Shopping for sustainable fashion can be a simple way to recycle clothing, but such a wardrobe will have to be built to create multiple outfits.
Teresa Williams, Threadz Consignment owner/founder, said traditional sustainable fashion is where the material for clothing and/or accessories are healthier and more protective for the consumer and environment.
“There is comfort in knowing the materials used have caused less harm to both the environment and to the workers making the items,” Williams said.
According to an online sustainable fashion store — the Good On You website — some common materials used in this effort to reduce negative environment, worker, and animal impacts include recycled cotton, organic hemp, organic linen, and recycled wool.
Williams said sustainable fashion can also be purchased through resale and consignment stores, which can help prevent the apparel and accessories from going to landfills.
“To be sustainable, in the case of a resale/consignment store, means we provide an opportunity for consignors to ‘recycle’ their gently-loved clothing, shoes and accessories by offering them to customers for repurchase,” Williams said.
Sustainable fashion also offers an affordable shopping option and allows consignors to receive money back for the items they sell to the store.
“The materials used are better quality, which makes them last much longer, which saves money in the long run,” Williams said.
Even though sustainable fashion can be an affordable shopping experience, Williams said the cost can sometimes be higher than other clothing because some sustainable materials in the product are expensive.
The affordability and limited accessibility to quality-made products for the manufacturer and consumer are what Williams believes are the most difficult parts of sustainable fashion.
For those wanting to dip their toe in sustainable fashion, Williams said they should by creating a wardrobe that has basic, but sustainable items. Williams said building a sustainable wardrobe can be more reasonable in price when the consumer buys gently worn items.
The wardrobe should include clothing that can be mixed and matched to make various looks. Williams said shoppers should then build on wardrobe foundations when they can afford to make such purchases.
“Try to avoid impulse online ‘fast fashion’ purchases, and search instead for items that are made well, with sustainable fabrics, that will last as long as possible,” Williams said.
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