You have the potential to reduce carbon emissions in the fashion industry by 20% - by acting as a conscious consumer.(1) Sometimes when discussing sustainability, the focus is on consumers to act. At other times, it seems like only companies can make a difference. But action from both is necessary for a circular economy. Our focus today is on what consumers can do. First, consumers can support and demand circular business models. This includes fashion rentals, re-commerce (i.e. secondhand), clothing swaps, and repair. Simple choices are also impactful, like using reusable shopping bags. This allows companies to cut back on their packaging and creates demand for recycled fibers, which are a major component of many reusable bags. Second, consumers can also support companies that engage in fair, more sustainable, and transparent practices. You can find these brands on @Good On You’s brand ratings(2). If your favorite brand has a poor rating, you can contact them and ask them to improve in specific areas. Brands want to know what their customers care about, so they are likely to listen. When possible, it’s best to purchase higher-quality items that will last longer. This can be expensive (though not always!(3)) and therefore not realistic for many people. In that case, check out the next suggestion. Third, consumers can care for their clothes in ways that will maximize their useful life, minimizing the need for replacement. Less frequent laundering is proven to extend the lifespan of cotton-based clothing, like jeans.(4) Washing half loads at below 30 degrees and choosing to air-dry clothes instead of using a tumble dryer are also beneficial. Over half of consumers’ potential to reduce fashion-related carbon emissions comes from reducing how often we wash and dry our clothes!(1) Finally, consumers choose how to discard clothes. Clothing put in the trash will be incinerated or landfilled. Many cities have separate collection systems for textiles. These systems can include municipal waste management, clothing collection containers hosted by charities or companies, in-store drop-off, etc. Clothes should be clean and dry when separated for collection. If you like diving deeper into sustainability and have concerns, you can research the organizations that collect clothes. Then consider the 10 R’s of the circular economy (see our posts from December). If the clothes are reused, whether close to home or abroad, that is more circular than breaking them down for recycling. Not all clothes can be reused (due to their quality or the demand for secondhand), so an option where clothes are sent for chemical upcycling into new fibers (like at eeden!) will be more circular than downgrading for other uses. And all of these options are more circular than landfilling or incineration! So how will you support a circular fashion economy? Let us know in the comments or tell us if we’ve missed any tips! #CircularFashion #CircularEconomy #SustainableConsumption
(1) Berg, A., Magnus, K.-H., Kappelmark, S., Granskog, A., Lee, L., Sawers, C., Polgampola, P., Lehmann, M., Syrett, H., & Arici, G. (2020). Fashion on climate: How the fashion industry can urgently act to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. McKinsey & Company and Global Fashion Agenda. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/fashion%20on%20climate/fashion-on-climate-full-report.pdf (2) Good On You. (n.d.) Directory. https://directory.goodonyou.eco/ (3) University of Leeds. (2023, July 20). Why price does not indicate how long clothes will last. https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news-working-business/news/article/5346/why-price-does-not-indicate-how-long-clothes-will-last (4) McQueen, R.H., Batcheller, J.C., Moran, L.J., Zhang, H., & Hooper, P.M. (2016). Reducing laundering frequency to prolong the life of denim jeans. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 41(1), 36-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12311
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