Last week, we talked about the need to raise animals in a sustainable way to heal the soil. This week we are going to learn how sustainable fashion could also heal the soil. After all, we are a compost company, we love soil here!
In this Vogue article about how regenerative agriculture might make fashion finally sustainable, they point out that simply reducing our carbon emissions is not enough, we have actually lost billions of tons of needed CO2 from the soil. When the soil is healthy it will actually absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, therefore, using regenerative agriculture to make natural fibers for clothes could not only make fashion sustainable, but make it part of the solution as well.
There are so many other aspects that make fashion unsustainable, however, and we hope to talk more about this in the future. The most important is the harmful impact on human lives.
While donating old clothes might seem a sustainable option, most of those clothes go unsold and sent overseas for rags or to be put in landfills. Since most synthetic fabrics take hundreds of years to fully decompose, and natural fibers release harmful methane while decomposing in a landfill, we need to make sure that’s not where our clothes end up.
So our main concern should be on reducing the amount of clothing we buy.
Things you can do:
- Rent clothing online or shop online thrift shops, but be mindful of how packaging and shipping add to their environmental costs.
- Like we talked about in this post, don’t just throw away your “unsustainable” clothes and buy sustainable options. You’ve already bought them, so use them up! Then use the scraps as rags to use when cleaning.
- When you can, buy used.
- For plus size people, this can be more difficult as getting good clothing is more difficult in general. Luckily for you, there is a great Plus Size Resale store here in KC that you should check out!
- Once the pandemic is over, start a clothing swap!
- Join the many resale groups in the area that are on facebook to find used clothing.
Further Reading
Composting Food Waste Is an Act of Resistance
28 Black-Owned American Ethical and Sustainable Fashion Brands
8 Sustainable Brands Owned By Women Of Color
A Closer Look At Fashion That’s Saving The Planet With Quagga Green Label