Did you know global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015? Fast fashion is causing more clothing waste than ever. Not only that, it’s also responsible for mass amounts of unethical labor.
1. Use your money to vote for transparency and ethics. Nothing is sustainable if exploited labor is creating it.
2. Buy less, buy better. We all need clothes these days (returning to a non-clothed society would probably be a harder mission than changing the current economic system!) and truly ethical goods with sustainable materials (hemp, flax, plant waste) are much more expensive. They should be. But accessibility is also a major problem (including inequity). For now, drastically reduce, save wherever possible and then buy an item that will last for years and years if you can. We live by cost per wear. Do what you feasibly can.
3. The majority of synthetic textiles shed microfibres when washed that add to the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans. Wash less and spot wash! It saves water too.
4. Cherish everything you own and swap with friends. Repair clothes, buy secondhand, attend swap meets and learn to sew your own if that interests you (we really want to move away from these long working weeks as a world so we all have more time for things like this).
5. Set a great example with kids and talk about the problems early on. Kids grow out of clothes so fast anyway; pass them around! If they get a good understanding of the industry and what to look for, we can maybe avoid some of the problems coming through our teen years in industrialized nations.
6. If you recognize that shopping may be addictive for you, try to break away from that habit or address the underlying reasons. Turn off commercial TV, avoid magazines and unfollow everybody who makes you feel less-than. If it’s a habit you can replace with something positive try that, or otherwise there are some great resources online, talk to friends & family or follow people that inspire different ideas.
