Recently a girlfriend of mine mentioned she was confused about how she could help curb environmental destruction by the fashion industry. She is another style blogger who adores clothing. You may know her, Greetje of No Fear of Fashion.
Here is her comment,
“…What am I to do? How am I to know which brand is completely good/sustainable? And if I buy something of that brand second-hand, will that be so much better? Or do I help to maintain the idea that such items are desirable, keep their value? Like second-hand fur (which I never buy). I don’t know, I am really confused.” – Greetje
Three Things A Fashion Lover Can Do To Help Save Our Planet
1. Anything you buy secondhand will be better for the earth.
New resources aren’t utilized to create it. Trying your best to shop secondhand first is the easiest way to have a clear conscience that you are making a personal effort to curb the destruction of the only home we have.
The quality of pieces you can find secondhand will astound you.
If you don’t have the time to shop secondhand yourself you can always shop consignment stores which will have a more curated selection. You can also shop secondhand online via Poshmark, Thred Up, Ebay and Etsy. Most of the pieces I find for my Etsy store are bought via thrift.
Here are a couple of my recent secondhand finds…
2. Educate Yourself
Remaining oblivious to the reality isn’t a choice anymore. Knowledge is power. Taking responsibility for our choices and educating ourselves and others is the best course of action.
We are on the Titanic now. One can look away from the iceberg, ignore it, keep eating our lovely meals, dancing away wearing our beautiful clothes but in the end we all know how that story ends.
Here are some documentaries and articles I recommend for educating yourself about the perils of our obsession and overconsumption of fashion:
The True Cost available on Netflix
Are Your Clothes Wrecking The Planet?
Luxe: Les Dessous Chocs (in French)
Fast Fashion: Inside The Fight To End The Silence On Waste
Clothing Fabrics: How Sustainable is Your Wardrobe?
3. Buy Less
Ultimately consumption is the enemy. Taking small steps towards reducing your fashion consumption will not only benefit the earth but your pocketbook as well. Understanding what fuels our desire to consume will help you better control your spending habits.
95% of the time we don’t buy because we need something, we buy because of how it makes us feel.
Buying is based on emotion. You are never buying what you think you are buying, you’re buying into a lifestyle, an ideal, a dream of what you want your life to be. We buy aspirationally.
Every time you feel the desire to purchase something new ask yourself these questions:
Do I need this?
How will this improve my life?
Can I buy this used instead?
Is this better than what I already own?
Am I anxious, unhappy, bored, sad and buying this to make myself feel better?
How do I feel knowing that acres of land/water/resources were destroyed in order to make this piece?
Will this have any meaning for me when I look back on my life?
Ultimately you will need to decide for yourself if you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem.
I leave you with one last thought…
“We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it.” – WWF UK Chief Executive Tanya Steele
Linking up with Patti for Visible Monday, Turning Heads Tuesday and Fancy Friday
Great question from Greetje and excellent answer, Suzanne! ❤️
Thanks Sherry : )
thank you suzanne!!
again a gorgeous post!
@fur, esp. 2.hand: i can only talk for myself – but all my real fur is vintage, 50-70s. i´m the second or third owner and the pieces are still go strong and look beautiful – without washing/cleaning etc.! and i will wear them the rest of my life – 30 years if i´m optimistic. and IF they have done their duty – the coats can be composted after removing the metal fasteners……..
now compare a 50-100 y.o. fur coat with all the cold weather polyester anoraks, parkas, coats, softshells, fake fur a human buys in life – probably one piece a year, mostly more i guess – and all the washing that ist done with it…….and microplastic, pollution in production and the landfill/pollution while burning them. and the recycling thing is just greenwashing…..
at the moment, main stream fashion means BUYING – we must go back to WEARING!!!
xxxxx
I nodded my head in total agreement on that last sentiment Beate!
Your commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of our enthusiasm for fashion is always informative, and even provocative. I think your Titanic analogy creates the urgency that we need to come to terms with NOW.
I think the urgency is lost on most. Thanks Jude.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I practice all three of these and encourage others to also. You’re performing public service by spreading the word.
Thanks Ally : )
Hear, hear! I’m in total agreement, but as a girl with a passion for clothes, I do hope almost exclusively buying second hand is enough. Those questions are real eye openers, and I admit I’m flunking a lot of them. It’s not often that I actually need things, for instance … I also admit to succumbing to bouts of retail therapy from time to time, but that’s hardly surprising with some fantastic second hand shops at my fingertips. Still, I’m trying to do my bit, but I don’t hold out much hope for all those people out there buying into fast fashion, again and again, who couldn’t care less about saving the planet. Call me pessimistic, but I kind of lost my faith in humanity on that account … xxx
I too have lost my faith in humanity for so many reasons. The world we knew and grew up with will soon no longer exist and it is all due to human greed.
I think that buying secondhand is a big step towards taking environmental responsibility. I am forever grateful to another blogger for opening my eyes to the issues, Bella of Citizen Rosebud. She no longer blogs but it was due to a comment she made on my blog many years back that I finally opened my eyes and slowly began to change my ways.
I hear ya!
People are dying because of our love for new clothes. It doesn’t matter if it’s high or low end fashion, it’s new and it’s making an impact on the environment.
