what is sustainable fashion?

what is sustainable fashion?

Sustainable fashion asks the question how was something made and how can it be made better? How can it have a smaller environmental impact? How can our business help and progress local communities? It asks the question, are we making this the best way possible, and how can we do better?

Sustainable fashion is not definitive.

It is hard to say definitely that something is sustainable because sustainability is often relative. While it's impractical to be as sustainable as Nita Bowerman's 'The Mobile Garden Dress', a 100% compostable and recyclable, self-sustaining garden and shelter, complete with pots of edible plants and a hoop skirt which converts into a tent at night - we can all strive to be better. Cotton is better than polyester, organic cotton is better than cotton. No company is perfect, but it’s important that everyone try to improve and make their supply chains better.

what are sustainable practices?

Companies concerned with sustainable fashion generally will choose....

organic cotton over non-organic cotton

low impact azo-free dyes or vegetable dyes instead of dyes concocted with toxins and heavy metals

natural more traditional handcrafted approaches instead of fossil fueled machines when possible

to promote buying quality over quantity, and will often even offer free repairs because they believe it is better to reuse something instead of creating something new

to use recycled components in their products

source all their components from around the same region to cut down on shipping and transportation emissions and pollutions

are constantly asking where things came from, how they were made, and if there is a better way of doing the same thing with a lower environmental impact

-by Mel