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So it is high time for all of us to take a sustainable and ethical approach towards our clothing choice before it is too late. One ounce of cautious approach can make us safe from one pound of hazards in future. The present approach towards clothing choice is “Take-Make-Dispose”; rather it should be “Take-Make-Reuse”. We should stop buying and throwing away clothes as quick as the weather changes on a day of monsoon. If this interests you, following points would be a good point to start to join the movement.
We are extremely acquainted with the word ‘Fashion’. Even people who say they care very less about what they wear, they also choose clothes every morning accordingly. Also they try to convey a lot about them and how they feel that day. That’s very fine; however we miss to notice one certain thing about fashion that the usual trend in the fashion world is ‘Change’. The fast fashion industries’ impulsive changes in fashion trend put consumers in a challenge to choose the right choice. This intentional impulsive fashion trend change acts as their money making strategy loosing insight how grievous harm causing to environment and humanity. This raises a question: the ethicality of the business and the sustainability of the industry.
Here lies the real problem as in reality choosing the right clothing according to the current fashion trend is like an endless popularity contest.
The fast fashion has made the apparel really affordable; however, it comes with a price, not the price we pay to buy, but the price we pay for environmental damages, low cost labour and child labour. It produces 10% of total carbon emissions and it is the second largest polluting industry in the world. In the recent time, the sustainability and ethicality have become two major concerns here. Practicing sustainable clothing choice is a highly debated topic nowadays and anyone may come with their own views. Use of power-looms, highly toxic chemical dyes, cheap labour, chemical pesticides in cotton farming, using polyester rather than cotton and ruthlessly dumping clothing waste have thrown a challenge to us. In order to work on a strategy to resolve all of these problems together is a highly challenging job. Clothing should be on demand, fair trade, preferably custom made, timeless design, recycled material, sustainable cultivation of cotton can only help us to move towards a better world.
It is an unnoticed fact that most people among us don’t wear every single piece of clothing we own, but the major and astonishing fact is the percentage of clothes that go unworn is a lot higher than most consumers think.
A study with 18,000 heads of households in 20 countries was conducted by relocation and removals company Movinga. It revealed that the majority of consumers around the world are highly delusional about how much they own versus how much they actually wear. So only a different approach towards our clothing choice can stop the harm towards the nature and mankind.
The fashion starts with ‘Glamour’, ‘Style’, and ‘Trends’ and ends with introducing thousands of carcinogenic chemical discharge in fresh water damaging the environment by dumping discarded clothing, forces to use cheap labour and child labour which is always questioned from an ethicality angle. However, recent wave of conscious consumers are demanding for Ethical and Sustainable solution which leads us towards protecting the nature and protecting the health of human being. This strategy is an approach to source, manufacture and design apparels adding more benefits to the industry and society at large. That minimizes the harmful impacts on society too.
There is an Indian organisation called Earthen Living connecting conscious consumers and ethical apparel brands has revealed three shocking characteristics of clothing industry from their research:
- Every second a lorry truck of textile waste is dumped or burned
- One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction
- Intoxicating fresh water leading us towards drinking water scarcity
- An estimated 40.3 million people are in modern slavery today
So it is high time for all of us to take a sustainable and ethical approach towards our clothing choice before it is too late. One ounce of cautious approach can make us safe from one pound of hazards in future. The present approach towards clothing choice is “Take-Make-Dispose”; rather it should be “Take-Make-Reuse”. We should stop buying and throwing away clothes as quick as the weather changes on a day of monsoon. If this interests you, following points would be a good point to start to join the movement.
- Opt for organic and natural fabrics like Organic Cotton or Bamboo Cotton can reduce the amount of carbon and chemicals discarded in the environment.
- Look for clothes manufactured with fair trade practice to confirm it is produced under proper working condition and with fair wage practice.
- To support ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative instead of power-loom try to look for handloom
We must be totally honest to ourselves and ask if damaging the environment and causing countless issues for mankind just for a momentarily beautification of body is justifiable! If you can’t find an acceptable justification, probably it is time to believe that right clothing choices can stop damaging Nature and Health. A wise decision is to switch from Fast Fashion to Sustainable and Ethical Fashion and throw a challenge to the capitalist marketers to take right decision to change their unethical practices. As a conscious consumer, if the money is spent on sustainable choices the garment industries will be forced to follow.
