Heading into Fall Wearing Sustainable Fashion
Image Courtesy: W Magazine
When the leaves begin to change color, and the temperature is at a constant sixty-five degrees, that’s when you know it’s time to start dressing appropriately for the fall season. While getting dressed up in autumn colors to get in the spirit of Thanksgiving time is stylish and cozy, people need to be more aware of purchasing and sporting clothing brands that practice sustainable fashion. Oftentimes, you hear sustainable fashion and imagine a skirt upcycled from materials that were thrown in the recycling bin. However, the idea of connecting fashion while being ecologically conscious has come a long way.
Designers are changing the fashion game along with the initial thought that sustainable fashion isn’t “real, quality clothes”. Up-and-coming brands, as well as classic fashion houses, are getting creative and producing clothing from sweaters to ball gowns to decrease negative impacts on the planet. W Magazine wrote an article titled The Fabulous Side of Sustainable Fashion where Alden Wicker, a journalist who discusses how the fashion industry has an impact on the environment, states that “The most important question around sustainability is: How long will that product be worn and used? One of the most sustainable things you can do is buy something that will last a lifetime.” The higher the quality of materials that are used, the longer the piece will last. This goes against supporting fast fashion brands such as Forever 21 or Zara, who use cheaper materials in unethical ways to produce clothing.
Image Courtesy: Vogue
Not only are the major fashion houses practicing sustainable fashion, but so are smaller businesses. In an article titled Athens Sustainable Fashion: A Solution to the threat of Fast Fashion written by Talley Davidson, Davidson discusses how a local fashion business in Athens, Georgia is reupholstering vintage clothing and designing new pieces of their own. At the beginning of the article, Davidson tells us that today, Americans send four times the amount of clothing to the garbage shoots than they did in 1980. By people trashing clothing made of fabrics such as polyester, the environmentally harmful material can take up to 200 years or more to decompose due to the cheap, plastic fibers. “Sanni Baumgärtner, a business owner of local downtown Athens boutique, Community, has committed her passion for vintage fashion to create sustainable, trendy clothing.” Baumgärtner goes on to explain that much of the fashion industry has a negative impact on the environment. A significant amount of pollution from chemical toxins being released throughout the environment to carbon dioxide pollution through shipping methods such as flying or car emissions.” By participating in wearing sustainable fashion, you can look trendy while supporting the environment.
Image Courtesy: TexIntel
Popular luxury brands are making promises to be more ecologically friendly. After burning millions of dollars of unsold products in 2018, Burberry’s current chief creative officer has committed to becoming the first luxury brand to be “climate positive” by 2040. With designers and top fashion houses heading in the right direction, fashionistas everywhere can be looking their best and supporting a great cause this fall.
Strike Out,
Writer: Nikki Cohen (@nikkicohen27)
Editors: Faveanny Leyva & Lexi Fernandez
Tallahassee