Sustainability feels like a buzzword floating about for the last few years, yet it’s one of the most critical things in modern life. We should strive to be a more sustainable race of people and this begins by identifying some of the biggest unsustainable aspects of our lives.
Fashion is one of them – did you know the fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions?
That figure may not seem like much, but it’s more than the CO2 emissions from international flights and maritime shipping. This is down to two factors:
- How certain materials are created in the fashion industry
- The manufacturing processes used to make clothes
As a consequence, there’s a massive drive to make sustainability the heart of fashion both now and in the future.
Why? The obvious reason is one we’ve already mentioned; this industry produces far too many carbon emissions every year and it’s slowly killing our planet. However, an even bigger reason to push for more sustainable fashion is that it’s much easier to do than people think. Normally, when there’s a drive to be sustainable, it requires fairly substantial sacrifices or you end up having to pay lots of money to be greener – that’s not the case in the fashion world; it’s very easy to make sustainable choices, and here are a few examples of what can be done.
Focusing on cotton
Cotton is the most versatile fabric in the world – it’s also 100% natural and can be recycled. This makes it the perfect material to focus on to make the fashion industry more sustainable. Companies should switch to certified organic cotton, ensuring they get the cleanest and most natural stuff. New garments can be made from this cotton and it can then also be recycled multiple times over so the same cotton that’s farmed gets used for far longer.
Keeping items in circulation
Thrift shops and online marketplaces like Vinted are excellent as we move towards a more sustainable fashion industry. They encourage the concept of keeping items in circulation, rather than throwing them away. Asking everyone to wear the same clothes for years is an impossible task. But, when it’s time to get something new, maybe you could consider buying second-hand items sold by someone else. At the very least, you could donate your clothes to thrift shops or sell them online. It keeps them in circulation and reduces the demand for new garments to be manufactured. If more people acted like this, we’d see a sizeable decrease in fashion carbon emissions.
Many more things can be done by individuals and fashion companies to move towards a better future for this industry. We all love looking our best and wearing clothes that make us feel great. However, we can’t keep fueling an industry that’s slowly killing the planet. Are there other problems in the world to focus on for better overall sustainability? Of course! But, the fashion industry is one with a huge impact that’s fairly easy to correct if we make the right choices.
Images courtesy of unsplash.com and pexels.com
