Under the effect of an ecological awareness, Parisian women are turning more and more to eco-responsible fashion: attention to the quality of the fabrics (organic cotton, leather \"vegan\" ...), their origin and the manufacturing process of the garment. They are more and more attracted to a timeless, quality and sustainable fashion, in short a fashion that takes care of the planet. Here are our little secrets for you too to participate in this wonderful trend!
Why is the textile industry one of the most polluting industries in the world?
In our clothes everything pollutes: pesticides for cotton, dyes, glues, oil to make polyester, transport, microfibre rejects at each wash, final destruction. Starting from there, it is enough to adapt this notion to the 80 billion garments manufactured, per year, in the world! As you will have understood, the real problem with textiles is that we buy/consumer too much of them. In France, we throw away an average of 12 kg of clothes every year, and we only wear 30% of our wardrobe! We hardly dare to imagine the figures on a global level...
Why do we \"consume\" so much clothing?
Because we are extremely influential, our relatives, friends, family, colleagues, magazines and ... social networks (Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and others). And the \"Influencers\" of which I am one! And who influences us influencers? Fashion and therefore brands! And these, understanding the stakes, have increased the number of collections per year. For some brands, fashions even change every week. The goal is of course to push consumption!
Before, clothing was a necessity, today we buy clothes to shine in society and on the networks! Clothes end up accumulating in our wardrobes (7 out of 10 are almost never worn).
How to dress eco-responsibly?
To switch to an eco-responsible dressing room, you must first agree to change your buying behaviour and avoid impulse purchases. But you must also work on your own wardrobe and look for ethical brands on the internet. Here is a kind of 9-point instructions for use.
1: Consume better
Look at the labels to check the origin, the manufacturing conditions and the raw material. For the materials prefer organic cotton, hemp, linen and recycled fibres. Buy clothes from Fair Wear factories (where the people involved in making the garment work in decent conditions). Be careful: if the raw materials cost more and everyone in the production chain is better paid, the garment will necessarily cost a little more, so it would be wise to consume less...
2: Consume less
To adopt this strategy, we have to reduce our wardrobe to the maximum, buy what we need and nothing more (hence the interest in buying beautiful quality pieces that please every time we wear them). The rotation in the wardrobe must be perfect! The impact on the environment is already huge.
3: Consume less and better
Instead of buying 10 t-shirts a year, buy 4, but in organic cotton or recycled fibres. Or even better, buy them second-hand (this means that you don\'t have to draw on natural resources again to produce a new garment). A tip: to be sure to keep a piece of clothing as long as possible, you have to make sure that the size and cut are appropriate, in addition to the quality.
4: How to dress for less money
The best expense is the one you make! Instead of buying new clothes, wear them until their last breath, i.e. take extreme care of them (wash at 30°C maximum, no tumble dryer, and as soon as the first signs of wear appear, mend them urgently!).
5: Boycott fast fashion brands
Now that we know that the big fashion brands exploit workers, create a lot of ecological damage and use synthetics that are toxic to our bodies, stopping subsidizing them is the first thing to do.
6: Stop seeing shopping as therapy
We live in an age of materialism and consumerism that promises to make us happy if we buy constantly. To believe that we will forget all our problems by buying this beautiful skirt or this shirt is completely false.
7: Look for ethical brands
This may take a little time, since unlike conventional brands that are within everyone\'s reach, ethical brands are essentially sold on the Internet.
Learning about and finding out about the brands on the fairtrade fashion market is one of the first things to do when you want to adhere to responsible fashion. To get started, just do a Google search.
8: Review your wardrobe
Analyze your wardrobe to decide what to do with each piece of clothing: keep, repair, recycle or donate. And... choose the basics: that way, you\'ll always have something to wear. The basics necessarily rhyme with quality and beautiful materials. Having a minimalist wardrobe means dressing sustainably. With time, you start to realize which colours are best for you, so focus on those colours!
9: Watch out for sales and buy second hand
Watching out for special offers from ethical brands is always the right plan when you want to save money. Buying ethically and responsibly also means reusing.
