The fashion industry is clearly a mess, and there is no viable route ahead. But what is sustainability precisely, and how much do we know about it?
Here are 13 things you probably didn’t know:
1.Millennials are the hope of sustainability. #Millenialpwr
Millennials are socially concerned, culturally diverse, intelligent, and technologically sophisticated. These characteristics aid them in living sustainably.
They don’t need paper since they have everything online and are always searching the web for new answers to old issues like pollution.
Millennials are health-obsessed and utilise the internet to find their favourite dietitian and fitness instructor. Millennials believe that the healthier their lifestyle, the longer they will live.
They also have less money than baby boomers and prefer the “sharing economy,” which includes renting automobiles rather than owning them and living in rental dwellings.
2. (almost) All textiles are recyclable.
One method of reducing pollution is to reuse and recycle clothing. Unusable gear is repurposed into new fabrics. With a few exceptions, almost all materials can be recycled.
Recycling is an excellent approach to minimise one’s carbon footprint, but it requires increased public awareness because the majority of used clothing still ends up in landfills.
Change begins with you!
5 methods for reusing outdated clothes:
1. Place them in recycling bins. They can be found in supermarkets or local parking lots. Enter your address to locate the nearest one to you.
2.Donate used gear to charity and re-use organisations.
3.They can be sold online. This is an excellent method to supplement your income. Apps like Depop and Vinted are quite user-friendly and will do the job.
4.Donate them to an Animal Shelter. They use them to clean or make beds for the adorable pups and other animals they care for.
5.Hand them over. It never hurts to ask a friend or family member if they need a new-old jacket. That makes you Aunt Susan’s favourite child.
3. Can cheap materials damage sperm count?
It’s not impossible!
And, while it hasn’t been officially stated and discovered exactly how and why, many trials with dogs and men (who are, by the way, extremely similar) have been conducted to demonstrate that inexpensive materials aren’t good for your swimmers.
When it comes to your private parts, natural fibres such as cotton are the ones you can rely on.
Wearing boxers instead of briefs has also been shown to boost sperm count and quality.
So, just like dogs, keep it natural and loose!
4. The weirdest fashion material – car tyres.
Backpacks and accessories can now be simply manufactured from discarded tyres.
Over 250 million tyres have been shredded from the bottom of the oceans in the United States.
How did they get there? Believe it or not, the majority of them were placed there on purpose. The plan was to build new artificial reefs to benefit marine life. That, however, did not work and had the opposite impact.
There’s just one thing to do with that many tyres: recycle them.
Thank goodness they weren’t thrown away!
Old tyres can also be used to make furniture and other creative projects.
Do you want to know how to recycle your old tyres? You can find your local recycling centre and request that your council leave them there.
5. Buy an item, and plant a tree.
Will & Bear, Tree Tribe, Tentree, and Timberland are all donating money to tree charity.
Timberland’s most recent programme aims to plant more than 50 million trees by 2025.
Yorkshire Tea is another brand that ‘STANS’ for trees. They have sent tree-planting kits to schools around the UK in partnership with the Woodland Trust. The goal is that children will learn the value of planting trees, and over 500,000 trees will flourish over time.
Furthermore, because they CARE, most eco-friendly firms collaborate with charities and provide financial support to help them minimise their carbon impact.
6. Clothes live about 3 years on average.
Do you know any adults who still wear their clothes from school? Okay, there might be a few out there but that’s because they are boring…
The average adult changes their wardrobe almost every year. This contributes to the pollution as more often because of the fast cycle, people prefer less expensive alternatives.
In the best-case scenario, cheap gear will last you a maximum of three years.
However, the risk of you getting fed up with it is much bigger because fast fashion brands create clothes to satisfy the current trends.
7. Don’t be fooled, eco-friendly shopping is a piece of cake.
If you are one of the people who panic when they hear the word ‘sustainable’, just STOP… STOP RIGHT NOW!
Shopping eco-friendly isn’t hard at all. It takes research and only research. It was not even that expensive.
A normal toothpaste 75ml by Colgate costs £1. Their eco-friendly and vegan one, 75ml, costs £2.50. The difference is not big but the packaging of the sustainable one is 100% recyclable which will improve the future of your children.
And we’re not saying throw away everything you have that’s plastic or not eco-friendly. Exactly the opposite! The better care you take of your items and clothes, the longer they will live. This means that you will buy less, which is one of the most sustainable things to do.
So, shop or don’t shop at all, it doesn’t matter. Just be smart about it.
8. Dyeing textiles is a no-no for the water.
200 tons of fresh water go for a ton of dyed fabric.
Up to 20,000 litres of water are necessary for the making of only 1kg of cotton. Cotton production in the Aral Sea has almost drained the water.
This is all because of the big demand on the market for cheap gear.
9. Patagonia is the mother of recycling.
With their famous ‘Don’t buy this jacket campaign and a recent controversial tag saying: “Vote the assholes out”, referring to the latest US presidential elections, Patagonia has always been a brand that expresses its beliefs through its marketing and products.
In 1993 they started using plastic bottles to create recycled polyester for their clothes. This made them the first outdoor brand to make jackets from rubbish.
“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
And that’s not all, today the brand takes every item that is returned and can’t be sold through their ‘Worn wear’ program and recycles it. With this program, they have managed to recycle more than 6,700 pounds of products for 2018.
10. Many fast fashion brands got the memo.
We’ve had enough of your nasty habits, okay?
Inditex-owned brands such as Zara, Pull&Bear, and Bershka have launched a new ‘Join Life’ branding. The goal is to produce clothing as responsibly as possible while maintaining the companies’ low prices.
To reach the shop floors, Join Life gear must pass a series of internal tests.
Organic cotton, recycled cotton and polyester, and Tencel are the principal materials utilised in the collections.
11. People cut off brands for their bad practices.
One of the reasons that firms are introducing new labels and better-sourced materials is that many of their customers have deserted them due to their poor practices and low-quality products.
Unlike in the past, firms increasingly use technology to observe customer preferences and adjust their designs accordingly. As a result, customers are now the ones who determine future trends.
Brands like Zara and H&M, who have faced several lawsuits owing to unethical business practices, are taking a step back to reconsider their strategies in response to dissatisfied customers.
This is also one of the reasons they created the Join Life label and began producing clothing made from better-sourced fabrics.
12. Thrifting is the new black.
Wearing second-hand gear is a way of recycling. Recycling is a great way to start reducing your footprint, and it is very much into fashion now.
Many Insta-girls that don’t even care about the planet would go to charity shops and buy stuff just to show off.
However, here’s why that’s a positive thing: thrifting garments extend their life and lessens the market need for new ones. As a result, brands will minimise their production and emissions.
Another approach to recycling is to repurpose your clothing. If you have an old t-shirt, for example, you can always use it as a cleaning cloth.
You may even get creative by putting different shoelaces and even drawing drawings on some of your old trainers.
Take your old denim jacket to a specialised store where you may have graphics or anything else drawn on it.
If you’re not into DIY, you may submit your old clothes to organisations like Big Sister Swap, which will send you new ones in exchange. Big Sister Swap provides you with a personal stylist as well as pre-loved clothing that someone else has returned.
One person’s garbage is another person’s treasure.
13. Emma Watson of House Sustainable.
Emma Watson is well-known for being a supporter of sustainable fashion. She recently joined one of the biggest fashion firms Kering group to work with them on their sustainable campaigns.
The Harry Potter actress is the face of the ‘Good on you app,’ which ranks companies based on their environmental credentials.
Kering brands have not received good marks on the app thus far.
The actress will assist Gucci in changing its ways and rising to the top of the eco-friendly list.