There is one way guaranteed way to ruin the great feeling you get from putting on a new outfit – finding out that it has been manufactured in a sweatshop environment or that the manufacturing process will have caused significant environmental impacts.
Awareness of environmental and social impacts from the fashion industry has created a backlash against what has become known as ‘fast fashion’ – clothes which are made cheaply and only worn for a season. As a result, a niche market has been developing in sustainable clothing using natural fabrics with socially and environmentally responsible manufacturing methods.
Gone are the days of the shapeless hemp hippie clothes. Today’s sustainable fabrics are beautifully soft, breathable and naturally antibacterial. Fabrics such as bamboo and soy, feel like silk, with the added bonus that they don’t need ironing.
To service this growing trend, a number of small, sustainable designers and sustainable fashion suppliers are becoming very popular – often selling directly on the internet or at specialist environmental or fashion fairs. The secret to their success is the ability to provide key wardrobe items which last for years and can be mixed and matched depending on the season. The added bonus of buying from these suppliers is that they have specifically sought out materials and manufacturing facilities that consider the workers and the environment s uch as Eastern Weft and Moral Fibre and as they do not provide the bulk fashion you find on high street stores you can be sure that you will be buying a unique item with a story attached.
For more information on the impacts of fabrics have a look at our ‘fabric facts’ and for further tips on reducing the impacts of your clothes, read our ‘greening your wardrobe’ article.
