3 SUSTAINABLE FASHION TRENDS WE LOVE!!

Its always the small changes that make a big impact! If each of us decides to put a little thought in the way we shop, we could make a big difference to the large piles of textile waste accumulating all over the world.

Here are three easy ways you can be embrace sustainable fashion in your everyday life!

1. CIRCULAR THINKING: Circular fashion can be defined as clothes, shoes or accessories that are designed, sourced, produced, and provided with the intention to be used and circulate responsibly and effectively in society for as long as possible in their most valuable form, and hereafter return safely to the biosphere when no longer of human use. (Anna Brismar, Green Strategy, 2017) In our lives we can adopt circular fashion by thinking of the next use of a garment while purchasing it. A garment should be designed for longevity, biodegradability and recyclability. It should be sourced and produced without using any techniques or materials that are toxic for the environment. This way, in its entire lifecycle, the garment doesn’t harm the environment at any stage. For starters, it’s essential that we buy sustainable fabrics that can be re-used and re-cycled easily. Apart from that, we also ought to use, wash and repair them with care; and consider swapping, renting and redesigning.

2. THRIFTING: The most eco-friendly way to re-use fashion is thrifting. Recycling textiles can require huge amounts of energy which thrift shopping limits completely. Thrift shopping is quick, easy & sustainable, even for fashion bugs. If you are used to buying clothes of latest trends, thrift shops are known to offer them at cheaper prices.

Thrift shops offer a great solution to dealing with the flood of unwanted clothes from overconsumption of fast fashion brands. In India, thrifting has not caught on as much as it has in the west, due to lots of mass market clothing brands creating clothing at extremely low prices. Combined with the stigma attached to secondhand purchases, our country is still relatively new to thrifting on a large scale. Thrifting is one cool trend we need to actively embrace and promote as much as possible!

3.BUY CONSCIOUSLY: At recycling facilities, workers aim to re-sell the clothing as is, or repurpose it. As a last resort the clothing is shredded in machines and returned to fibers that can be used to make new products such as upholstery and home installation. Synthetic fabrics would often gum up these machines and the recycling facilities are piled high with so much stuff they feel like a landfill. For this reason, one needs to be a more discerning customer. It is important to buy good quality textiles made with natural fibres that can be recycled or re-used easily and wont end up in landfills. A quality clothing garment has more chances to get thrifted or even shredded up to be recycled than a very low priced fast fashion one. Additionally, if we want to extend the life of products so that they are  ontinuously worn and shared from one user to another, products need to be designed and created with more thought to their end use. Conscious consumption from responsible clothing brands that are transparent about the materials they use, can help in reducing textile waste to a large extent.