Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This page may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended. There is no additional cost to you whatsoever.
Earth911 is honoring the 52 years of Earth Day with 52 Actions for the Earth. Each week via Earth Day 2023, we’ll share an motion you’ll be able to take to invest in the Earth and make your individual life extra sustainable. The fashion industry has an incredible environmental influence, and even in case you’re not a quick fashionista, you could be a part of the issue in case you don’t maintain your garments. This week, you’ll be able to take motion for the Earth by studying the way to mend your garments.
Action: Learn to Mend
The Environmental Impact of Fashion
Fast vogue is notoriously wasteful – yearly, 40 million tons of textiles are disposed, usually with out having ever been worn. But the style trade has an incredible environmental influence at value level all through its life cycle. The vogue trade is answerable for greater than 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. It takes almost 3,000 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt and three,781 liters of water to make a pair of jeans. More than half of our garments are fabricated from synthetic fibers derived from oil that contribute 35% of all ocean microplastic air pollution. After expertise manufacturing, the garment trade is the subsequent main cause of modern slavery and youngster labor.
We all have to quit fast fashion and spend money on a extra sustainable wardrobe. But how we store is barely a part of the answer. It doesn’t matter what you purchase in case you throw it away over a popped button or free thread. The different a part of a sustainable wardrobe is sustaining your wardrobe. That means greener laundry habits and studying to restore garments as a substitute of throwing them away.
Learn to Mend
Nowadays it’s simpler to interchange an merchandise of clothes than to repair it. But you don’t need to be a grasp sewist to increase the lifetime of your garments. This week, choose a method to study primarily based in your present talent stage. If you’ve by no means picked up a needle earlier than, begin by studying to interchange a button. Other simple clothing repairs embody fixing torn seams, changing drawstrings, hemming, patching holes, and in case you’re very frugal, even darning socks. More superior sewists can follow alterations that may allow you to dangle onto garments even when your measurement adjustments. And in case you’re very expert, think about upcycling unfashionable thrift retailer finds into inventive new customized fashion creations.
Whatever talent you select to pursue, the web is full of how-to wikis and YouTube tutorials that will help you grasp it. And in case you grow to be impressed to study extra, you could find in-depth expertise books at your public library. Project-based books like Little Fixes present step-by-steps steerage for revamping broken youngsters’ garments whereas books like Stylish Remakes educate you the way to make new objects out of outdated t-shirts and sweats. Every new mending talent you study can save garments from the landfill and prevent the expense of buying a alternative.
