Sustainable fashion has become one of the most debated topics in world forums and seminars. Many people are becoming more aware of the importance of sustainability to the environment and society. Young people especially, seem to be more open towards the idea of a sustainable fashion. As a result, companies are improving their products and moving towards this cause mainly to attract young people to get their products. But what is it actually? Sustainable fashion is a cause to drive and transform the fashion system towards a more integrated ecology and social justice. It is not only focusing on the production of fashion produce or textiles, but it consists of the fashion system itself as a whole.
1] Be Well-Informed
When I first started my journey for this cause a year back, I could barely think about how I can start with it. Almost every shop that I went to had very little to no consciousness about sustainable fashion. Initiating the first step to being sustainable in fashion is one of the most difficult steps to take. Most importantly, you need to figure out where to shop for sustainable garments that fit your needs. Nowadays, it is easier to find sustainable-focused brands compared to back then. We have various brands such as H&M, Bottletop, Reformation and many more which are certified and recommended by Eco-Age. Once you have done your research enough, you will have a lot of brands to choose from for your sustainable fashion journey.
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/people-man-woman-couple-jacket-2603521/
2] Shop Vintage and Second Hand
Vintage and second-hand clothing are great options if you are starting on a sustainable fashion. According to Emma Watson on her Press Tour account, a new clothing has produced a large amount of carbon footprints during its production, but zero energy is released for vintage clothing. She also added that about 132m metrics tons of coal are used for dyeing, manufacturing new fibres as well as bleaching the garments needed for the clothing. Not only that, there are about 6-9 trillion litres of water is also used in the industry. This has proven that vintage and second-hand clothes play a major role in a sustainable fashion.
Worrying about what your squad would say about your outfit? Who cares? You’re on the journey to save the planet, if they are ashamed to walk with someone who wore second hands, then it’s their loss and they’d regret it later!
Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/second-hand-lettering-dresses-2353682/
3] Seasonal Clothing
Another thing to note when it comes to sustainable fashion is whether or not you would wear the clothes you're buying all year-round. If you live in a hot country like UAE, don’t spend your money on winter clothes as if you’re living in a cold and rainy country! It would only suffocate you. Instead, go for standard clothing like T-shirt, jeans, coats and jackets which you know you would wear on a daily basis.
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/person-woman-girl-young-female-768422/
4] Donate Your Unwanted Clothes
“Charity should begin at home but, should not stay there!” If you are triggered by this quote, then you really need to start taking action to become a better person. Donating old clothes is a good charity cause besides sustaining the active years of your clothes. Passing it to someone else would make others become more sustainable. Donating unwanted clothes may seem difficult at first, but there’s one way that could help to overcome the withdrawal syndrome. That is, the one-in one-out policy where you donate a cloth and buy a new one every time. That way, you’d feel less regret donating your clothes to people knowing that you’ll get a new, better quality one.
Source:https://freerangestock.com/photos/80444/give-dice-mean-contribute-donate-or-bestow.html
5] Taking Care of Your Clothes
During the early years of our life, we’d wear recycled clothes from our older cousins and wonder how they could be so well-kept. It seems simple and pretty standard, yet it is the most important aspect of sustainable fashion. Taking care of your clothes properly would result in you not having to buy more new clothes over time unless you need to. Furthermore, this does not only apply for more expensive clothing from the high-end brands, but also to every clothes that you own. This could save you a lot of money and make you appreciate your clothes more, bringing sentimental values to it. Furthermore, you would get to wear them longer too!
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/heart-love-sunset-shape-sign-3147976/
6] Learn How to Fix Your Own Clothes
I was going out with a friend of mine who can be considered as a fashionista when she said to me “Your outfit is superb! Where did you get those?” I replied, “I made them”. She went awestruck and couldn’t believe it because last time she saw my outfit, she was complaining about how outdate my outfit was all the time!
Ripped jeans or clothes does not necessarily mean that they have to be thrown away and can’t be worn anymore. There are many DIY videos on YouTube which you could learn from to fix your clothing. Follow those tips and guidelines, and you’ll see how your clothing would turn out looking anew, if not, better. Another good thing about it is that you might get to design your own clothing into a new one, without having to pay for a professional!
Source:https://pixabay.com/photos/leather-sewing-machine-clothing-768245/
7] Quality Over Quantity
Think about when choosing for people to be in your circle. Would you still back up your 10 friends who mostly backstab you, or would you choose a few who are truly kind to you? if you are a sane human being, you’d definitely choose the latter. That’s how it works for quality clothing - quality clothing from high-end brands would cost you a lot more and limits the clothes that you can buy. However, it is better that way as expensive clothes tends to last longer and comes with good quality too. Rather than buying 60 pieces of cheap clothing with a large carbon footprint, buy 30 pieces of high-quality clothing which are eco-friendly and barely cost you any carbon footprint at all!
Source: creditscoregeek.com/
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
]]>
Recently, there have been an enormous effort to reduce the use of plastic. Plastic is one of the causes of pollutions that we are having today. To make matters worse, marine species are currently facing threats due to the uncontrollable use of plastic. It does not take a single penny to start reducing our daily plastic use. In fact, it saves cost and the environment too! Thus, in order to initiate the awareness, here are 10 simple ways to reduce plastic.
