How The Environment Benefits
From Sustainable Fashion
Being a multibillion-dollar enterprise, the fashion industry is one of the world's biggest industries and with a carbon footprint to match.
Depending on which figures you believe, the fashion industry is responsible for between 4-10% of the world’s entire carbon footprint… second only to the impeccable oil industry. This is due to exploitation, overconsumption (such as fast fashion) and how it contributes to pollution.
However, it doesn't have to be this way. Across the globe, more and more brands are choosing sustainability to lower the impact clothing has on our planet.
What Is Sustainable Fashion?
The movement of sustainable fashion aims to have fairly made clothing become the norm. Whereby things like organic materials, sustainable factories and eco-friendly packaging are the norm.
It is entirely possible to consume fashion in a more responsible way. There is an abundance of sustainability innovation that does not sacrifice creativity or design. Most importantly, it's helping to save the only planet we have (because there is no planet B).
Here are some ways that the environment benefits from sustainable fashion:
Source: World Economic Forum
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop Dramatically
The overall fashion industry tends to have a trio of ways in which it produces greenhouse gases. That happens through cows, oil, and transportation. All three of these are solved by supporting sustainable fashion.
Vegan materials - Leather and similar materials that come from animals are quite damaging. A lot of animals end up being raised for the sole purpose of fashion and food. You can get vegan clothing in Melbourne as there are several alternatives to leather such as cork, mushrooms and fruits like apples. They have great quality and do not damage the environment or contribute to animal cruelty.
Less synthetic materials used - Nylon, polyester, spandex and synthetic materials all need oil. Instead of these materials, it's best to go for plant-based and natural materials, like bamboo, hemp and organic cotton.
Production is local - While having clothes made in third-world countries makes production cheaper, it costs us our planet in the long run. On top of employing local artisans and using local materials, the local economy gets a boost.
Less Water Is Consumed
One of the natural resources fashion tends to use a lot of is water. An example is elements like cotton, which only grows with a lot of water. Did you know that it requires 600 litres of water to make one cotton t-shirt?
It also includes laundry later on; a washing machine uses around 50 litres of water with every load on average.
The benefits of organic cotton
Textile Waste Production Is Drastically Reduced
There is an overwhelming demand for fast fashion, which results in many brands rushing to meet the supply needs. Directly contradicting this is the slow fashion movement, which has been around for some time. It only began to become secondary when fast fashion became a huge hit around the late '80s up to the early '90s.
Alongside minimalism, sustainable fashion attempts to slowly but surely reiterate the idea of only buying clothes as they're needed. Here at Stride, we endorse the 30x rule - if you can’t see yourself wearing it 30 times, then don’t buy it!
Trends are rarely followed, and there's no trend of whole collections released weekly so that people will keep buying. Slow fashion highlights quality over quantity with timelessness.
Conclusion
The fashion industry is a multibillion-dollar enterprise, but the size of the industry is at the expense of the planet.
Sustainable fashion is trying to reintroduce slow fashion and better ways to go about fashion in general. It offers a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and safe alternatives to animal leather.
Looking for vegan jackets in Australia? Check out Stride today!
We're Australia's go-to destination for everything sustainable fashion and beauty.