With winter on its way, many of us are just starting to get our winter fashion looks ready. As we prepare to start shopping, it can be a good idea to think about eco-friendly choices. Making earth-friendly choices can help you to live a more sustainable lifestyle and to save yourself some money in the process. For a few ideas to help you create an earth-friendly winter wardrobe, consider the following.
Check what you already have
If you love fashion, you’re probably getting excited to start shopping for your winter wardrobe. To keep things eco-friendly, check which winter garments you already have before you shop for new ones. There’s no harm in buying a few new items, but over- purchasing creates waste which has a negative effect on our environment. Check everything you have first, and then make a list of the fashion items you actually need.
Go vintage and pre-loved
Shopping for vintage and pre-loved goods is one of the best ways to create an eco-friendly wardrobe. For all your winter fashion needs, these vintage fashion apps have plenty to offer:
ThredUp
On the ThredUp app, you can shop guilt-free, choosing from a range of thousands of pre-loved items. The ThredUp store has plenty of top brands, trending styles, and a simple returns policy. For eco-friendly fashionistas, ThredUp is the perfect app.
Vestiaire Collective
This is an excellent app for preloved fashion, here you can purchase and sell items from Rolex and Cartier, Gucci, Celine and more. Choose to browse by price, category or brand; there are plenty of gorgeous winter coats and jackets to snap up here!
If you prefer, head on down to a vintage store and see which beautiful items you can find. Shopping for vintage is plenty of fun, and you’ll often find yourself a bargain on something really unique.
Green materials
One of the most important rules of creating an eco-friendly wardrobe is to look out for eco-friendly materials. Here are some to start you off:
Organic Cotton
Research shows that organic cotton uses far less water than traditionally grown cotton. According to the Soil Association, ‘organic cotton emits up to 46% less greenhouse gas than non-organic. Natural methods are used throughout the growth process as opposed to fertilisers made from fossil fuels.
- Hemp: Hemp is just about one of the most eco-friendly fabrics you can get; it has no negative impact on the environment as it grows. Hemp is excellent for outdoor wear because it’s durable, UV resistant and mold resistant
Earth-friendly brands
To create the perfect earth-friendly winter wardrobe, you simply have to purchase from eco-friendly fashion brands. Looking for a few ideas for inspiration? Check out the following:
- Boden: This brand initially started in the UK, then went on to take their trade worldwide. Boden only use sustainable cotton and use eco-friendly options for every activity in their supply chain. Boden sells a beautiful range of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing items, and the winter fashion collections are just gorgeous.
- Patagonia: California based brand Patagonia was one of the pioneers of eco-friendly and ethical practices in the fashion world. They are committed to using recycled materials and organic cotton too. Patagonia has made a positive impact around the world with their fair trade factories.
There are so many eco-friendly brands out there, and we must support them if we want the eco-fashion industry to grow.
Say no to fast fashion
Fast fashion refers to inexpensive and trendy items of clothing, these items are often low quality and therefore discarded after a short amount of time. Many consumers want to copy the latest looks from celebrity culture, and cheaply produced garments allow them to do so. Instead of purchasing fast fashion items, go for quality items that will last (and therefore create less waste). From your winter boots to your knit- dresses, choose quality above quantity. To find a quality pair of sunglasses for those bright winter days, be sure to check out www.eyeglasses.com.
Swap your stuff
Clothes swaps are an excellent place to snap up some gorgeous new garments for absolutely free. These events allow a group of people to come together and swap their unwanted clothing items. You’d be surprised what treasures you can find at clothes swaps, and these events are a fab earth-friendly way to get rid of your unwanted clothes. Keep an eye-out on social media for these events, (as they are often advertised here).
Eco-wash
Being eco-friendly isn’t just about the clothes you wear; it’s about how you wash them too. There are plenty of ways that you can be more eco-friendly when you do your laundry, including:
- Green detergents: When you are choosing your detergents to look out for green products which are biodegradable and made from non-toxic plant-based materials.
- Cold wash: According to Earth Easy, ‘up to 90% of the energy used to wash your clothes goes to heating water.’ Choosing a cold wash instead can help you to be more environmentally friendly.
Be mindful
One super-easy way to be more eco-friendly is to adopt more mindful purchasing habits. When you are shopping for our winter wardrobe, think very carefully about each garment that you buy. These questions may come in handy to help you to make mindful purchases.
- Do I love this item? (Only buying items that you really love can help you to be more mindful)!
- How many times will I wear this item?
- Do I have anything very similar at home?
- Does this item count as fast fashion?
- Is this something that I need?
- Do my other clothes match this item?
Hopefully, with these tips, you’ll find it easy to create yourself a super-eco friendly and ethical wardrobe. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to build a cute winter look! Once you’ve started to make earth-friendly choices for your clothing, you’ll be inspired to go green with the rest of your shopping habits.
This is a collaboration post