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Current Trend: Buy sustainably, less is more
Words Candice Nicholas
As you’re reading this, I’m writing this article on Black Friday holed up in my apartment in lockdown (the perfect excuse to avoid the tempting lure of the sales).
Oh wait its 2020, I have multiple devices with constant alerts drawing me in every few minutes. The devil on my shoulder loves being welcomingly interrupted by the alerts and emails from retailers: ‘70% off’, ‘50% off selected items’, ‘Buy now - before it goes’ ‘DISCOUNT30’ and so on. However, as a sustainable fashion advocate, I know I need to refrain and only buy what I truly need. Whatever that means.
But I was thinking about the current trend of sustainability, responsible consumption and the ‘conscious’ fashion industry. Can the pandemic perpetuate the need to buy less as we ‘morally’ focus on the more important things and the impeding economic recessions should mean less income and job opportunities. Or does it simply accelerate the need to buy cheaper, with little regard for why product is so cheap, as our incomes drop and our individual needs become more paramount.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed some crazy behavior from friends regarding the need to have more and more items, and the need to have it immediately. In the past, I too used to have multiple products in my basket with multiple retailers whilst judging those queuing for hours for a 1 pound t-shirt. Buying local as much as possible but then realizing big industry conglomerates can send me the product by tomorrow and before you know it I’m ordering from them instead. I still get a bit of anxiety when I wanted a product and then my want and desire suddenly turned into a need. Me repeating my daily mantra before I click the checkout button ‘all you need is water, food and a roof over your head’ was long long forgotten with my purchasing adrenaline rushes. So we’re all just as bad as each other.
The reality is most of us are all time and money poor and we all just want to make savings – whilst somehow keeping up with the Jones’. We live in a world where we’re all hypocrites to some extent and have selective outrage, especially when it comes to consumption, discounts, fast fashion and the impeding environmental and social-economics costs. You only have to go on Instagram, to see it for yourself. Influencers reposting Greta Thunberg whilst preaching in an ‘ultra-fast fashion, lycra, highly flammable non-biodegradable, bodycon dress’.
So why don’t people truly follow the less is more and are there more fun alternative ways to shop sustainably other than the usual checking product fabrications, checking your favorite brands’ supply chain and buying into quality timeless pieces.
Millennials and GenZ (especially) are expected to account for 45% of total luxury goods sales by 2025 are supposed to be the most eco conscious ethical shoppers than ever before and demand full transparency when purchasing product. They want to know where products come from, how they're made and the expectation for brands to be aligned with their values has become increasingly important. However, capitalism and social media constantly feeds into the narrative that we need more, plus clothing has also become more accessible in price and delivery that ever before.
Frequent product drops also encourage temptation and excess purchasing. It’s also very difficult to remain ethical and conscious in all avenues; for example – some brands and retailers are incredible at diversity and being size inclusive, but poor in terms of sustainable materials and paying garment workers a fair wage. Large athleisure brands are fantastic at getting behind social change movements but struggle with reducing their carbon footprint. Luxury brands are technically ‘slow fashion’, have signed up to major government sustainability targets and focus on investment quality pieces with longevity with less overstock, yet they still use fur and exotics and a vast amount of product still ends up in the landfill. Online shopping consumes about 30% less energy that bricks and mortar shopping, but your online expenditures and consumption are probably overall less considered and you probably end up buying more product online. I could go on. So you end up with an oversaturation of information of trying to do the right thing, but maybe just end up doing some form of green washing.
Most people get lost, it’s quite frankly exhausting and time consuming to research and even if you claim to be sustainably conscious, it seems to come with a sacrifice. That sacrifice sometimes doesn’t even have morally good, we as individuals seem to have to make sacrifices to our own style or budgets to be more sustainable. Sustainable and ethical fashion is often seen as elitist and not accessible to all and in hard times is it really feasible to put global humanity before our own costs.
Consumption and the need to consume is never going to go away, however, there are ways to make tweaks and easy changes as the individual consumer whilst still remaining a dedicated fashion lover and debuff the above myths.
