More
than ever, shoppers are considering the sustainability of their clothing.
Images of perfectly wearable clothing lying in landfills have haunted fashion
fanatics. You may even have friends who spend their weekends hunting through
thrift stores and searching online for sustainable fabrics. If sustainable
clothing is something you are considering, but you want to look good as well as
save the planet, here are some benefits to consider.
Local support
By shopping
with local sustainable manufacturers, you are supporting your community. As
well as the manufacturers that are local to you, there are also clothing brands
that work with international local communities who have unique products to
offer. For example, statecashmere.com sells womenswear that is
created using Mongolian goats’ wool. Relying on shepherds instead of
large-scale mills is a much more localized and sustainable way of creating clothing.
Carbon footprint
It’s
not just your utilities that generate a carbon footprint. Everything we eat and
wear comes with its own carbon footprint that is created as a result of
production methods. Non-sustainable clothing comes with an extortionate carbon
footprint as a result of the mass-production and shipping that is needed to
make it. On top of that, the textile and fashion industry is one of the worst
culprits when it comes to water pollution.
Ethics
Unfortunately,
unsustainable clothing also has ethical implications. Many sweatshops and
industrial farms use laborers who are hugely underpaid. Not only that, but they
often operate in areas where child labor is used to provide an income for
struggling families. These children are often working in conditions that would
not be deemed humane or suitable by modern ethical standards.
Cruelty-free
Under
the sustainability umbrella, you will also find the term ‘cruelty-free.’ By not
using fur (as opposed to wool) or companies that test on animals, you also add
an extra ethical benefit. If you want to opt for cruelty-free as well as sustainable
clothing, you can save yourself an extra battle of the conscience.
Fair Trade
When
you shop sustainably, it’s important to remember that you will also be helping
to guarantee workers
a fairer price. The reason why so many large-scale manufacturers keep returning to
unethical sweatshops is that they can cut overheads by paying workers poorly.
Paying a little more for a sustainable fashion garment means that the person
that made it will be receiving a fair wage.
New lease of life
Of course,
many people know that part of shopping sustainably involves hunting through
thrift stores. Not only is this great for the environment, but it gives old
clothing a new lease of life. It seems wasteful to imagine that a piece of
clothing will only have one glory day.
As
you can see, ‘sustainable’ has many meanings. Whether it’s a sustainable way of
living for the workers or methods of production that don’t harm the planet or
animals, you will be joining a cause that’s much larger than shopping in thrift
stores. By shopping consciously and sustainably, you are helping to push the
movement forward.
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