So, buying clothes is bad – that would be a very blunt way of summing up my last post. But the thing is, most people need to wear clothes (hey, to each their own). So how can you buy clothes and still be environmentally friendly? Here are some of the ways that you can be fashionable and still good to the planet.
Not buying new is a great way to cut out fast fashion. Vintage clothes are really popular at the moment, and it’s great finding something that no one else is likely to have. Charity shops are also great for this, because the prices are low and the money goes to good causes. Crucially, for both of these, the clothes have been around for some time already, hopefully with at least one prior owner, meaning that the environmental impacts of the garments are slightly reduced. People sending their unwanted clothes to charity shops and vintage shops also means that there is less going to landfill.
Secondly, I like to use this website called Good On You (linked below). It has a directory of most clothing brands, so to find out how your favourite clothing shop is rated in terms of environmental impact, you just search for it in the directory – be warned, some of the shops you might expect to be ok often aren’t. Brands are rated from 1 (we avoid) to 5 (great) based on their treatment of the planet, animals and people. It also offers eco-friendly alternatives that are similar to what you’ve searched for, which allows you to make better choices about what you buy.
Several brands have eco-friendly initiatives (which earn them some points with Good On You), so if you really can’t stop buying clothes from H&M, try to buy things from these eco-friendly collections. This not only means that you end up with a better item of clothing than you would have done, but will also push more shops to include environmentally aware lines of clothing. This isn’t always the best option, because buying new is still not ideal, and the companies that churn out fast fashion still make money, however if that is the compromise for you as a consumer, then that’s better than nothing.
There are a lot of clothes sharing apps and websites around at the moment, such as The Nu Wardrobe, By Rotation and Tulerie. These all allow you to swap clothes with people, so that you have the feeling of having something new, without contributing to fast fashion. Most have an emphasis on fashion and sustainability, stressing that you can have both. If this isn’t your thing, you can also do a manual clothes swap (once lockdown is over), and meet up with friends and family who are around the same size as you, pool your clothing together and swap items around. Again, this gives you the feeling of something new as well as helping the environment.
As an example of shopping more responsibly, I recently purchased a pair of running leggings. I’ve started running in lockdown, and my regular gym leggings are starting to tear, which, due to the fabric, I can’t really repair. So, I opted to buy new. I looked around at several different online shops, and found that leggings are SO EXPENSIVE. Or at least, nice looking ones are. I decided that spending over £75 on leggings was ludicrous (spending just under £75 was also ludicrous, but I couldn’t find what I wanted at a price much below that). After looking around some more, I found a pair of Stella McCartney leggings that are suitable for running, pretty cute and made with recycled ocean plastic. They are 83% recycled nylon, ‘ created with ECONYL® regenerated yarn that’s made from recycled fishing nets and other discarded nylons’. Of course, these are still a new product, they still had to be shipped to me and they aren’t completely recycled. However, after discovering that Adidas by Stella McCartney has a rating of 4 or Good on Good On You, I decided that as this was the best product that I had found, so I bought them. They were £59.95 in the sale, which I thought was ok. Crucially, although this wasn’t the most environmentally friendly purchase, it was the best I personally could do under the circumstances, and I have already used the leggings several times. If I want to make more sustainable choices, then they also have to be sustainable for me and fit into my lifestyle.
So, that’s it on clothes, all the websites I talked about are linked below. It’s worth looking for your favourite shops on Good On You, because it’s very illuminating to see what brands try to hide from consumers.
Sources:
Good On You: https://goodonyou.eco/
The Nu Wardrobe: https://www.thenuwardrobe.com/
Tulerie: https://tulerie.com/
By Rotation: https://www.byrotation.com/
Adidas by Stella McCartney leggings: https://www.adidas.co.uk/warp-knit-leggings/DY4184.html
Waste Makes Waste 