Sustainability and eco-friendly are the words that are hot on the lips of many fashionistas. People are turning their backs on the fast-fashions that have such a severe impact on the environment, and about time too. However, while you may share the sentiments, you may not be fully clued up about what you can do to shop more sustainably. Here are 3 tips to making purchases that literally don’t cost the earth.
Shop online
This sounds counter-intuitive doesn’t it; however, research from Chalmers University of Technology has shown that 22% of a garment’s negative impact on the environment is through the consumer driving to multiple stores to find the required item. If you live in an urban environment where you can walk to the stores, this figure will be reduced, but if you
don’t, shopping online minimises the climate impact.
How is online shopping beneficial to the environment?
The delivery firms transport goods via a distribution centre which then plans the route for the driver to bulk drop items in a cost-efficient route. While you receive the item in a plastic bag, the bag is also used to deliver to stores, it is just removed before you see it on the rack.
Research brands
If you are shopping online you are more likely to come across information about the brand’s environmental impact: who they use to make the clothes, whether the business is animal-friendly, etc., but if you are going to make a purchase, research the brand that you are thinking of buying from.
Brands use the internet to document how they are environmentally friendly and provide peeks behind the scenes to confirm their position. Look out for evidence of positive environmental and social practices. For example, manufacturers who use baling wire from balingwiredirect.com to bind their cardboard ready for recycling, and photos and information
about the artisans or factory workers who create their products. Businesses are now happy to show the world the conditions that they provide their workers – if they are ethical and provide a fair wage and safe working conditions.
Choose environmentally friendly fabrics
A lot of fabrics and textiles that are used to make garments use toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process that harm the environment and the health and wellbeing of the workers who make them. Polyester and other synthetic materials such as acrylic and viscose rayon are a prolific source of plastic and toxic chemicals in water. Cotton also has a significant impact on the environment as the pesticides that are used to protect the crop are excessively and dangerously used and it also requires a huge amount of water to support its growth.
Bamboo and hemp are the ideal eco-friendly fabrics. They are fast growing, high yielding, require no pesticides or fertilisers, and do not deplete the soil of nutrients. These fabrics are fast becoming the go-to textiles for ethical companies to use.
To support the environment, you don’t have to stop shopping and consuming; rather, you just need to make wiser decisions about where you buy from. You may have to pay a little more for your sustainable and ethically manufactured clothes, but it is a small price to pay for
a clear conscience.
