Why not align your values with your consumption habits? By understanding the values in sustainable fashion it allows you, the consumer, to make educated choices about the brands you shop and buy. Ethical consumers hold the power to provide farmers and workers the resources to enable sustainable development for themselves, their communities and our planet.
Sustainable fashion puts the planet and people first by treating the ones crafting your clothes with respect, providing good jobs, and contributing to a circular economy. All while producing profits through open and honest intentions.
In this blog, we describe the different values consumers may look to before making purchases for themselves, friends, family and even a pet. Before making your next buying decision, ask yourself, ”Is it …?”
Is it Eco-Friendly?
If you are passionate towards the environment and support brands that are dedicated to minimizing or eliminating their impact on earth, then shop Eco-Friendly. Eco-friendly fashion is designed to be timeless and stylish. Encouraging you to wear clothes that are made of natural and organic fabrics, recycled products or simply a secondhand source. Choosing organic alternatives is a great way to ensure that fabrics are processed without harmful or synthetic chemicals typically found in the dying & finishing processes.
It’s also important to understand that eco-friendly fashion goes beyond just the makeup of the fabric. It extends to the machinery & energy used to manufacture clothes. Brands can utilize processes that leverage renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy instead of fossil fuels. A subcategory of eco-fashion is carbon neutral. This is finding a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Either eliminating your carbon footprint all together or finding a way to reduce it as much as possible. One way to reduce emissions and to pursue carbon neutrality is to offset emissions made in one sector by reducing them somewhere else. This can be done through investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency or other clean, low-carbon technologies.
Is it Fairly Sourced?
The impossibly cheap clothing often comes at the highest cost. Forced Labor! However, it has also come to light that even those brands labeling themselves as sustainable and environmentally-conscious may be just as guilty when it comes to human rights abuses.
In recent months, global outrage over the discovery that Turkic speaking Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region have been forcibly involved in creating textiles for major fashion retailers around the world has highlighted the very reason why transparency is crucial for the future of the industry. If you chose to shop for fashion that is ethically produced, look for products that are Fair Trade certified.
Purchasing from brands labeled under Fair Trade USA is an important part of being an Ethical consumer. Fair Trade USA encourages environmentally productive methods and safeguard humane working conditions. Ethical consumers provide the tools and resources that empower farmers and laborers to enable sustainable development for themselves and their communities.
Here are a few more certifications/standards that ensure brands follow fair & ethical best practices: Global Organic Textile Standard, MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX®, and Bluesign.
Is it Secondhand or Vintage?
Secondhand clothing promotes the ideologies of sustainability and environmentalism through preventing clothes from ending up in landfills or incinerators. By recycling used and/or unwanted clothing you contribute to a circular economy which is the practice of placing used materials and fabric back to the beginning of the product lifecycle.
Vintage fashion is a sub-genre of secondhand. These garments age between 20 and 100 years old. Incorporating the styles and trends of the era of association. Prior to the fast fashion era, clothing was produced in small quantities, if not custom made. So, therefore, when you wear vintage pieces the odds of you bumping into someone wearing the same thing are extremely slim. A vintage clothing piece, in all respects, remains one-of-a-kind.
Secondhand clothes open opportunities for you to protect the environment. You may not realize it, but wearing secondhand clothes is a form of recycling. When you wear and buy secondhand clothing, you are not contributing to the environmental perils of making new clothes. This means you are helping curb the emission of air, land, and water toxins from factories, save energy; and decrease the use of natural resources for making clothes. You are contributing something for the upkeep of the environment.
“Over roughly the past 20 years, the amount of clothes that Americans have disposed of has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons”
– Newsweek
Is it Slow Fashion?
You can also explore a slow fashion approach where the aim is to literally slow down consumerism through designing, producing and purchasing garments in respect to people, the environment and animals. Involving slower production schedules, efficient use of material, lower carbon footprints and contributing to a zero-waste economy.
Typically slow-fashion is composed of local artisans who craft garments by hand using eco-friendly fabrics and materials. Slow-fashion also describes Made-To-Order fashion. Which is when a brand waits until purchase to create their products & garments. Ensuring they don’t make more than whats sold, preventing unnecessary wastes.
Is it Vegan
Animals have rights too. This value aims to fight inhumane and cruel practices to animals and the environment. Vegan fashion is composed of cruelty-free textile and materials that refuse the use of animal-based fabrics ensuring no animals were harmed.
There’s an assortment of alternatives to animal-based fabrics other than just organic cotton and hemp. Here are a few just to name:
- Recycled PET – uses nearly half the amount of energy than creating new polyester
- Piñatex – made from pineapple leaf
- S. Cafe – turning coffee beans to yarn
- Qmonos – 100% biodegradable spider silk that more flexible than nylon & five times stronger than steel
- Apple Eco Leather – Made from the waste of the apple juice industry
Is it Gives-back
Gives-back fashion is a great way to show your support for a cause and look fashionable while doing so! You promote brands who have set profits aside for donation or have joined forces with charities for the ultimate good.
So many options out there…how can you find fashion that aligns with your sustainable values?
If we choose to shop from brands that place sustainable values at their core, we can outwardly express these values through the clothes we choose to wear. Wearing conscious fashion is a powerful way to express ourselves, and what we believe in.
As consumers, we would need to change the perceptions we have towards clothing. If we create meaningful and long-lasting relationships with clothing instead of giving in to excessive or meaningless consumption, we are actively making a difference towards a more sustainable future.
Start expressing YOUR sustainable values!
You made the first step by learning about sustainable fashion. Becoming a conscious and knowledgeable consumer makes us be part of something bigger: a sustainable future. Choose the brands that leverage sustainable materials, certifications, and aren’t afraid to promote it!
Research. Learn the sustainable fashion buzz words and the brands you are purchasing.
Although using your sustainable values as a fashion statement may seem small, you are still contributing to change. Make your fashion choices be your identity, your voice, and your contribution to a greater sustainable future.
The Sustainable Drop 