THE REAL PRICE OF FASHION
Fashion has been a very important factor in man's life for centuries, and in the modern world, it is given more and more importance every day. The average consumer today buys about 60% more clothes than he did 15 years ago, which unfortunately is becoming an increasing problem for the environment and environmental sustainability. The reason for this can be found in several things, and above all in the fact that today more and more of so-called ‘‘fast fashion’’ is produced and bought, i.e. fashion that follows one-season trends and as such is made from materials that cannot be recycled or decomposed in the natural environment. That is why it is important to ask the question: "What happens to clothes when we stop wearing them?"
An increasing number of global organizations dealing with the protection of environment have become interested in this topic for the last few years. The research carried out so far has shown that, unfortunately, the largest number of clothes that are thrown away end up in waste, i.e. landfills, and a minimal percentage is recycled or reused in another way even after leaving our closet. Thus, at the end of 2021, the European Commission announced that on an annual basis, 5.8 million tons of textiles end up in landfills across Europe, and only a quarter of that amount is recycled. "That's equivalent to 60 garbage truckloads of clothes being burned or buried in landfill every minute." In the US, about 85% of all textiles end up in landfills, which, according to some estimates, means that every American throws away about 37 kilograms of clothing from his household, reports the BBC. Experts assume that by 2030, this number could rise to 134 million tons of textiles that are discarded annually globally.
In 2017, the environmental protection organization Ellen Macarthur Foundation published information that annually about 500,000 tons of microfibers from clothes end up in the ocean, considering that about 60% of the materials in the modern fashion industry contain plastic. The UN environmental protection program states that the fashion industry is responsible for around 10% of carbon emissions, and that this percentage could reach up to 26% by 2050. It is estimated that modern clothes have a lifespan of between 2 and 10 years, and after they leave our closets, only 12% of the textiles intended for clothing are recycled.
In this sense, we can easily ask ourselves what we can do as individuals, in order to stop this practice and in the future we can talk about a more sustainable world of fashion. There are actually several ways we can help:
1. One of the simplest ways we can prevent environmental pollution with textiles is simply donating or giving away clothes we no longer want to wear, to someone who really needs them. In this way, we extend the life of an item of clothing and at the same time we help someone who cannot afford to buy new clothes.
2. Choose to shop at second hand stores or buy clothes that are recycled. Buying second-hand clothes is not only positive because it saves money and the environment, but it is also a way to go beyond what is "trendy". In this way, you can awaken your creative side and create your own fashion style, that is also environmentally sustainable. On the other hand, there are also certain fashion brands that are called sustainable or eco-friendly, or that even use recycled textiles in their production and thus significantly contribute to the preservation of the environment, among others the brands ASOS and H&M (more about these brands can be found at the following links: 26 Recycled Clothing Brands Making The World Better in 2022 – Nori Press i 15 Best Eco-Friendly Clothing Brands In 2023 — The Good Trade). Also, the ZARA brand has committed to removing all synthetic materials from its production and sales by 2025, and the company Inditex, that owns this fashion brand, has committed to make this change with other brands it owns, such as Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Zara Home.
3. Another way you can influence this issue, is that when choosing and buying clothes, you choose those pieces of clothing that have a longer lifespan. You can do this by opting for clothing items that are of higher quality and also that they don’t belong to the group of fast, one-season fashion. On your next purchase, choose multi-season clothing that does not follow trends but is always "in". Such timeless pieces of clothing will surely enrich your wardrobe and can be combined with almost any "styling".
4. Take care of the composition and origin of the clothes you buy. In this sense, pay attention to the textile composition printed on the label. Avoid synthetic products that contain plastic microfibres and always prefer to choose clothes of natural origin, such as linen or cotton. It is very important that when buying your clothes, shoes and fashion accessories, you take into account that they do not contain materials of animal origin. Leather, fur, wool and feathers used in the fashion industry, apart from being obtained in an extremely cruel way, also pollute the environment to a very large extent during production, considering that harmful chemicals that pollute the air and water are used for their production. Certainly, sustainable and ecologically conscious fashion can be the one that doesn’t kill millions of animals.
