Planning a New Year’s resolution for a more sustainable wardrobe? Yes!

Sustainable? What does that even mean?

We all wear clothes, and some of us really love clothing and putting together cute outfits and shopping with friends, but our consumption habits are having an adverse impact on the environment. The media claims that fashion is the second-most polluting industry, but sustainable fashion expert Alden Wicker more accurately states that “it’s actually the 4th most polluting industry on the planet – if you are talking about carbon emissions,” contributing somewhere between 5 - 10% the global total. But even this is excessive because fashion is big business. Experts value the global industry to be worth between 2 and 3-plus-billion dollars, even though right now a lack of transparency prevents more accurate data. More and more individuals and organizations, including the non-profit “Fashion Revolution,” are calling for greater supply chain transparency in the fashion industry, but progress has been slow.

What does that mean? It means there is a lot we don’t know. However, a quick look suggests that the way most clothing is made today and the rate at which we are producing and disposing of it contributes significantly to climate change because manufacturing uses up non-renewable resources and pollutes both water and air all along the supply chain. I

n particular, we in America have a huge issue with fast fashion, but most of us do not realize the environmental impact of our shopping habits. We have gone from a few seasons of new looks each year to new collections dropping into stores every week, making shopping for novel clothing items a possibility 52 times a year. According to the Foundation for Economic Education, “the average consumer in the world is now buying more than 1.5 times the amount of apparel they did just 6 years ago.” This sounds exciting if you love trying every new trend, but it is also somewhat wasteful and controversial. We are buying too many new, cheap things, and this behavior is not sustainable for our planet. You can help change this.

Check out the unCover Handbook for more details and advice on how we can do better.