5 Simple Ways to Be Sustainably Fashion Smart

Fashion is filthy and these 5 tips will help you clean up a little

We make 400 billion square metres of textiles every single year. 60 billion square metres of that ends up as waste on the cutting room floor, heading straight into landfill.

Sometimes it seems like these numbers are too big, and as one person, it feels impossible to have a measurable impact, but as a globe, we've created these numbers, therefore, we can change them. Which brings me to shop ethical or shop sustainable? 

THE TRUTH IS THAT WHILE SHOPPING ETHICALLY IS IMPORTANT, IT'S ALSO EASY AND SHOPPING SUSTAINABLY IS BETTER. IT REQUIRES A LITTLE MORE THOUGHT AND SOMETIMES A LITTLE MORE TIME, BUT IT'S SOMETHING WORTH SLOWING DOWN FOR. THESE TIPS ARE ALL SIMPLE, BUT I KNOW HOW HARD IT IS SOMETIMES TO JUST GET ON AND DO THE OBVIOUS SO I AM GOING TO HELP YOU BY TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO NEXT.

Here's what to do

1. Instead of buying that $10 shirt just because it’s $10, buy a locally made or Fairtrade shirt that costs a little more because it's made well with better fabrics.
2. Instead of buying those $20 jeans with the knees cut out because it's trending, go home and DIY a pair of ripped jeans from one of the five pairs of regular jeans you already own.
3. Summer is here. Get out all the long pants - not just jeans - you have in your wardrobe and turn them into shorts or capris. (Don't worry about how much they cost or even what you wore them for. If they will work as shorts, cut them off. If you can't sew a hem, get the altered or just turn them up.)
4. Do you always wear the same things together? Get a friend around and ask them to put your wardrobe together in the way they would wear it and get some new ways to wear the things you already have.
5. Instead of buying something new every time you have an event to go to, get creative with your wardrobe and learn how to alter or sew. 

I went to a wedding on the weekend and dusted off a jumpsuit that I have owned for six years. Would I have loved to go out and splurge on a new lacy Spring dress & sparkly new shoes for the wedding? Sure.

Do I have the money or space in my wardrobe? Maybe, but do I have the desire to contribute to an already-absurd problem? Hell no. I just took up the hem of the jumpsuit, altered it a little, layered some jewellery and off I went.

If we work with what we already own and reduce the amount of fashion we buy brand new, we can dramatically reduce the environmental impact of the world's second most polluting industry. 

AS A SOCIETY, WE'VE CREATED THIS TEXTILE MESS, LITERALLY, AND THE INDUSTRY NEEDS CLEANING UP, DESPERATELY.

Next time you have somewhere important to go, wear something you already own. Not even I can truthfully say, 'I have nothing to wear!'

The Fashion Advocate x 

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