Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Table of contents
Our environment is deteriorating day by day. In a few years, climate change, global warming, water scarcity, air pollution, and water pollution have become
a part of our lives. We’ve gradually become more conscious of how to protect the environment from all of these threats. For example, by replacing plastic bags
with reusable bags, we may reduce food, electricity, and water waste. We can protect the environment as much as possible by taking this action.
But what about the clothes we wear daily? Is there any relationship between clothing and the environment? There is a huge connection between clothes and
the environment. Did you know that it takes 2700 litres of water to manufacture a single cotton T-shirt, which takes an average of 2.5 years to drink? And every year, over 2 billion cotton T-shirts are sold, and about 100 billion clothes are purchased by consumers. According to a study, people only use cloth seven times before discarding it.
Most of our clothes are knitted from synthetic fibres, so around 63% of them are non-biodegradable. It’s not just the synthetic fibres that are the problem, but
also how they are manufactured. Various chemicals and synthetic colours are utilized in the manufacturing process to give the clothing a polished appearance. Every year, almost 50,000 tons of dyes are discarded into the global water system from textile industries. It’s no surprise that the fashion and textile industry is the second most polluting industry in the world after oil and gas.
According to the United Nations, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse emissions annually. However, this does not mean that we should stop wearing clothes. The only solution is sustainable fashion. Before talking about sustainable fashion, let us first know what the meaning of sustainable is. Things that can last for an extended period are referred to as sustainable.
How Consumer Choices Are Shaping Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion is clothing made from eco-friendly fibres such as wood pulp, jute, coconuts, bananas, and pineapples, as well as a combination of natural and synthetic fibres, which put less strain on the environment and decompose in a shorter period. Nowadays, many big brands are shifting towards sustainable fashion. This shift occurred as a result of our growing environmental awareness. Not only big brands but many retail chains also launched their collections made from sustainable fibres.
An Austrian company produces a special variety called Ecovero, which is made from wood pulp. This fibre can put 50% less strain on the environment and completely decompose in just a few months. But we know there are many brands out there that aren’t made from sustainable fibres, but that’s how our economy works.
It is all about demand and supply. Industries have also maintained their financial viability, and while many brands are progressively transitioning to sustainable fashion, perhaps we as customers will demand more eco-friendly clothing, and who knows if we will all ask for sustainable clothes.
For a sustainable lifestyle, buy the clothes we need most. Before buying new clothes, we should check our wardrobe to see if we have forgotten any jeans or
T-shirts in our bag. If yes, then we can reuse it.
Steps Explaining How Consumer Choices Are Shaping Sustainable Fashion
Step 1: Buy Less to shape sustainable fashion
This is the simplest and the easiest step towards converting your wardrobe into a sustainable wardrobe before buying any new clothes. Ask yourself if you
need it; You can move forward. Then organize, understand, and analyse your clothes, and then list down what you need. Less demand means less product that would result in less damage to the environment.
Step 2: Buy used clothes when you can to shape sustainable fashion
As we surely know, buying second-hand clothes can save us a lot of money. You’ll never spend full price, which is ideal for purchasing high-quality clothing from well-known and trusted brands. So, take a look at second-hand shops in your neighbourhood and see who has the best clothes, or look for other places to buy second-hand clothes.
Step 3: Buy Eco-Friendly clothes to shape sustainable fashion
The primary purpose of eco-friendly clothing is to reduce waste, pollution, water, and energy consumption during the manufacturing process. By purchasing eco-friendly clothing, we can help to reduce our carbon footprint and preserve our natural resources.
Step 4: Recycle clothes to shape sustainable fashion
Recycling clothing can help reduce waste and greenhouse gases, but only if it is recycled correctly. Reusing and recycling clothing helps to preserve our natural
resources, reduce pollution, and keep waste out of landfills. Every piece of clothing saved benefits the environment. Recycling is a great way to create eco-friendly clothes.
Step 5: Educate Customers
It is important to educate consumers about how to shop more thoughtfully to increase the sustainability of the fashion industry. It is important to educate people about extending the life of their clothes and reducing their carbon footprint. It starts with the people who design the outfit. Low-quality products will not have a long lifecycle. Brands must first produce high-quality items that are repairable, and then they must tell customers how to care for them and fix them when necessary.
Step 6: Wash Less as much as possible
Do not wash clothes until they are dirty. Research shows that the process of heating water consumes about 80 to 90 % of a washing machine’s total energy. Drying clothes on a hanger after washing them in cold water can save energy. Air drying not only saves electricity but also increases the life of clothes. We can save our environment by washing less, washing with cold water, and washing on short cycles.
Maybe in the near future, all brands might just succumb to our demands, or they might just get motivated to look at sustainable fashion as the norm rather than an exception. Wouldn’t that be nice, till then If you’re out shopping and you want some good clothes and also want to save the environment, just check the tag once to see if it is an eco-friendly material or not.
