SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING

PART 2

This week, Mitchelstown TY student Amy O’Brien explains that ‘rewearing’ is one of the main and most important ways to shop more sustainably, which we know is really important because of the fast fashion industry - which she explained last week in Part 1.

One of the most sustainable ways to shop is actually to just shop less! Next time there is an event or even just a day out where you feel you need to buy a new outfit, ask yourself, is there something I already own? Likewise, with any clothes that you’ve got at home, try to move away from thinking of clothes as disposable or considering them to have short lives in your home. Even if the items you bought were fast fashion, you can change your mindset so that those clothes become slow fashion, because you wear and care for them for as long as possible.

POSITIVE IMPACT

Rewearing the clothes you already own massively helps to reduce your role in the fast fashion industry. How? Well, by choosing the same top over and over again, you don’t need to go buy a new top that was flown across the world, was potentially made using harmful chemicals that polluted the local area where it was made and in turn, our planet; used a wasteful amount of water and was likely made by a poorly treated woman.

At the same time, you stopped one T-shirt going to landfill where it would not decompose in our lifetime, but would instead continue to harm the planet for years to come. The exact same goes for multiple, whole outfits and hopefully, the people around you would also be more inclined to outfit repeat which creates an immeasurable ripple effect. Especially so, if you take the time to sit down and have a conversation with them about fast fashion and educate them even in the smallest way about the harm it causes!

Many of the climate actions we can take as individuals, either as a collective to create systemic change or as consumers making responsible choices, have impacts that aren’t easily seen or put on a weighing scale and measured. But as long as that impact is positive, it’s always worth thinking and acting for both people and the planet. After that, it needn’t matter how big or small the impact is!

SLOW FASHION

Fast fashion products often are not made to last, this is so that you are forced to throw away that piece of clothing and buy a new one because it is profit driven. So, if your clothes grow a hole in them, if they are looking a bit tatty, if it’s just getting old, one word ‘upcycle’ it! There are so many brilliant ways to repair your clothes so learning to sew, even the basics of sewing, can be really useful if a button falls off, the fabric tears and so on.

You could also take the material from the clothes and upcycle it to create a new, exciting piece.

Another option is to get your clothes altered because you may want to change the shape of the garments, but you needn’t throw it in the bin. I think that whether you re-wear, upcycle, alter or repair something, the vital point is that you respect and try to make the fabric last as long as you can.

That’s slow fashion and slow fashion is sustainable!

Of course, you still will need to buy new clothes and have fun exploring styles which is why, next week, I’ll be writing about second hand shopping, local shopping, vintage shopping, charity shopping and visiting small businesses.