lovesouthernsocial.com

Sustainable clothing emerged to change the way we consume fashion

Morning Brew image on Unsplash

More than saving water and separating organic and recyclable waste, how about wearing the sustainability shirt? To reduce consumption and avoid the scarcity of natural resources, stylists, companies and fashion events have been giving more and more space to sustainable clothing in their collections. Made with materials such as PET bottle fibers, organic cotton, bamboo, plastic bags and even umbrellas, sustainable clothes also use dignified and fair labor.

The textile industry is one of the four that most consume natural resources, according to data from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In this scenario, the search for organic raw materials, that is, cultivated without the use of pesticides or insecticides, is still the main challenge for the sector. The EPA estimates that the use of chemicals in conventional cotton crops is up to eight times that of growing food, and accounts for about 30% of pesticide use on Earth.

Sustainable fashion is an aspect that is concerned with using methods that do not produce or minimize the environmental impacts generated in the product development process. It arose from the need to rethink the conduct of our society from an ecological point of view. From the fabric production stage to the unrestrained consumption and disposal of used parts, humanity has extracted a large amount of non-renewable natural resources, polluting and degrading nature, without worrying about the consequences of this.

fast fashion

Throughout history, clothing has established itself as a form of status to differentiate the nobles from the rest of the population. This still happens - and when a trend becomes very popular, it is replaced with a new one. This system results in the constant manufacture of collections with programmed obsolescence by seasons and seasons, known as fast fashions, common in retail trade. The new looks are quickly propagated by the media, which acts by reflecting and legitimizing new habits and market trends.

The accelerated consumption of clothes has left great marks on the environment. In addition, the textile industry also fosters sociocultural inequality, as it often uses seasonal, informal and even slave labor.

Fashion and environmental preservation may seem like conflicting concepts, as the former creates products with short life cycles, and the latter takes into account durability, sustainability and product reuse. However, some shapes are more prone to change than others. The so-called "classics" have a design less dated in time, and therefore have greater longevity.

Furthermore, fashion is, above all, an expression of personal style, which demonstrates each person's creativity and aesthetic sense. Through fashion you can express your individuality. When using a brand, you are not just buying the beauty of the piece, you are legitimizing the entire production process and carrying the company's moral value.

If the store where you buy uses slave or child labor in its manufacture and incorrectly disposes of harmful chemical residues into the environment, you are encouraging these practices. It is also necessary to take into account that the lack of choice, due to the high prices of certain brands, can leave buyers with their hands tied. Thus, in a way, consumers have the power to support or punish brands for their social and environmental attitudes, and this happens through our consumption choices. For this, it is essential to find out about the products that the manufacturer uses. If you want to become a responsible and eco-friendly consumer, you must ask yourself how, where and by whom the clothes you are going to buy were made.

There are many measures that can be used to reduce the social and environmental impacts on the fashion industry. There are countless processes and decision moments before which a brand adopts its position and can invest in the sustainable development paradigm. In this scenario, several stylists, companies and fashion events have given space to sustainable clothing in their collections.

Sustainable clothing for all tastes

Despite being made with alternative products, sustainable fashion can offer more sophisticated clothes and varied options, such as dresses, shoes and even accessories. When the brand or the creator decides to present an ecological line, the product possibilities are the same as for industrial collections. According to businesswoman and consultant Keka Ribeiro, nowadays we have sustainable fashion options ranging from party clothes to lingerie. The accessories further expand the possibilities for confection, as they can be produced from different materials.

Creative and sustainable trends in fashion

slow fashion

O slow fashion emerged as a more sustainable socio-environmental alternative in the fashion world. he opposes the fast fashion - current fashion production system that prioritizes mass manufacturing, globalization, visual appeal, the new, dependency, hiding the environmental impacts of the product life cycle, cost based on labor and cheap materials without take into account social aspects of production.

The practice of slow fashion values ​​diversity; prioritizes the local over the global; promotes social and environmental awareness; contributes to trust between producers and consumers; it practices real prices that incorporate social and ecological costs; and maintains its production between small and medium scales. The system configured with this production model tends to be fairer for everyone involved in the production chain.

• Learn more in the article "What is Slow Fashion?"

Upcycling

The technique of upcycling it consists in creatively giving a new and better purpose to a product that would be discarded without degrading the quality and composition of the material. An item that went through the upcycle it is usually of equal or better quality than your original.

The practice reduces the amount of waste produced that would spend years in landfills. Also, the upcycling it reduces the need to explore raw materials to generate new products. In the case of plastic, this means less exploited oil, fewer trees felled in the case of wood and, in the case of metal, less mining.

All of this also results in significant savings in water and energy, used both in the exploitation of natural resources and in recycling, although in less quantity in the latter case. The practice of upcycling is one of the great examples of the Circular Economy, which proposes that waste serve as an input for the production of new products.

• Learn more in the article "Upcycling: what is the meaning and how to adhere to fashion?"

fair trade

Fair Trade – fair trade, in English – appears as an alternative to traditional forms of market and tries to establish fairer standards of conduct. One of the ways to ensure that purchased parts are produced in a conscious, humane and responsible manner is to look for certificates of fair trade, which contribute to sustainable development by providing better exchange conditions and guaranteeing rights for producers and workers.

• Learn more in the article "Fairtrade: what is fair trade?"

eco fashion

Ecofashion (or ecological fashion) starts from the same concept as ecodesign and considers the environmental consequences at all stages of a product's development. In this trend, the consumption of resources is reduced and materials and processes that collaborate to reduce the environmental impact throughout the cycle are chosen. Thus, there is the use of fabrics made of organic fibers and production methods that minimize environmental contamination, avoiding as much as possible polluting chemical products, such as synthetic dyes. Some alternatives are organic cotton and pineapple, bamboo and hemp fibers.

When thinking about the sustainability of a material, we must consider several factors, such as the renewability of the source, the process of how the fiber is made into fabric, and the total carbon footprint of the material. According to the foundation Earth Pledge, more than eight thousand chemicals are used in the textile industry and 25% of the world's pesticides are used in the cultivation of non-organic cotton. Efforts to find measures that reduce damage to nature during raw material cultivation, production and transport make sustainable fashion typically more expensive than that manufactured by conventional models.

Zero-waste fashion

The concept of zero waste fashion refers to the production of clothing and accessories whose manufacture generates little or no waste. he is part of the movement eco fashion and eliminates waste during product manufacturing. In this model, in addition to reusing scraps to make details of pieces, the designer chooses patterns that use the fabric efficiently, creating a sustainable garment from start to finish.

• Learn more in the article "What is Zero Waste?"