How to incorporate eco-friendly clothing into your wardrobe
When thinking about eco-friendly and ethical in the fashion/beauty industry, many people think that these terms can only apply to makeup. However, the clothing industry makes a huge impact on the world around us.
Manufacturing and producing clothing can include child labor, animal cruelty and pollution. There are many brands emerging across the world that are proudly labeling themselves eco-friendly, vegan and ethical, which means the clothing they sell is made by people in good working conditions, the materials used are eco-friendly and cause very little to no pollution, and the materials don’t include any animal products or by-products. Lots of prominent brands are also coming out with lines of clothing that are vegan and ethically made.
So why should this be important to you?
Many popular brands are all about putting out whatever is in style for that week. That means that they need to manufacture as much clothing as they can as cheaply and as quickly as possible. The term for this phenomenon is fast fashion. This means that they can resort to child labor and producing poorly made items. The clothing itself is often lower quality and won’t last long, so if you have to constantly buy something new, you’re spending more money in the long run. It also means that the company is getting more money and is continuing to use child labor or labor in poor conditions. It’s cheaper and far more ethical to purchase one good quality, expensive article of clothing that you know will last a while than buying a cheap item that will last no longer than a year.
Of course not everyone, especially college students, can splurge on expensive items all the time regardless of their quality, but not all quality options are pricey. A great alternative is to shop at secondhand stores. Not only are the prices great, but you are not contributing to the companies that are not ethical. This doesn’t mean just shopping at Goodwill, as there are so many great vintage and second hand online stores, like Depop, that will have the specific items you’re looking for.
Another thing to look out for is clothing items that are made of either polyester or acrylic. These two fabrics create a lot of pollution when being manufactured. Some all natural, low-impact textiles that are good are silk, hemp, linen and wool.
The best start to solving this issue is to be aware of the brands you are buying from. Before shopping, do some research. Most, if not all, clothing brand websites have an info page about where and how their clothing is made.
Here’s a list of some popular clothing brands that have vegan and eco-friendly options or who are completely ethical: Patagonia, Saucony, Doc Martens, Reformation, Nudie Jeans, Apolis, Rag & Bone, Levis, and many more. If everyone shopped exclusively ethical brands, the fashion industry would be much more sustainable and would possibly inspire other industries to follow suit.
