How to be a More Conscious Consumer before Earth Month Ends
Photo: DANIELE VENTURELLI via: The Hollywood Reporter
Now that Earth month or April is coming to a close, it is important to focus on sustainability and being more conscious. It can be difficult to want to be heavily involved in the fashion industry or want to be fashionable while the fashion industry is still affecting the climate poorly. The fashion industry makes about 100 to 150 million garments a year while consumers buy up to 80 million garments per year. As climate change becomes worse with extreme weather conditions, wildfires, floods, etc., the fashion industry and its consumers need to re-evaluate their practices and keep the planet in mind. These are a few tips so people can become more conscious consumers.
Photo: Stella McCartney via: Dazed
One of the best things that people can do is to make their old clothing new again. This can be done with upcycling, recycling or reusing clothing. Consumers can cut, paint, re-dye, etc. their old clothes to make them different from before. This not only allows consumers to be more creative, but it also allows their clothing to get a refresh. This prevents new resources from being made or wasted in the future. Consumers don’t always have to DIY their own clothes, there are many upcycled brands that are experts in making things new such as ‘The Revival’ that allows consumers to buy recycled or upcycled clothing.
Photo: Stella McCartney via: The Industry
Renting or burrowing clothing for specific events can help consumers not buy anything new just for one event. Renting burrowing clothing can be from renting websites or from friends or family. This is not only good for events but if people want to try a new look or do not want to fully commit to a garment. Another thing that consumers can do is to buy more timeless and long lasting garments that can go with any trend or style. This allows consumers to wear their clothing for a longer time and this clothing will be less likely to get wasted or thrown in a landfill. Multi-faceted clothing that has multiple uses or that can be worn for multiple occasions can also help.
Photo: Stella McCartney via: Stella McCartney
If a consumer wants to buy something new, then shopping with sustainable brands that use recycled or biomaterials are a good option. For instance, Stella McCartney is a luxury brand that creates their clothing from a lot of biomaterials such as their lab grown mushroom ‘leather’ material. The last and most popular option is to buy secondhand or thrift clothing. This option has grown in popularity in recent years. There are a lot of popular thrift stores and consignments that carry lots of brands from luxury to fast fashion brands and have options for everyone.
Photo: Stella McCartney via: Stella McCartney
As earth month comes to a close, consumers and the industry have to think about how they can do better to be more sustainable. There are a lot of options for consumers to do in order to be better in the future. The fashion industry is one of the leading polluters in the world, but this cannot continue. Consumers need to change their current shopping habits and overconsumption. The planets needs to be put more at the forefront in order for climate change to not get any worse.
