Jumping Off the Fast Fashion Train
Jumping Off the Fast Fashion Train
When we think about our wasteful modern lifestyles, often we picture takeout containers, plastic packaging, leftover food and the many other items that we put in our weekly trash cans. But what about those pants that no longer fit or the sweaters that aren’t “on trend” anymore? We donate them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army thinking we are helping those in need as we make room on our closet for newer styles, but what really happens to our bagfuls of old clothes as a result of our addiction to fast fashion?
No one needs your old clothes
The hard fact is, you’re not really helping poor people by donating your clothes to any of these various organizations that take and resell our castoffs. Why not? Because there is such an enormous glut of clothing being consumed and discarded that the resell shops are completely overwhelmed and most of the clothing still goes to waste, getting landfilled or burned. Below is a short documentary that shows what happens to most donated clothes.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that textile waste increased by 811% between 1960 and 2015 from 1.7 million to 16 million tons of textile waste annually! Each of us consumes more clothing than ever before, and wears each item far fewer times before discarding it because of the constant pressure to have the latest styles. All that waste then ends up either contributing to our landfill problem or creating pollution by being incinerated. Not to mention the enormous amounts of energy, pollution and water used to manufacture and ship all that fast fashion around the country and the world.
What you can do to reduce textile waste
- Buy less. Pretty simple one here. Think about your purchases more. Do you really need another pair of sneakers, or do you just want them?
- Fix the stuff you have. Get yourself a sewing kit and learn how to do basic repairs of tears, replacing buttons and so on.
- Choose clothing to last. Stay away from overly trendy styles that will be out of fashion in a year, and choose good quality, durable clothes that will stand the test of time.
- Wash your clothes less. Now, I’m not suggesting you throw back on a stinky shirt that you sweated all up at yesterday’s company softball game, but not all clothes need to be washed after every wear. They will last longer if washed less frequently.
- Choose clothing made from natural fibers. When clothing is totally worn out, it can be composted if it is made out of natural (not man-made) fibers. Yes, really!
- Avoid blended fabrics. The textile industry is working on ways to recycle old clothing but it is very difficult to process and separate the fibers in fabrics that are a blend of natural and petroleum-based fibers like polyester (which is plastic).
- Buy from thrift stores. Nothing lasts forever and you will have to buy some new clothes from time to time. Start at the thrift stores. Every item you buy is something that you just saved from the landfill. Plus, you can get much more for much less money and can often find items that have never even been worn. Check out my recent thrifting haul:
Several of these items had store tags still on them and had never been worn. For about $45 I am set with colorful shirts for quite a while. If you’ve never been a thrift store shopper and aren’t sure where the stores are in your area, The Thrift Shopper has a pretty comprehensive searchable directory of thrift stores to get you started.
