shouldn’t be hard considering the amount of guilt I feel from even glancing at a Forever 21 now (kidding. Sort of). Cline’s book sums up sustainable fashion with the idea of “the conscious closet - a wardrobe built with greater intention and awareness of our clothes, where they come from, what they’re made out of, and why they matter.” This is a concept that I’ve really taken to heart, and from here on out I plan to build my wardrobe thoughtfully, taking careful consideration of the clothes I buy. For me, this means limiting fast fashion and aiming to buy from more sustainable and ethical brands. However, this isn’t the only way to support sustainable fashion.
Supporting sustainable companies is one way to practice slow and sustainable fashion, but it is certainly not the only way. One of the biggest takeaways I gained from Cline’s book is that sustainable fashion starts with what you already have. This means that you shouldn’t start by tossing every item of your wardrobe that isn’t 100% sustainable or ethical. The #1 most sustainable option is wearing what you already have. If you already own a dress from Nasty Gal that you can get years of use out of, keeping it and wearing it is a more sustainable option than throwing the dress out and buying a new one from Reformation. The first step in being more sustainable is to make use of what you already have before buying more clothes.
Another great way to be more sustainable is to shop secondhand. If you’re just dying to have that trendy piece you saw in the store window at the mall, but you know isn’t sustainable fashion, check for the brand on online secondhand websites like Depop or Poshmark. Buying the items you want secondhand is a great way to be more sustainable without having to buy a lot of clothes from sustainable brands that may be expensive. You might even get a better deal than you would at a fast fashion store. Plus, sustainable brands like Reformation are often available secondhand at a lower cost. Buying something pre owned and supporting a sustainable brand? Win win.
Another one of the great points Cline puts across in her book is this - your “conscious closet” doesn’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to beat ourselves up for not being 100% sustainable all the time; it’s a near impossible goal to reach. What matters is that we put in the effort to be more thoughtful of our fashion decisions, and to make those better decisions when possible, even if it may not be all the time. In these past two months, my fashion habits have changed drastically, and I don’t think they’ll be returning to what they were before. I’ve begun, slowly, to transition to slow fashion, and I hope you all will join me.
Here is the link to Cline’s amazing book!