I defy anyone to watch Stacy Dooley’s Fashion’s Dirty Secrets on the BBC Iplayer (HERE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bn6034) and not lose their appetite for fashion.
We are the last generation to make a difference, time is running out.
I do think shopping is often a substitute for a happy life. As the agony aunts used to advise heartbroken teenage girls in the magazines of my youth – take up a hobby! xxx
I agree, in order to break a bad habit you need to replace it with something else, like a creative hobby.
Sadly that BBC program only plays in the UK. I managed to watch it on You Tube but they have since removed it. I did include the article on that program though in my resources.
If you haven’t seen it yet River Blue is even better and I imagine the spark that started Stacy Dooley’s quest.
Great advice Suzanne! I do keep all of those things in mind, but I will say i do own quite a lot and I am not perfect, for sure. Second hand is my first choice for both home goods and clothing. I also kept many of my older house items when contractors and others said it was no longer in. I have a big kitchen with green veined granite, and kept it during a remodel, refaced the cabinets, even when new cabinets may have been less expensive. … I buy quality things that last in general and take excellent care of them. I try.
The whole consumption thing is not just about clothing, but I get that is your focus here and I agree, but about all of out purchases, and even how and what we eat. How we get our groceries, do we have them sent in big cardboard boxes, and do we go tot he store ourselves.?
My lobby entry, where my concierge is stationed, is so cluttered and high with amazon boxes, that my concierge can not see who comes in as well as he should. It hasn’t been a problem with security yet, but the sight of the ever growing stack of boxes is both overwhelming and emblematic of the larger issues that you address.
thanks for sharing this and being focused on this upsetting trend.
Xoxo,
Elle
https://theellediaries.com
I agree that our lives need to change and not just in how we purchase fashion. I’ve been vegetarian almost all my life but now myself and my husband are essentially vegan apart from eggs. We have changed the way we do things as well. We don’t have groceries delivered, never have though. We use less plastic, buy essentials from Bulk Barn without packaging, soap berries for laundry instead of soap, less energy consumption, switched to energy efficient lighting, take public transport, etc. Every day we try harder to reduce our impact on the earth. Certainly though a reduction in overall consumption is an important step.
For the first time in many years I walked into an hm today, because I wanted to check out their Morris collaboration.
The prints were gorgeous, but when trying on some of the pieces there were loose threads hanging off of the seams. It made me realize how poor the quality is, AND that an actual person had to make this, probably under horrible circumstances.
So, I hung the shirt back. In the end it turns out I find the planet and other humans more important than a pretty fabric! It took me some years, and a lot of documentaries and blog posts to get here though! So thank you for bringing this to everyone’s attention.
I’m really happy to learn that you felt better for leaving that fast fashion temptation behind! It isn’t easy to change our ways but every effort counts.
Great proactive post, Suzanne.
I am buying less and less and looking to reduce my own bulk of clothing. There is simply too much. Instead of elevating, it sometimes depresses. Elle mentioned a good point about this not just being a problem with clothing – eating habits, housing. Awareness is the first step. I hope we’re quick about it.
I agree wholeheartedly about feeling overwhelmed and somewhat suffocated by our past need for consumption.
Your ability to change your ways has been very inspirational for me.
I’m happy I don’t have children hoping to inherit the earth because there won’t be anything left.
thanks for this post and the really great advice!. I love particularly that you keep a positive point of view and make us feel that we can change!
I really believe that everything could be different if we just buy things when we need them. Food, clothes, stuff, whatever.
Once more, thanks!
besos
I love these tips. I have been shopping secondhand on Poshmark for years and I also have found the Real Real. I enjoy shopping secondhand, as you mentioned and think it has to be a consciencious effort too. Educating oneself is always important in whatever you want to change, I agree!
thanks for linking!
jess xx
http://www.elegantlydressedandstylish.com
Ah.. here it is. The post you created about my comment. What can I say? I am conscious of what is happening in the world. I try to do my bit and I am getting better in less consuming and buying second-hand. But we don’t have consignment stores and big beautiful second-hand places here in The Netherlands. Only a few so it is harder as indeed I love clothes (and jewellery and shoes). Indeed over consuming. Finding another hobby is no way out. I tried everything. Blogging about outfits is my one hobby.
Of course I cannot argue with you over what you are saying. It is 100% true. But I haven’t advanced in this journey as much as you have. How do you feel about me when I cannot do the same as you can?
Greetje
Well this didn’t happen for me overnight so I understand it is a process. I do think though that popular bloggers such as yourself owe it to themselves and their readers to be properly educated about what is happening within the industry and the planet. They shouldn’t look away. When I look at anything in a retail store now I see the amount of water, chemicals, waste and the destruction this is causing our earth rather than the pretty piece of clothing in front of me. I can tell you it turns me off. I just saw another exhibit called Anthropocene at the Art Gallery of Ontario about the damage man has inflicted upon the planet and honestly it scares me. Did you know we will run out of oil in 53 years? That means no more fuel, no more plastic. The earth is well on its way to becoming one vast garbage dump due to our need to consume. Knowledge is power. Empower yourself. We are not what we buy.