From school level science we have known that sustainable resources are resources that are finite. They can be continuously replenished and there’s an indefinite supply of these resources. These include natural resources such as sunlight. Similarly, sustainable fashion is the fashion where environmental, social and economic sustainability has been considered.
Sustainable fashion reckons the environment, the health of consumers and the working conditions of people in the fashion industry.
How to make fashion sustainable?
Animals and plants have been used as source materials for clothes, shoes and accessories throughout history. The fur shawl that gives you grace, the leather jacket that gives you warmth, the cotton shirt that keeps you cool in summer and the silk gowns that make you chic were all made from animals.
Sustainable fashion focuses on producing clothes using organic raw materials. For example, if you grow cotton for your clothes without insecticides, that makes the cotton an organic raw material. Silkworms fed on organic trees are organic raw materials for silk.
Clothes are bleached and different carcinogenic, toxic colors added to bring different shades and prints. Sustainable fashion does not encourage the use of bleaches or harmful colors in clothes.
Did you know that the recycled plastics can also be used to make fabrics and different materials needed in tailoring clothes? Not only plastic, but we also encourage you to recycle your clothes too. The clothes that you discard after wearing a couple of times can be reused to make newer clothes.
The importance of sustainable fashion
- Wearing and making sustainable fashion is encouraged since these clothes are of higher quality, unique and last longer.
- It extremely helps the environment. It allows you to make more conscious and altruistic choices about what you wear giving you a feeling of fulfillment. Given the several risks of the earth such as global warming and extinction, it is important to take the smallest steps to save the earth.
- Workers who tailor clothes for sustainable fashion are fairly paid and have other benefits.
- Clothing that is made through sustainable practices reduce water consumption and waste production.
In the US, people spend 350 billion dollars every day to buy clothes. That’s more money than the entire country gives to charity over the course of a year. We could spend that money in so many ways to shop for goods and services that give back. Take the first step by investing in sustainable fashion when you can. Together we can pull off a collective impact.
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