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4 Helpful Tips for Building a Sustainable Wardrobe
These days, people are becoming increasingly aware of how their individual actions affect the environment — and subsequently want to do something to reduce their carbon impact. In fact, a study by the Southern Cross University reveals that a staggering 77 percent of consumers have shown an interest in learning about sustainable lifestyle habits and are more than willing to make the switch to eco-friendly options.
One key aspect in our life where we can be more sustainable is fashion. The clothing industry and fast fashion are some of the world’s largest polluters, and building a sustainable wardrobe ensures that we don’t contribute to this environmentally harmful practice. Below, we’ve listed some tips you can use when creating a sustainable wardrobe.
Define your personal style
A particular feature of sustainable wardrobes is that you should only have pieces in your closet that you know you’ll wear regularly. This means that you’ll have to Marie Kondo your clothes and throw them in the donation bin if you don’t see them in constant rotation down the line. To make this decision easier, you should first define your personal style and figure out the different fashion themes that best fit you. Are you loud? Subtle? Classic? Modern? By understanding what your personal style is, you can have an easier time downsizing your wardrobe and only keeping pieces that truly spark joy.
Limit your sartorial purchases
Always remember that a new piece of clothing will create a substantial amount of carbon footprint. Because of this, it’s best to limit yourself to only buying a few brand-new pieces every year. If you’re always looking to update your style, it’s best that you opt for vintage and preloved clothing because the amount of new energy needed to produce these kinds of clothes is almost zero. Online, there are plenty of secondhand clothing shops where you can get your fix such as the luxury resale website Vestiaire Collective and online consignment store ThreadUp.
Support truly ethical and eco-conscious brands
As we’ve mentioned, more and more people are becoming aware of how their choices affect the environment. Unfortunately, a lot of fashion brands have decided to take advantage of this and have made claims about being sustainable without actually putting in the work. If you need to make a brand-new clothing purchase, do your best to only support brands that are truly ethical and are dedicated to their sustainability efforts. This is evident with how streetwear brand Noah is changing the sustainability discourse as they go to great lengths to educate customers on the clothing purchases they make. On their website, they have a page committed to informing customers about what kind of sustainable fabrics they use each season.
Outdoor apparel manufacturer Patagonia is also another commendable brand that’s walking the talk when it comes to sustainability. They’re one of the first fashion brands to adopt recycled materials and have shown diligence when it comes to establishing fair trade factories that fairly compensate their workers.
Of course, our very own MADI Apparel is all about ethical and environment-friendly processes. From sourcing sustainable and organic materials, to advocating for slow and ethical manufacturing for our local employees, and serving communities through charities and donation - we have made it our mission to raise awareness and make a long-lasting impact in the industry.
Familiarize yourself with eco-friendly materials
When buying brand new clothes, try to do your due diligence and familiarize yourself with the different garment labels. This can help you avoid buying clothes that aren’t made from sustainable and eco-friendly materials. One such example of eco-friendly fabric is our cruelty-free peace silk manufactured in rural India. Despite the low water footprint of cruelty-free peace silk, we're one of the few brands in the world to source this fabric. Another fabric that you should be on the lookout for is recycled cotton, since it helps keep cotton clothes out of landfills. Before making a new purchase, be sure to do your research and make sure that what you’re interested in is made from sustainable materials and fabrics first.
Shopping from ethical brands such as ours is one of the small steps you can take to make a big impact. Do check out our ethical pieces for the sustainable fashionista in you!
Article authored by Raffy June
Exclusively written for madiapparel.com