This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Holy Cross chapter.
As someone who cares deeply about the environment, yet also loves fashion, I find myself in a perpetual moral dilemma over my consumption of clothing. I want to be stylish, but at the same time, I do not want to support clothing brands that are actively polluting our planet. Thus, over the past few years, I have been working to find ways to reduce my ecological footprint, through my buying habits as a consumer. Through personal research, and the knowledge I have gained through taking environmentally focused classes, I have found a few tips that I wanted to share.
- This first tip is one I cannot emphasize enough: build a capsule wardrobe. Basically, a capsule wardrobe is a small collection of neutral, basic, and timeless clothing items that can be interchangeably worn together. Through this practice, you can create lots of outfits from less pieces, and will therefore feel the need to buy fewer new items. I first learned about this idea from a YouTuber named Morgan Yates. Morgan does a great job explaining this idea while showing some outfits for inspiration. I will link a few of her videos on this subject down below for reference.
- Videos:
- On the opposite side of the spectrum, the second piece of advice I have to offer is to avoid buying trendy items. With the onset of social media, there is a constant pressure to buy the newest and coolest item. However, these trendy items tend to be deemed fashionably obsolete within a few years, and usually end up going to waste. Therefore, I personally think it makes more sense to simultaneously save the earth and some money in your wallet, by opting to skip on the newest trendy item.
- Try to support brands that are actively maintaining socially responsible initiatives. Although ethically sourced clothing brands tend to be more expensive, I firmly believe that they are worth the investment. The high quality items produced by sustainable brands last longer and, in combination with the advice from my first tip, can be implemented as an addition to your capsule wardrobe. I have linked an article below which lists some good clothing brands to support.
- Stop impulse buying. In the past, I have found myself getting bored and buying items that ended up sitting in my closet until I donated them. Therefore to avoid this mistake, I now take the time to actively consider my clothing purchases. Some questions I like to ask myself before I purchase a new clothing item are: Do I really need this? How often am I going to wear this? What items do I already have in my closet can I wear this with? Do I have anything else like this already? Can I buy a similar item from a more socially responsible brand?
- Don’t hate me for this one… but, try to not support fast fashion brands. As a college student on a budget, I get it. I too am often tempted to buy from fast fashion brands, like Shein, Zaful, and even Zara, because of the extremely low prices they offer. However, the price of items being sold by these brands is extremely low for a reason, and that reason is that the company is socially irresponsible. Socially irresponsible companies can offer such low prices through the exploitation of workers and the degradation of the environment. However, as consumers, we ultimately need to prioritize the boycott of socially irresponsible companies over the allure of low prices they offer. I have linked an article which explains why fast fashion is such a major problem below:
- Lastly, if sustainable clothing brands are not in your budget, I strongly recommend buying second hand. Whether it is online through sites like Poshmark or in thrift stores, buying second hand items is generally much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than buying directly from clothing stores. I wrote an article all about why I love buying second hand, which is linked down below for reference. Our chapter of HerCampus is even hosting a thrift store on campus this semester where you can come check out some items that members have donated.
- https://www.hercampus.com/school/holy-cross/why-i-love-buying-second-hand-online-and-in-store/