Sustainable Fashion and What It Truly Means

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE FASHION?

I’m sure a lot of you may have already heard the term sustainable fashion and some may have an idea of what it actually means as well.  If not, then let me fill you in; sustainable fashion is a movement in the fashion industry that is dedicated to contributing towards improving both the environment we all live in and also the society that we have built ourselves.

For a long time, it felt as thought the fashion industry, particularly on the highstreet, became very throwaway but times are changing which is awesome.  Nowadays, more companies and consumers are adopting a more sustainable and productive attitude towards fashion and I hope that as time goes on, this will continue to make the fashion industry fairer and kinder especially to the environment, resources and workers.

A BRANDS PERSPECTIVE

Some brands are already trying to produce and maintain their products without actually impacting the environment in a negative way.  The basic idea is to reshape the fashion industry in such a way that its current carbon footprint is reduced to a minimum. 

Some brands have even been built on such ideas, for example, the Beulah brand has gained a fair a bit of popularity in recent years for their line of sustainable designer clothing and accessories.

What I find the most impressive thing about Beulah’s ethical clothing is that they built their company on sustainability, as they decided to donate 10% of their profit to the “Beulah trust”; an organisation founded and funded by the fashion brand to train women who have previously been victims of the sex trade to become skilled workers. Not only is this ethically sound, but by creating more skilled people the brand is making the world a more sustainable place. You can read more about this here.

A CONSUMERS PERSPECTIVE

The general consensus seems to be that it doesn’t really matter what you buy because the manufacturers will be make things in the way that suits them best but actually, it does matter.  A LOT!

If there are enough people supporting the cause then this encourages and pushes designers and brands to move their shift their production standards to go with the flow of the sustainable fashion movement.  Even if you leave the conscience factor out of it, it’s just simple business sense to give your customers what they want.  It may take time but nothing ever happens overnight and every movement that is worth anything has to start somewhere.

When buying from sustainable designer clothing brands, you are supporting the brands who have already made a sustainable choice and they really do need the support to make it last.  If the environment and society is something that you care about then letting your fashion represent your mindset and philosophy.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SUPPORT THE SUSTAINABLE FASHION MOVEMENT?

Anything that you can do to support the sustainable fashion movement helps to create change and I’d encourage everyone to make a change to help, however big or small.

Aside from purchasing from brands that have taken the difficult green step, you can also try out some of the following:

• If there’s a very special designer item that you want, buy it second hand if you can; websites like Vestiaire Collective are great for this and will verify that the item is genuine so you know you’re in safe hands when shopping on there.
• Invest in high quality clothing that will last you a lot of years rather than updating your wardrobe every couple of weeks.
• Donate or repair your garments instead of throwing them away if there’s a small tear or a button missing.
• Avoid brands that use animal fur in the creating of their clothing; thankfully a lot of renowned brands are leaving this practice altogether.

While these are not the only aspects of sustainable fashion, they will definitely help you get started on the right path and realise what it’s all about.

WHAT DO I DO TO SUPPORT THE SUSTAINABLE FASHION MOVEMENT?

I don’t have a huge budget to spend and I love wearing new pieces but even I am doing my bit to support the sustainable fashion movement and have been doing so in recent years.

• I’m terrible for getting rid of something because it has a tear, button missing or stain on it.  So in 2018 I’m making it my mission to learn how to properly wash and care for my clothes and I’m going to learn how to sew so whether its a little rip or a missing button, I’ll be able to fix the item that I’ve got rather than buying a new one.  I’ve even started a button box so that when I get a new piece I can keep the spare buttons altogether.  I just keep the little packet that the button is in and use a Sharpie to write on the packet what item the button is off.
• Buy clothes that I can wear for multiple seasons and layer up depending on how cold the weather is.  A great example of this is the dress that I’m wearing in the image above.  Its the gorgeous Billie Faiers Black Floral Print Dress from In The Style Curve that I have featured more in this post.
• I don’t buy clothing that contains fur as wearing real fur and the practice of how companies savagely obtain the fur is not something that I agree with at all.  There are so many awesome faux fur options out there to choose from!

Have you heard about the sustainable fashion movement?  What are you doing or would you do to support it?