Isobel Dyson
Although I have spent the last year experimenting and researching my way up to this final point, the inspiration for this story actually came to me two years ago when I began learning about the clothing industry and the many things that are wrong with it. If you know nothing of what I'm talking about then today is your unlucky day because (if you choose to continue reading) I will, hopefully, ruin your clothes shopping experience.
There are two sides to this issue; the way the industry abuses human rights and the way it abuses the planet. And really, subconsciously I think we are all already aware that something is not right. Is it normal that we can buy a t-shirt for only 1€/ R20? Not really, but the seduction of a good bargain is impossible to resist, as I know all too well. But this means that the reasons that bargain is even an option is because sacrifices have been made along the way to reduce it down to the absurdly low price flirting with you in the shop. And, as I mentioned, those sacrifices come in the form of water wastage, water pollution, long working hours for very little money, unsafe working environments occupied mostly by women and an obscene amount of waste that is very difficult to recycle, to name just a few. The clothing industry produces way too many clothes and then fabricates a demand for it through manipulative and conniving advertising practices, which, like many other industries, allows a small, lucky percentage to capitalise off of it.
I realise however that this might not be enough to persuade you, so I have below a handy selection of short videos which might explain things more clearly.
It's definitely a bit of a bummer. Basically no more shopping sprees. Actually, I don't think that we should buy any more new clothes at all. Technically, right now, we have enough on the planet to last us for the rest of our life times and more. It's just distributed unfairly and a lot of it is wasting away prematurely in dumps. But it's not all bad news. There are many other alternatives, they just require a little more effort and time. I'm not saying that you can never again change up your wardrobe. Buying secondhand, visiting clothes swaps or even just swapping with friends is just as satisfying as a good haul. Another option, which I've recently rediscovered, is altering, mending or even up-cycling clothes using the underrated skill of sewing. The internet has an endless amount of material for anyone with no needle experience to extremely creative and complex garment tutorials. There are even options that don't require a needle and thread at all. My only complaint is that the content is largely skewed to favour the interests of women. Which is completely nonsensical because men also very much enjoy the benefits of clothing, meaning the ability to sew is equally useful to men as it is women (but that is another battle).
But if none of these alternatives sound appealing to you or that black shirt that you need for your school performance is not appearing in any secondhand shops, there are quite a few brands that could be classified as sustainable. However, although these sustainable brands are a major improvement to their fast fashion competitors, no matter how hard they try they are still producing waste and using energy to create their sustainable clothes. So I believe that buying secondhand or trading should always be the first and main option. Overall we should just stop buying so much, which is hard when we are bombarded with psychologically manipulative advertising. But right now there is not much we can do about that so RESIST.
Changing your habits require dedication and time and unfortunately like most other ethically friendly alternatives the word sustainability has become a trend in itself allowing it to be capitalised on (surprise surprise). This means that being 'sustainable' has become a luxury that only the wealthy can afford. It also doesn't help that we are so used to being able to access products for very low prices so when something is actually made without cutting corners and priced accordingly it almost feels like a rip off. With this in mind I completely understand that not everyone has the money or time to make their wardrobe green. All I'm saying is that if you are lucky enough to have this option that you consider making this sacrifice.
Below I've put an assortment of useful tools that can help you.