Sustainable brands and trends are among the hottest topics in recent years. With everyone’s focus having shifted heavily towards climate change and what we can be doing to help the planet recover, there’s no surprise that people are looking to shop more sustainably. Some individuals are also trying to make more eco-friendly fashion choices to help preserve the environment.
One of the main barriers to these new and innovative brands is the cost. Sustainable brands are often more expensive as you’re paying for quality and eco-friendly materials. Until the costs start to decrease, you may want to budget carefully to afford these trends. Additionally, the accessibility of environmentally conscious clothing companies can be challenging to find.
So, if you wish to make better fashion choices, here are some of the biggest trends to look out for in 2021 and beyond:
Second hand and vintage
Although thrift shopping might be big in America, it’s not as big of a trend here in the UK … or is it? When was the last time you headed to a charity or vintage shop in your local area and had a look around? It may surprise you what hidden gems people are happy to get rid of when they no longer want them. You may even get lucky and be able to pick them up at a significantly reduced price!
Some second hand stores offer a wide range of great quality clothing. If you’re looking for a place to shop for new clothing items at an affordable price, check out some stores near you. Now there are also online alternatives with the rise of selling platforms such as Depop and Vestiaire Collective. These allow consumers to see the quality and condition of products and use the platform to buy and sell second hand or vintage items.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to head to a charity shop, why not shop locally instead? Small, local businesses need your support now more than ever. They may often have more sustainable processes for producing goods when compared to some of the big online retailers. Also, their production process may be less harmful to the environment. Hence, shopping from them may be a great step to keeping your carbon footprint minimal.
Re-wearing outfits
Once upon a time, wearing the same outfit more than once was deemed to be a big no-no. Thankfully attitudes have now moved away from this thought process and many people use the same item of clothing to create multiple different outfits.
You may have heard of the capsule wardrobe trend, which has become big over the past few years. This practice entails mixing and matching key pieces in your wardrobe to create stylish looks. It commonly encourages individuals to prioritise picking versatile clothing that’s easy to style over trendy clothes that have a short lifespan. This is because many are wanting to reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable with what they own. You can still get the feel of a new outfit by combining your existing items that won’t go out of fashion with some seasonal pieces.
If you want to keep your clothing for a long time, you should invest in excellent quality products. For example, you can opt to buy Bamboo Underwear and other organic clothes as they may last longer than synthetic items.
Complete transparency
You may have noticed more recently that many brands are being exposed for their poor factory working conditions and shocking pay for their employees. Now, consumers are demanding more transparency from brands, wanting to know their clothes were ethically made and comply with CSR (corporate social responsibility) policies. Aside from public transparency, consumers can do their own investigating into a brand through the Good On You app, which ranks brands based on their ethical compliance.
If you wish to shop more consciously, it may be an excellent choice to be a meticulous consumer. Before purchasing pieces from a store, you can research more about them to check whether they’re sustainable or not. Doing so will also help you find eco-friendly brands from which you can support and shop.
Circular products
You may be wondering, what is a circular fashion model? Consumers are now wanting to buy into these models, as knowing their clothes are made in sustainable methods from recyclable materials often harbours a positive connotation with wearing them. The fashion-conscious customer of today wants to be assured that what they’re buying and wearing isn’t having a negative impact on the environment.
Fortunately, some clothing brands offer items made with organic or recycled materials. If you shop from sustainable stores, you may see detailed information about the composition of their items. For example, they may indicate the percentage of recycled resources used per item.
Final Thoughts
If we all made these simple changes, hopefully the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, which already make up about 4% of total global emissions, would reduce heavily over time.
