Sustainability: Improvement or a False Movement?
Image Courtesy: Pinterest
With the rise of sustainability efforts around the world, the fashion industry seems to be slowly trudging behind. As much as everyone else, clothing companies yearn to be relevant, and to no one’s surprise, they will do anything to save face. The most significant contributors to climate change have magically become environmentally conscious— monolith fast-fashion empires have somehow slowed their ever-churning cycles of microtrends, and companies worth billions donate their profits to environmental organizations. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
If only it were true.
Greenwashing is the promise to be sustainable, biodegradable, or overall eco-friendly to entice the environmentally conscious consumer. Companies that greenwash claim drastic improvement when these assertions are usually more marketing techniques to appeal to environmentally-conscious audiences than genuine concern and correction.
Gen Z consumers are now looking to their favorite companies and brands to lead the initiative toward a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future. But why are companies still mass-producing in the first place? While we as Gen Z love to declare how much we hate capitalism, we also have an intense ‘I want it, I got it’ mentality. Our phones offer us endless enticements to consume our attention. When we get bored, we simply move onto the newest, next best thing. This mentality is part of the greater problem, but we do have the capacity to shift our way of thinking.
To make change, we must limit the amount of attention we give to the modern world’s biggest trend of all: influencers. Influencers make their careers by encouraging people to buy more things they likely do not need, further promoting unnecessary consumerism. Don’t get me wrong, ‘sustainable’ influencers exist, but those terms are intrinsically a contradiction. Whether or not brands are considered ethical, huge clothing hauls still stimulate an excess when the true sustainable option is to simply consume less. Our wardrobes are more versatile than we think.
Image Courtesy: Dolce & Gabbana
Another aspect we must do better with is stopping the gentrification of thrift shopping. I once wondered why thrift stores have gotten so much more expensive in the past couple years or so. Now, all over Instagram reels and TikTok are “professional thrifters” who make a career out of finding high-end (donated!!) clothes for cheap, hiking up the price, and making insane profits. This not only limits access to quality clothing for those in need, but also forces second hand stores to drive up their prices in an attempt to keep up with resale fashion demand.
So what do I suggest? Be creative! Use staple items that can be worn with as many looks as possible. Try buying secondhand as much as possible— Depop is a great option! Remember that outfit repetition isn’t illegal (unlike Disney shows in the 2010s led us to believe). And most of all, we need to stop shifting the blame onto our peers. I’m not saying to go ahead and enable excessive Shein hauls, but shaming others is counterproductive and necessity shoppers aren’t the ones building billions.
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Remember: even if brands are greenwashing, any step toward a greener world is progress and will begin to normalize more profound sustainability efforts and truly create global change.
Strike Out,
Gabriela Lefkovits
Editor: Anna Albright
Athens