New Clothes are Hot! But so is Our Climate

New Clothes

Are Hot! But So Is Our Climate

WRITTEN BY CHARLIE VIGNE ILLUSTRATED BY KAITLYN CAFARELLI DESIGNER ADIA BAINES

Picture this: You open both your closet doors and spot your argyle sweater vests, collection of neutral-toned tennis skirts, and beige chunky loafers. So last year. Suddenly you’re surrounded by a heaping pile of your clothes like Cher from Clueless, shouting, “I have nothing to wear!” Evidently, fast fashion trends have a detrimental impact on our environment and what’s on the menu for today’s trends, won’t be à la mode tomorrow. Without a doubt, our generation does have concern for environmental issues caused by past generations, but our consumerism habits perpetuate fashion cycles at the expense of the climate. This ushers in the question: What may lie in the future?

Our society’s obsession with purchasing clothes off-therack is a result of a combination of factors: wanting people to like us or wanting to be trendy. However, it becomes a problem when it takes a toll on the environment. Sometimes, the clothes we don’t want anymore even end up in the trash. We simply don’t see ourselves wearing it anymore due to an impulse buy of a micro-trend or our style has outgrown it. According to By the Numbers: The Economic, Social and Environmental Impacts of ‘Fast Fashion,” The average consumer bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in 2000, but kept each garment half as long” (Reichart). Truthfully, we’re getting bored of our clothes faster than we used to. In turn, this causes businesses to produce more apparel that harms the climate further.

While the waste of old clothes has an impact on our world, so does the production of them. If you picked up your Align magazine copy on campus, chances are you may be wearing jeans and a hoodie right now. According to the same source above, manufacturing one single pair of jeans produces the same amount of greenhouse gasses as driving a car 80 miles! (Reichart). Because of supply and demand, businesses feel pressured to use intensive production techniques to make a profit. With a plethora of other statistics that prove that ‘fast fashion’ industries are hurting the environment and aren’t beneficial, it makes it hard to believe there is a positive side to this issue.

After reading this, your first reaction is likely to freakthe-freak-out! Yes, the fashion industry is contributing in massive ways to climate change, but a push in a different direction may halt our future doomsday apocalypse.

Now picture this: You’re opening your laptop, clicking on Zoom, and hitting the ‘join meeting’ button for class. Suddenly you’re bored to death and online shopping because you couldn’t care less about The Canterbury Tales. Since the evolution of technology, and the COVID-19 pandemic, our lives have become strongly digitized in ways difficult to imagine ten, or even five or less, years ago. This gives fashion retailers and designers the opportunity to use media and technology to market healthy fashion options to customers without hurting the environment.

After a year of testing, Snapchat Inc. is launching “virtual try-on and AR shopping features” to its platform to promote fashion brands and healthier consumerism. This means you can use your camera to try on clothes and accessories through your Snapchat lens, then simply “swipe up” if you’re interested in purchasing an article. This digitized marketing strategy eliminates the waste of physical material that could’ve been tossed had it been created to sell in stores. Though for brands like Prada and Piaget, a part of this new tool is for profit, it also provides new ways for us to shop that can be one step forward to healing the climate.

Designers in the fashion industry are aware of the powers of technology too. Iris Van Herpen 3D printed her designs using recycled materials found in the ocean. Additionally, in 2018, Carlings released its collection digitally so customers could purchase the “clothes” by sending in a photo of themselves for the garments to be altered. Soon, Tommy Hilfiger followed suit and has digitally created and is digitally selling its upcoming Spring 2022 collection. Evidently, this new digital era in the fashion industry presents a new opportunity for consumption and less harmful production. What lies in our future, is hope.

As consumers, we have a lot of power to create a change by just being cautious about what we buy. We only have one Earth. Nevertheless, it isn’t only up to us to change our shopping habits when it comes to buying clothes and assisting the environment to protect it. Maybe, when you’re out shopping next time, you could consider a more sustainable option which may be á la mode the very next day.