Clothes! Yes, our clothes.
The clothes that we put on our bodies every single day. We cannot do without them.
Clothes are a really important part of our day to day yet since the mid 1990’s we have adopted a disposable attitude towards our clothing with consumption doubling in the last 15 years and garments only worn for half the time.
As a society, we are encouraged to over consume this extremely valuable resource with powerful marketing and clothing brands pumping out new lines every single week. With high supply overwhelming demand comes lower prices, poorer quality and thus leads to lower value placed on our clothes. Sadly this results in massive amounts of textile waste and exploited human and natural resources.
Oxfam estimates that 70% of donated clothing is exported to developing countries for resale in secondhand markets, disrupting indigenous textile manufacturing and what doesn’t sell in the markets gets dumped or burned. Not good. Just because we are finished with a garment, the garment isn’t always finished with us. It has to go somewhere.
This is why we need to 're-jingle' our thinking and put value back into our wardrobes. Here are some tips on how to create a sustainable wardrobe.
- The most sustainable place to shop is your own wardrobe. Use what you have, wear your clothes, rotate them and interchange them with pieces you already have to create new styles..
- If something is no longer your style, think creatively, see if it can be re-jingled / upcycled / repurposed into something new for you or approach an alterations service to see what they can do for you.
- If something is damaged, repair it or find someone to repair it for you. Every item of clothing is worth being mended.
- If something doesn't fit anymore, re-home it on swap sites, freecycle sites and groups. Remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Also see point above.
- And if you must buy, always shop preloved. We are surrounded by an abundance of hardly worn garments, let’s wear them to death!
Join the reuzi for good 5% for progress campaign and be rewarded for being part of the change. Discover more at reuzi.ie
A big thanks to Rachel, the brains behind Re-Jingled.
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