The Ethical Fashion Movement: How Can You Join

In the world of fashion, everyone wants what’s new and what’s trendy. The fashion industry has been this way for quite some time, and while this kind of fashion is fun and fast-paced, it poses a threat to our environment. About 84% of clothing ends up in our landfills because consumers want what’s new and now, and once that trendy or particular style has run its course, they no longer need those items, so they just throw them away with the rest of their garbage.  

As of recently, sustainable fashion has been making its breakthrough in the fashion world. Sustainable fashion refers to a movement where clothing items are produced in a sustainable, ethical way. New clothing is created from sustainable resources and materials or gives secondhand clothing a chance at a new life. Thrift stores have been around for years, but people never really knew how many “hidden gems” they have until it became trendy. The sustainable fashion movement is all about creating a sense of style without hurting our planet, whether it’s supporting brands like AllBirds that have a high focus on sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint or by shopping secondhand and making old clothing new again.

This movement is only just getting started. More and more consumers, influencers, and even celebrities are hopping on board after seeing what clothing in our landfills is doing to our planet.

How can you join in?

When it comes to joining the sustainable fashion movement, there isn’t a club or group you ask to be a part of. This movement is about doing what you think is right, knowing what brands source their materials ethically, using sustainable resources, and understanding what is happening to our landfills and our planet from all the thrown out and wasted clothing.

If you want to do what’s right for the world and join the sustainable fashion movement, here are three ways to do it:

By buying thrifted items, you are saving between 50-80% of that clothing from ending up in our landfills.

Go thrift shopping

One of the best and most popular ways to join the sustainable fashion movement is by heading to your local thrift stores rather than the big retail stores. Retail stores account for a large majority of the fashion industry waste, but choosing thrift stores instead gives you second chances to clothing that someone else didn’t want. By buying thrifted items, you are saving between 50-80% of that clothing from ending up in our landfills.

Support sustainable brands

There are so many different clothing brands that practice sustainability in this business and ethically source the materials used in their clothing. You can join this movement by researching those brands and choosing to support them rather than your big name stores like Macy’s.

Turn old things into something new

Whether it’s a pair of jeans, a crew neck sweater, or your favorite white tee, you can always turn something old into something new. Rather than throwing your clothing out, see how you can change it to give it a second life or how else you can use it in your life.

Noteworthy sustainable fashion campaigns:

Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign

This campaign took place in 2011 when the sustainable fashion movement started to take off. The campaign focused on not buying things you don’t need. This campaign encouraged consumers to reduce what they purchased, repair what they have, reuse items, and recycle their clothes all the time. They focused on their jackets’ high-quality materials and craftsmanship to show people they don’t need more – they already have everything they need.

Everlane Warming Jackets

This is an excellent example of a brand using sustainable materials to create fabrics. While Everlane is a smaller brand that not many people know, they focus on sustainable clothing from renewable materials. Their campaign image was a water bottle saying “warming the planet,” compared to a model wearing a jacket saying “warming you.” This was a simple yet very effective sustainable fashion campaign!

Takeaways:

• Sustainable fashion is accessible to everyone
• If we all join together, sustainable fashion can be the future
• If large name brands can create sustainable fashion, so can every clothing brand