Sustainable Fashion

Fashion is one of the most wasteful industries in the world. If you know what fast fashion is, then you might be familiar with the negative consequences it can take on the environment. Similar to harmful ingredients in beauty and skincare, fashion can not only be harmful to people, but also to the environment. Sustainable fashion can be a hard concept to engrain in your life, but it’s becoming easier as it gets more and more popular.

Environmental Concerns

Notably, the fashion industry is a major contributor to the world’s pollution crisis. The environment is greatly affected by mass clothing production, manufacturing, and the disposal of textiles.

Consumerism is at an all-time high and people are buying more clothing than ever before. Additionally, people are not holding onto their clothing for the length of time they used to. With that said, clothing is constantly being bought and thrown out for something newer or in trend. This process is extremely wasteful, as most textiles are put into landfills and create waste that fills our oceans.

The fashion industry is second when it comes to water supply consumption and produces 10% of human carbon emissions. With that said, it is important to be aware of how badly the fashion industry contributes to polluting the environment and how you can help. To give you an idea, it takes about a few hundred gallons of water just to produce 1 cotton t-shirt. Shockingly, it’s even more for jeans. Jeans take over a thousand gallons of water to produce.

What is Sustainable Fashion?

First of all, let me just say that sustainable fashion is a relatively new topic for me. Even though I’ve never really been a huge fast fashion girl, it wasn’t until recently that I realized how harmful the fashion industry truly is. Fast fashion may be more affordable, but it comes at an environmental cost.

In good news, the fashion industry is changing as the demand for ethical and sustainable fashion continues to rise. Sustainable fashion is a movement created to help the environment and lower waste and pollution.

Sustainable Fashion Brands

Below I have listed a few brands that I believe utilize sustainability in their company! A lot of these companies allow you to bring certain items of clothing in for them to reuse and up-cycle. As an incentive, some of these brands will give you store credit, money, or an opportunity to exchange your old items for something new in the store!

Personally, I have brought a ton of old jeans into Madewell to take part in their denim recycling program. As a result, I received $20 off my entire purchase from doing so! I’m sure you have some old jeans laying around somewhere in your closet, so it might be worth checking out some of these brands to see what you can do to take part in the sustainable fashion movement!

• Eileen Fisher
• RE/DONE
• Levis
• Madewell jean recycling
• Lululemon trade-in
• Patagonia

Up-cycling:

Up-cycling is also known as creatively reusing your clothing! Up-cycling reduces the amount of waste that goes into landfills. This can be done with a whole bunch of items, but clothing is one of the best ways to up-cycle! You can transform the clothing that no longer works for you into something new and unique. For example, changing your jeans into jean shorts or making a belt out of a purse strap or shoelace!

Repurposing, reusing, and recycling old clothing is one of the best ways to practice sustainable fashion. Additionally, you can also repurpose other items such as candles or other containers. There are so many different ways to up-cycle, so use your creativity and think of ways you can do the same with your old clothing!

Thrifting:

Thrifting may not be everyone’s thing, but it sure is a good way to repurpose old clothing and save some money! By thrift shopping, you are participating in a sustainable fashion movement! How cool is that?

Buying used clothing is more cost-efficient and it allows you to achieve that “vintage” vibe if that’s something you’re into! All in all, I don’t go thrifting as much as I should for how many clothes I own. I would encourage everyone to try out thrifting, even if you consider it gross or time-consuming. You never know what gems you might find!

My favorite thrift store here in Nashville is called Buffalo Exchange! At Buffalo Exchange, you can buy, sell, or trade-in your old clothing!

Re-sell or Donate Clothing:

There are so many ways to resell your old clothing. My favorite resale sites are Poshmark or Instagram, but there are various apps or websites to help you with this! In the past, I’ve listed items on Poshmark and taken my old clothing to Plato’s Closet. By doing so, I was able to earn money back for items I’ve owned for years!

My go-to place to donate clothing is always Goodwill. There’s something about donating what no longer serves you to others in need that just feels good! I would recommend this route if you just want your clothing gone and out of the way. After all, some clothing is just not worth the hassle of trying to sell and earn money off of!

With all this in mind, how can you participate sustainably?

Thank you for reading!!

<3 LA

Check out my latest blog about closet organization!