Useful sustainable fashion tips for a better environment

Sustainable fashion is a movement in which brands follow a fashion approach that places the environment in high regard. The main objective of this movement is to reduce carbon emission that the fashion industry is quite responsible for this. It also aims to use natural resources for the production of fabric and recycle the waste generated in the fashion industry regularly. The fashion industry is responsible for causing a huge amount of environmental pollution. To protect our planet and people, following an approach towards sustainable fashion is extremely important. The following tips can help you to follow a sustainable fashion approach.

Tips for sustainable fashion

Sustainable fashion is slowly but steadily taking over the fashion industry. This is evident from the way various fashion brands are changing their approach to fashion. It is expected that these changes would soon make their way to your wardrobe as well. In this article, we are sharing a few sustainable fashion tips that will eventually help all of us to live in a greener planet. Many brands have already started incorporating these ideas while producing clothing for their clients. Even various fashion designers, as well as personal stylists, have also joined the bandwagon of sustainable fashion.

Choose fibres made from fruit wastes

One of the most useful tips for sustainable fashion is using fabrics made from fruit wastes. The two fabrics that mostly dominate our wardrobe are cotton and polyester. While a huge amount of water and pesticides are used for growing cotton, polyester is produced from petroleum. As a part of sustainable fashion, fabrics such as banana sylk (produced from the stems of banana plants) and an alternative to leather (produced especially from the pineapple leaves) will soon replace them. Even organic cotton is also used as a part of sustainable fashion. At present, a very negligible percentage of global cotton production is organic due to the price of non-GMO seeds being higher and requires additional investments. However, this scenario is also expected to change in the future.  

Select natural colours

As a part of sustainable fashion, many brands are getting rid of toxic chemical dyes. Rather they are opting for the ones that can siphon pigments from microorganisms, plants, and sugar molasses. Their main purpose is to eliminate acids, heavy metals, and solvents. Additionally, these techniques involve only about one-tenth of the water that is usually used for conventional dyeing. These next-generation dyes can also offer a wide range of colour tints and shades of nature. All these factors make it ideal for the brands to choose the evolved natural dye over the conventional ones. Similar to other advocates of sustainable fashion, you should also check with the brands, designers, or personal stylists whether they are also following this useful sustainable fashion tips.

Use bags produced from fermented yeast

Leather is a popular fabric for producing bags. In this regard, another form of bio-leather is expected to soon rein the fashion industry. This type of fabric is produced through the application of sugar feedstock to the yeast cells designed to create collagen. They are then pressed into sheets and tanned with the help of an eco-friendly process. Since they are animal-friendly and involves low carbon emission, their role in the future of sustainable fashion cannot be ignored. On the other hand, experiments are being carried out to mastering the art of producing silk from yeast cells. 

Choose hand wash over machine wash

Petroleum derived synthetics are likelier to shed microfibres i.e. fragments of plastic under 5 mm. These microfibres are extremely dangerous for aquatic lives. Therefore, you should always check the labels of your garments to understand the percentage of polyester they contain. Many brands also provide warning for microfibre shedding and might advise whether the garment is suitable for machine wash or hand wash. 

Using water wicking silk

This might surprise you but a specially designed process is used to create silk protein in water. This helps the fabric to become water wicking. The specialty of water wicking fabric is that they draw moisture away from the body. This is the reason why these fabrics are mostly used for producing sportswear. Besides, these fabrics can also be used to coat cashmere or nylon. This is because they are effective in making wool and other materials resistant to shrinkage. Therefore, another of the useful sustainable fashion tips that you might prefer to follow is looking for these types of fabrics while purchasing your sportswear.

Recycling fashion

A major part of sustainable fashion is recycling fashion. Usually, a large portion of the clothing you own might be refurbished or remanufactured with your preferred brands. Many brands, as a part of the sustainable fashion approach, have started encouraging their customer to follow a new trend. As per this trend, you can return your pre-worn clothes to a shop and get credit in return. These stores further process these clothes. They are then sold online at a much lower price than the new ones. 

As per a survey conducted by a fashion recycling app, around 27% of the people in London throw away their unwanted clothes in the trash. If the same is being recycled it will help in saving a huge amount of natural resources. 

Conclusion

The future of sustainable fashion is promising. While you can start following some of the above-mentioned sustainable fashion tips at the moment, while some others need more time to be implemented on a large scale. However, staying aware is what matters. No significant change in habit can take place overnight. Therefore, if you start getting acquainted with concepts such as recycling of worn clothes, plant-based organic fibres, natural dyes, etc, the journey to sustainable fashion will be smooth. You can't throw away everything you own now to follow sustainable fashion. It will take some time to change your entire wardrobe to be eco-friendly.

Various fashion brands are taking initiatives to make fashion sustainable. However, the journey to reach that goal is time-consuming and slow. However, they are for the betterment of our planet and people. We can surely be hopeful that the movement of sustainable fashion will soon gain momentum. But for that, it is important to make yourself aware of the damages we and the entire fashion industry is causing to our earth. With awareness will come the responsibility to make significant changes.