Adopt a more curated capsule wardrobe
Nowadays, merchandise stays in my basket for weeks if not months before I finally decide to buy it. This may not seem like a big deal, but for a millennial fashion insider with a shopping addiction – this is a huge achievement. Taking the time to think about my purchases- do I need it, is it trendless i.e. –so that I won’t get sick of it by next season or next year, how long the product will last. Lauren Bravo, of How to Break Up With Fast Fashion, says "try to stick to the #30Wears rule. No matter how good the deal seems, ask yourself: will I wear it at least 30 times? If the honest answer is no, step away."
Paying slightly more for sustainable clothing is often not as feasible for the average shopper, so maybe rethink the quantity also - only buy items that you know are going to work for you consistently and pieces that will see you through more than one season.
Multiple apps now can help you reduce down your wardrobe, to donate or sell what you don’t need anymore, decipher what you actually need and come up with new combinations with your existing wardrobe.
Buy local and shop from small owned businesses online and offline
There are a growing number of marketplaces that showcase curated ethical brands from all over the world that adopt fair trade practices and ethically sourced products. Even your favourite multi-brand retailers have chosen to make sustainability more prominent, through tailored edits displaying conscious collections. Most marketplaces have done the hard work for you, guiding you to make a more informed choice without the endless google searches. We’re seeing more companies vet brands for us, for example DoneGood.
Become part of the circular economy
More and more fashion brands aim to repurpose, recycle product and prolong the life of product instead of the product ending up in a landfill. Brands are looking at circular solutions and sustainable product exit strategies to ensure we are using up what we already have e.g. reviving past season and archived materials and recycling into new products; selling aged products in outlets, also even offloading merchandise to renting and re-sale businesses.
As an individual, you can become part of redesigning fashion’s future by purchasing from rental platforms, shopping in outlets and buying vintage – to name a few. Sharing our wardrobes is a great alternative reducing waste and making the most of our current resources.
There’s no such thing really as a new idea in fashion, trends come back around – you’ll find ‘new trends’ in old season product. Visiting online preloved marketplaces such as Vestaire, Ebay, Etsy, Depop- you can prolong the product life cycle. The secondhand and vintage industry is booming and more luxury brands are getting involved; moving away from the view that resales weakened their brand value. Top brands such as Gucci (who are already going seasonless with its current collections) are reselling product through platforms such as The Real Real.
Many retailers are embracing second-hand initiatives and collaborate with vintage and second hand companies - which is the perfect solution for addicts who feel guilty about their waste. You’re also directing your money away from the big corps and to small businesses. You can also get items for fast-fashion prices- just saying.
Rental fashion means that you don’t have to sacrifice great style in order to be more sustainable, the entire fashion industry is available to borrow at the click of a button. Whether you’re borrowing pieces for one off occasions or because you love multiple bags, but don’t need them all, or even if your just bored of your wardrobe – renting is a more responsible to enjoy fashion. There are an abundance of rental companies across the world for every need; My Wardrobe – celebrity wardrobes, HURR- like an Airbnb of loaning luxury and contemporary brands, Rent the Runway, COCOON, Bags Butler – accessories heaven, Hirestreet – high street and premium brands.
Digital detox
One of the main things I did in the pandemic was reduce my toxic news feed and be more selective in the people and brands I choose to follow online. Avoiding social media isn’t always feasible but you can reduce the noise and help you keep away from all those temptations.
Global demand for clothing looks set to increase significantly and to become the ‘perfect’ ethical shopper sometimes near impossible at times, as we will always have a burning appetite for more product at an affordable price. But it’s important to remind ourselves of our own individual responsibility as someone, somewhere and something is paying the price which our purchasing decisions. The current ‘buy less’ approach can be considered especially difficult in these challenging times when trying to make sustainable choices, coupled with the obstacles to eco-friendly shopping. But it’s simply about making better choices and small adjustments in being a more mindful consumer, choosing better alternatives into making sustainability a lifestyle and not just a trend.