1) Reusable Water Bottle
I am a huge fan of water to the point that I can differentiate between a good quality of water and the bad ones. There was one time when I had to buy bottled water and it tasted like earth. I soon found out from the label that it was coming from the unfiltered, underground water and mostly recommended for washing purposes, but still “safe” to drink. From then on, I stopped buying bottled water and instead, I went to get a stainless-steel bottle and have been using it for several years now since that incident. Stainless steel bottles are the best option because they do not produce plastic chemicals and as an extra feature, would keep your water warm for several hours.
Source:https://pixabay.com/photos/clean-kanteen-metal-bottle-bottle-4423681/
2) Reusable Shopping Bags
I am a fan of going to events and carnivals just to get the goodies bag from the organizer and participating organizations. I’d walk for several hours, attending various booths and ensure that I get some bags to get home. What I like about them is that they are mostly canvas or clothed bags that can be reused for my grocery shopping. I always had trouble keeping the plastic bags at my home – I don’t know what to do with them, so I ended up discarding them.
I also noticed that these days, some supermarkets offer reusable shopping bags to encourage people to use fewer plastic bags. This is a good initiative and would results in more plastic bags could be reduced and there is a high chance that the environment could be saved!
Source:https://pixabay.com/photos/basket-bag-shopping-bag-wear-mesh-2652620/
3) Produce Bag
My favorite part about grocery shopping is buying fresh fruits and vegetables. The reason for that is because I get to use my produce bag to keep my fruits and vegetables without worrying about wasting more plastic bags.
Most of the fruits and vegetables at the supermarkets are unwrapped and unpackaged. They are also the easiest items to buy without plastic bags. A produce bag is a better option as they are handy and reusable, as well as eco-friendly. You can buy them at https://upcycleletstransform.com/.
Source: https://upcycleletstransform.com/shop?olsPage=products
4) Use Solid Toiletries
It’s always a pity for the environment every time I ran out of my shampoos and I had to throw the empty bottles. I felt like I have failed to look after the earth and started to take initiatives to reduce the use of plastics.
Things like shampoo, body wash, hair conditioner, sunscreen, and many more liquid-based toiletries are stored in plastic or glass containers. If you think about it, most of the containers cannot be reused and would be discarded when they have run out. This actually uses more plastic than you think. As an alternative, try to find toiletries in solid forms as they are proven to last longer than their liquid forms. In addition, there are many soaps wrapped in paper boxes produced in order to reduce plastic use. You can opt for these to replace your liquid toiletries.
Source:https://pixabay.com/photos/soda-lime-soap-lemon-brush-clean-4017613/
5) Metal or Bamboo Straws
The use of plastic straws became a controversy since a turtle was found dead by the beach with a plastic straw found in its breathing system. In my case, I have always been skeptical about the hygiene of the straws that I used in restaurants. Touched bare-handed with exposure to the dusty air, these thoughts have taken over me that every time I wanted to use a plastic straw, I’d wipe it off before using it. Moreover, the use of metal or bamboo straws seems more hygienic as you get to wash them before reusing them again.
6) Bring Your Own Cutlery
Many food outlets provide plastic cutlery for their customers because they are cheap, and no washing is needed. However, most of them are not aware of the consequences to the environment but are rather more concern about their profits. If you care about our environment, please bring your own stainless-steel cutlery and refuse to be given the plastic ones from the vendors. Get one for yourself and keep it in your bag in case you might forget bringing them. Not only that, but their cleanliness is also guaranteed as you are the one who washes and touches them!
7) Reusable Lunch Box
My colleagues have always been impressed at my effort to bring my own lunch boxes and seeing me bringing them to the cafeteria for some takeaway foods. After some time, they get inspired by my action and started to join me to do the same gesture.
Instead of using the transparent, plastic lunch box to pack your lunch, get a stainless-steel one instead. You can save a good amount of money by doing this while protecting our environment. Not only that, you can also get the one with cool designs on the outside with the stainless-steel inner compartments to show off to your friends!
8) Beeswax wraps instead of cling wraps
Replace cling wraps with beeswax wraps to cover your food to reduce plastic use. Beeswax wraps are washable and could be used many times compared to the one-time cling wraps. Since they come in various designs and forms, you could make your dining experience become more unique and appetizing!
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/food-storage-food-wrap-beeswax-2654750/
9) Take Your Own Coffee Cup
A coffee lover who as well loves the environment wouldn’t mind taking their own coffee cup for their first coffee of the day. Furthermore, most coffee outlets today are offering discounts when you bring your own cup to get their coffee. Psst, honestly, I have started using my own cup ever since I found out about the discounts. Isn’t that smart or genius? Probably both!
10) Do It Yourself
If you are an arts and craft enthusiast, you could use this specialty to produce your own goods from scratch. This could save you a few dollars from buying them at the supermarkets. Custom-made items are more durable and unique in designs as well.
Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/accessory-buttons-clothing-craft-3634503/
]]>