The Benefits of Embracing Sustainable Clothing

More than ever, shoppers are considering the sustainability of their clothing. Images of perfectly wearable clothing lying in landfills have haunted fashion fanatics. You may even have friends who spend their weekends hunting through thrift stores and searching online for sustainable fabrics. If sustainable clothing is something you are considering, but you want to look good as well as save the planet, here are some benefits to consider.

Local support

By shopping with local sustainable manufacturers, you are supporting your community. As well as the manufacturers that are local to you, there are also clothing brands that work with international local communities who have unique products to offer. For example, statecashmere.com sells womenswear that is created using Mongolian goats’ wool. Relying on shepherds instead of large-scale mills is a much more localized and sustainable way of creating clothing.

Carbon footprint

It’s not just your utilities that generate a carbon footprint. Everything we eat and wear comes with its own carbon footprint that is created as a result of production methods. Non-sustainable clothing comes with an extortionate carbon footprint as a result of the mass-production and shipping that is needed to make it. On top of that, the textile and fashion industry is one of the worst culprits when it comes to water pollution.

Ethics

Unfortunately, unsustainable clothing also has ethical implications. Many sweatshops and industrial farms use laborers who are hugely underpaid. Not only that, but they often operate in areas where child labor is used to provide an income for struggling families. These children are often working in conditions that would not be deemed humane or suitable by modern ethical standards.

Cruelty-free

Under the sustainability umbrella, you will also find the term ‘cruelty-free.’ By not using fur (as opposed to wool) or companies that test on animals, you also add an extra ethical benefit. If you want to opt for cruelty-free as well as sustainable clothing, you can save yourself an extra battle of the conscience.

Fair Trade

When you shop sustainably, it’s important to remember that you will also be helping to guarantee workers a fairer price. The reason why so many large-scale manufacturers keep returning to unethical sweatshops is that they can cut overheads by paying workers poorly. Paying a little more for a sustainable fashion garment means that the person that made it will be receiving a fair wage.

New lease of life

Of course, many people know that part of shopping sustainably involves hunting through thrift stores. Not only is this great for the environment, but it gives old clothing a new lease of life. It seems wasteful to imagine that a piece of clothing will only have one glory day.

As you can see, ‘sustainable’ has many meanings. Whether it’s a sustainable way of living for the workers or methods of production that don’t harm the planet or animals, you will be joining a cause that’s much larger than shopping in thrift stores. By shopping consciously and sustainably, you are helping to push the movement forward.