Dangerous denim! How can we shop more sustainably?

In recent years, sustainable fashion has rightly become a global movement. It is now necessary for fashion brands to push their efforts towards sustainability to the forefront if they want to succeed with every generation of consumer.

The impact of fast fashion on the environment is catastrophic. India, Brazil, and China — the countries with the biggest contribution to the release of carbon emissions — are yet to introduce any new emission cuts and continue to damage the planet. With the next decade being vital for the environment, we, as a planet, must address the issues that fashion has brought to the environment. Thus, we must incorporate sustainability in every corner of the fashion industry to preserve the natural world and all it’s inhabitants.

One drastic concern, besides standalone emission, is the practice of making one of the most popular fabrics on Earth: denim. Most of the time, making just one pair of denim jeans can use up to 7,000 litres of water. The hazardous and dirty wastewater used to make the jeans is then put back into the ocean. Full of chemicals and dye, the water pollutes the ocean and is poisonous to all its inhabitants.

Global brands such as Stella McCartney are constantly reinventing their sustainable procedures, this has influenced brands like Patagonia and Levi, who have followed suit by launching their own sustainability campaigns. Both brands are on their own journey towards sustainability and becoming more ethically sound when manufacturing their denim garments. This has a huge influence on smaller start-up brands and thus the chain of sustainability continues.

If pre-existing brands change their procedures to become more ethical and new start-up brands take the same route from the get-go, a focus on sustainability will become second nature to these brands, and the goals that otherwise seem unrealistic start to become a reality!

Brands should be aiming to and ensuring that they are reducing their wastewater drastically and avoiding pouring the hazardous and poisonous chemicals back into the ocean, further destroying the marine ecosystem.

Unsustainable fashion doesn’t just start and end at water usage; active child labour continues to devastate the fashion industry. In fact, you’ d be surprised at how many fashion brands engage in the exploitation of women and children in underdeveloped countries in the name of manufacturing — all it takes is a google.

Sustainable shopping means that we, the people, need to buy from brands that do not engage in using vital resources that are imperative to our planet’s survival and do not use child labour to make their products. Is a denim jacket really worth the wellbeing of a child? or 7,000 litres of water?

Here are some ways you can shop more sustainably:

- Shop for second-hand clothing! You can use apps like Depop, Vinted, and Ebay, or shop in thrift stores or charity shops!

- Invest in high-quality, long-lasting clothing — it may be daunting spending more than usual on one garment, but it is far more sustainable and cost effective to invest in something of a higher quality; it will last longer!

- Do your research — check out which brands do and don’t exploit child labour, use unsustainable materials, or mass produce.

- Avoid online-only fast fashion marketplaces — With online only comes delivery, and with delivery comes pollution. It’s infinitely more sustainable to walk, cycle, or take public transport to the shops than get it delivered and return it, again, via delivery.

What is your favourite sustainable brand? Have any sustainability campaigns caught your eye recently?

Written by: George Hartley

Edited by: Amber Howells