Attainable and Sustainable: What is Sustainability and how does it affect your fashion habits
- Dorothy Silverman
- Sep 22, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 23, 2020
Sustainability. A buzzword that we all hear in some sort of conversation either about fashion, the environment or even food. Fashion in a sense can be like food in that people have a compost for their leftovers and use it in their gardens. In the fashion world, some retailers and designers use fabric scraps to create new garments, ultimately “feeding” their clothing by recycling. Sustainability and fashion can mean whatever you’d like it to, especially because there are so many ways of using sustainability to better your fashion habits.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, sustainability is the “avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.” With sustainability in mind with regards to fashion design, the definition for sustainable fashion can read like the “avoidance of depleting natural resources while creating garments and other articles of clothing to maintain an ecological balance.” However, like I said, sustainable fashion is what you make of it, and you can start living a sustainable lifestyle at any point in your life.
In order to understand how to implement sustainable habits into your lifestyle, it’s important to educate yourself on why you’re adapting to this. So, what happens to your clothes when you’re done with them and decide to throw them away? They go into a landfill and the clothes release toxic gases when they decompose. The clothing meshes with all of the other garbage and releases fumes like carbon dioxide and methane. Why would you want this to happen to our Earth when you can sell your used garments for money or donate it to those who can’t afford clothes instead. You can find below I have posted an image of the more sustainable lifecycle of clothing. The garment industry is the second-largest industrial polluter, according to Forbes. And, fast fashion contributes heavily to this mess. That dress you bought for $15 at Forever21 that you wore once to a party isn’t worth it. Especially when a similar, if not better, dress around the same price point but by a different designer is being sold at a thrift store, that’s the direction you want to take instead. Another alternative is having a clothing swap party with friends, or even repurpose some of your own garments to make them more stylish for the year. I promise there’s a ton of youtube videos out there to fuel your thrifting and repurposing addiction once you get to that point.
Although there are many options to dispose of unused clothing in a way that is sustainable for the environment, you are still going to want to buy new clothes, which everyone does. I’m here to let you know that there are retailers out there and scientists who are making a difference. Technology is ever-changing, and retailers are starting to modify the way they make jeans, for example. Jeans require gallons upon gallons of water to create that perfect indigo-blue color. Now, we have lasers to do that, and it also speeds up the process of making jeans. This is just one of many ways that retailers and factories are doing their best to implement new sustainable habits into the way they make clothes. I have attached a video to further explain the lifecycle of a basic t-shirt and how that process affects the environment.
On the topic of technology, social media has had a large influence on fashion and sustainability. With a generation of outspoken individuals, it isn’t difficult to be inspired by TikToks or Instagrams of people thrifting around, or posting content about Depop and why you should implement sustainable habits into your life. Two Instagrams that post amazing content regarding sustainability are @ajabarber and @fash_rev. They post content that delves further into the specifics of what companies do to make sustainable products.
In the end, we’re all tree-loving, clothing-wearing people who just want to see our Earth blossom, while also looking stylish. But, Mother Nature doesn’t have to be given the cold shoulder at the expense of fast fashion. Throughout my blog posts, I will introduce you to tips and tricks on how to be sustainable, highlight retailers and designers who are implementing sustainable habits into their lines and give firsthand experiences of actively becoming a more sustainable shopper. It’s not easy and it takes time, but I’m here going along the journey with you.
Links to sources I used for further information:
Definition of sustainability: https://www.lexico.com/definition/sustainability
Clothing lifecycle image: https://minimori.com/pages/a-kinder-lifecycle
Environmental impact: https://www.trustedclothes.com/blog/2016/09/05/fast-fashion-landfills/
Instagram: @dorothylauren_
Twitter: @dsilvs9
I really enjoyed reading this article! It serves as the perfect introduction to the world of sustainable fashion. Today, many brands are focusing their efforts on implementing sustainable practices and habits. Your blog is, therefore, very relevant. As a young woman who enjoys experimenting with her style and looking my best, I often turn to fast fashion brands because they are relatively inexpensive and I can order many items in bulk. However, I often don’t think about the impact of shopping on these websites or buying items from these stores. In your article, you helped educate me, in an easily digestable way, about how to live a more sustainable lifestyle without sacrificing my style. As a writer, you do a…
This blog provides me a brand new aspect of understanding of fashion. However, it is not the first time that I am exposed to the sustainable fashion. I remember as I was in kindergarten, our teacher held a semi-runway show and ask all of us to dress in our "self-made-sustainable clothes" and to walk like models on the show. Our goal were to select material such as plastic bags, rugs from our old clothes, and plastic or metallic bottles or cans made for beverage.
At that time, I only thought we were doing this for fun, but thinking back from now, after I read your blog, I realize that our teacher may want to explain the significance of reuse of…
I loved reading this article! Prior to reading this post, I was largely unaware of the environmental repercussions of fast fashion and clothing waste. With a limited budget, I often look for cheap dresses and shirts to wear when I go out with friends. However, it makes much more sense to look to thrift stores and sustainable websites to purchase items like this.
Another aspect of your article I enjoyed was your discussion of technology and how it has helped the fashion industry produce more apparel with less harm to the environment. I also liked that you included references to TikTok stars who promote sustainable lifestyles, because it demonstrates how attainable this way of life truly is. I am looki…