America When she was in elementary school, Elysha Schuhbauer, of Ontario, used to sew buttons and embroider her own clothes.
“I want unique pieces that I can’t find anywhere else. If I find something that fits me, I want to keep wearing it for as long as possible,” said the woman who runs sewing machine sales company Worth Mending.
Worth Mending is part of the sustainable fashion movement (Visible Mending), which celebrates imperfections and patterns in clothing as an art form, honoring the individual's relationship with the items they wear.
According to Elysha, clothes can tell a story about their owner's life. The patch on the upper leg of your jeans could be a memory of a bike ride to work, the stitching on your jacket could be because you worked as an electrician.
Visible Mending is also a counterattack on the fast fashion industry, which is responsible for up to 8% of carbon emissions and is the second largest consumer of water globally.
After oil, textile manufacturing is the most polluting industry. The average person consumes 400% more clothing than two decades ago, and in the US, more than 11 million tons of textiles are thrown away every year, according to the 2021 study Circular Economy and Textile Sustainability .
By repairing, recycling and buying recycled clothing, experts say fashion can transform into a more sustainable industry.
The fashion industry is the second-largest polluter after oil, but by building a sustainable wardrobe you can help change that. Photo: Vice
Natasha David, director of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's fashion initiatives, said the fast fashion industry is built on a "Resource Extraction - Production - Disposal" model. Global think tanks are pushing for a circular economy, where clothes are made from renewable materials, worn more often and recycled at the end of their life.
Circular business models could account for 23% of the market by 2030, while reducing carbon emissions by a third of what is needed to keep the planet from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the target set by the Paris Agreement, David said. The biggest barrier to achieving this economy, he said, is product redesign.
So between 2019 and 2023, the organization brought together 100 businesses, including fashion companies like H&M, Levis and Tommy Hilfiger, along with retailers, factories and garment manufacturers to redesign jeans – a highly polluting, resource-intensive wardrobe staple – to create 1.5 million pairs of jeans containing at least 5% recycled material.
From the consumer side, there is growing interest in sustainable fashion. In a 2022 study, Dr. Sheng Lu, a professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware, USA, found a rich supply base for clothing made from 100% recycled textiles.
But currently, less than 1% of all textiles ever made are recycled back into textiles, according to Tricia Carey, chief commercial officer at Renewcell, a recycled fiber producer. Renewcell opened its first industrial facility in 2022 after major investments from brands like H&M. Since then, it has created 20,000 tons of Circulose, a recycled pulp converted from textile waste. One case study estimated that every ton of Circulose pulp used in clothing avoided 5 tons of carbon emissions compared to traditional fibers.
Carey said Renewcell grew out of the fashion industry's need for circular economy textile solutions, but their biggest challenge was getting fashion brands to buy in bulk.
“One factor contributing to the increased demand for more sustainable clothing in general is a greater awareness of the negative social and environmental impacts of garment manufacturing,” Carey said, adding that upcoming climate change legislation will increase recycling and reuse.
According to Lu, consumer behavior directly affects the success of fashion companies. He said Gen Z students, the core customers of the future of fashion, are focusing on the socio-environmental impact of their clothing choices.
“A lot of students say they only shop secondhand these days because there’s so much textile waste and used clothing out there,” he said. In addition to secondhand fashion and consignment, rental stores are also booming to meet the demand.
Lily Fulop, a graphic designer who runs the recycled clothing Instagram account Mindful Mending, said if consumers buy fast fashion, they should buy more intentionally, following the advice of the Paris Convention to buy no more than five new items a year, and to repair, recycle, and buy secondhand.
The go-to materials are cotton, wool, or silk. Learn some basic sewing techniques for simple repairs. If a seam comes loose, a button comes loose, or a garment has a hole, a quick stitch, hem, or patch can make it look like new again.
“Build a wardrobe that lasts longer, doesn’t stretch, and is of good enough quality that if a hole is found, it needs to be repaired,” she says. For those who don’t have the time, inclination, or physical ability to repair but still want to upgrade their clothes, look for businesses that offer repair services.
Some companies are making it easier to sell second-hand items. The Worn Wear initiative, run by the popular American clothing company Patagonia, encourages recycling or reselling old clothes. A spokesperson for the organization said that on average, trading in and reselling a Worn Wear item saves nearly 5kg of carbon emissions compared to making a new garment.
“The best way to reduce the carbon and environmental footprint of clothes is to keep them in use for longer, either by you or someone else,” he said.
According to Elysha Schuhbauer, there are many things on this planet that can allow us to live a luxurious life without the concentration of wealth and waste. Sustainable fashion is a big challenge but there are many ways to harness it and make a big difference, if we start to do it, starting with building our own wardrobes.
Bao Nhien (According to Vice )
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