In this age of environmental consciousness, a movement for eco-friendly sustainable style has emerged. We all want to look good, but no longer at the expense of Mother Nature – and this is precisely why sustainable fashion has become so popular. With the right ethical choices, it’s possible to create a wardrobe that champions the planet and its resources, while remaining in trend. Let’s explore the movement of sustainable style and look at the latest eco-friendly fashion trends for a greener wardrobe.
1. Eco-Chic: A Guide to Sustainable Style
Go Vintage: Discover discarded designer gems and make them your own with a little tweaking. Vintage pieces are a great way to get luxury items without contributing to the mass production of new pieces. Shopping in second-hand stores is an affordable way to give old clothes a second chance. Donate your outgrown out-of-style pieces, so others can also benefit from this trend!
Buy Local: Seek out small businesses around you that are making clothings with ecological materials and practices. Investing in local businesses helps your immediate community and decreases the overall costs of production. Not only that, but these stores usually offer more personally tailored and unique pieces.
Practice Thriftiness: Resist the urge to buy fast fashion pieces that were produced cheaply and quickly. Thrifting is a great way to build out your wardrobe without spending much money. Challenge yourself to create a variety of looks with a few key pieces you already have.
Shop with a Purpose: When you’re in the market for new pieces, consciously consider where they’re coming from, how much goes into making them, and how long they will last. When you shop smart, you can help reduce waste and support ethical brands.
- Invest in staple pieces that never go out of style
- Look for eco-friendly materials like organic cotton, hemp, and bamboo
- Consider purchasing items made with recycled or upcycled materials
2. The Benefits of Eco-Friendly Fashion
Now more than ever, eco-friendly fashion is becoming the norm. Eco-friendly clothing offers a multitude of benefits to both the environment and people; from reducing manufacturing waste and conserving resources, to helping you become more aware of how your choices are impacting the planet. Here are a few reasons why eco-friendly fashion matters:
- Improves the environment: Eco-friendly fashion reduces the footprint of the fashion industry, by using natural materials that are sustainable and earth-friendly. This includes using organic cotton and hemp, as well as natural dyes and other biodegradable materials such as soy and bamboo.
- Reduces water footprint: By choosing versions of eco-friendly fashion, you are helping to reduce the amount of water used in production processes. This is especially important in textiles, which use massive amounts of water in their production.
- Boosts consciousness: By shopping for eco-friendly fashion you are sending a strong message that you care about the environment, and are actively doing your part to help reduce damage done by the fashion industry. This type of fashion is also a step in the right direction to educate people on how to dress sustainably.
Eco-friendly fashion does not only mean a great contribution to a healthy environment, but it is also fashionable as well. You can find a variety of styles such as miniskirts, jumpsuits, and jeans, just to name a few. As the awareness of the planet increases so does the selection of the clothing itself, setting the trend for a sustainable wardrobe.
Adopting eco-friendly fashion also means that you are choosing clothing items that are made ethically, respecting the working conditions of the people who produce them. By doing so you are contributing to the improvement of the human rights in the fashion industry, which ensure safe production processes and fair wages for people involved.
3. Greening Your Closet: Top Eco-Friendly Trends
Since our wardrobes are a reflection of our lifestyle, keeping them in compliance with the demands of the environment is one of the most important ways to make our statement. We can upcycle existing garments, seek out renewable materials to create new pieces, and invest in quality and organic designs.
Upcycling: Upcycling is the opposite of recycling, keeping something old and making it look like new again. Re-purposing old or thrifted clothes you already have is not only a creative way to be more sustainable, but it can also give you a unique and personal style. Moreover, with the right fabric dyes, scissors, and a bit of imagination, it’s easy to customize pieces to perfectly mimic the new trends we keep seeing in the fashion industry.
Renewable Materials: Sustainable fibers such as organic cotton, peace silk, bamboo, hemp and more are great alternatives to more mainstream materials that put a lot of strain on the environment. Natural or replenishable materials are designed to be milder to both nature and to our skin, and they seize the opportunity of vegan fashion, where nothing stands between us and our style.
Invest in Quality and Organic Designs: Making a conscious decision to invest in timeless pieces and organic designs made with sustainable fabrics is always worth it. From the most classic silhouettes to unique paintings on the pieces, organic designs often scream quality. In these cases, you know you’re investing in something that you will cherish forever.
Top Eco-Friendly Trends:
- Thrift and Vintage
- Organic Dyeing
- Natural Fiber Clothing
- Recycled Denim
- Ethical Sewing and Mending
Set out on your journey to green your closet and you’re sure to find an abundance of ideas and resources to help nurture the ethical style within you. After all, we are all trendsetters for what is to come!
4. Creating a Greener Wardrobe Step-by-Step
1. Buy sustainable fabrics – When you start to build your eco-friendly wardrobe, the first step is to make sure you’re buying clothes made of sustainable fabrics. Choose natural fabrics such as bamboo, hemp, and organic cotton, to ensure that your wardrobe is better for the planet.
2. Look for ‘green’ labels – When shopping for clothes, look out for certification labels such as ‘fairtrade’, ‘Global Organic Textile Standard’ (GOTS), or ‘Oeko-Tex’ to ensure the products you are buying are giving back to the environment.
3. Invest in timeless classics – Buying clothes with a timeless and classic design will ensure they last longer, and so prevent needless waste. Think about investing in a few really nice items that you can mix and match with other parts of your wardrobe.
4. Make use of thrift shops – Thrift stores can be a great place to hunt for sustainable pieces of clothing. Plus thrift shops may surprise you with one-of-a-kind finds that you cannot find anywhere else!
5. Take care of your clothes – To make sure your clothes last longer, make sure you’re following the care instructions, and hand-washing when possible. Don’t forget, you can also use natural alternatives to toxic dry cleaning chemicals.
By investing in sustainable fashion, you can reduce your environmental footprint while still keeping up with the latest trends. Make eco-friendly style choices and enjoy feeling the pride of owning pieces made with respect for the planet. Shop consciously and enjoy a greener wardrobe as you create sustainable fashion that looks good and leaves the planet a little better than before.