The Future Partnership Between the Environment and Fashion

Sustainable fashion is likely as trendy as eating Brussels Sprouts, yet in both cases, there is a benefit. The costs of purchasing environmentally friendly clothing may currently be against the mass public if demand for it increases, competition for retail stores should equate to a reduction of prices. Concerning the future of sustainable fashion, there are three immediate possibilities.

1) The increased production of  biodegradable clothing.

2) The increased production of clothing that outlasts average the lifetime of average fabrics (resulting in fewer trips to replace an outfit).

3) The decline of sustainable fashion.

If clothing can be easily absorbed into the environment after use, a benefit to the planet would be fewer landfills. If clothes lasted longer due to ‘super’ fabric, another benefit would be a decrease in shopping for several identical sets of clothing if you had one set which lasted far longer. This is not the best move for a business, due to the fact that customers would shop less frequently, but it would attract new customers, or existing customers, to new creations. Ultimately biodegradable clothing is the best option for the fashion enthusiast who does not want their clothes end up in a garbage dump after losing interest in the design.

Clothing such as suits, ties, even dress pants, are almost a requirement for every household. With a guaranteed customer base, the next step for designers is to ensure the sustainability of their trade without harming the sustainability of humanity in general.

If you have never visited the website of an environmentally friendly fashion company, you might be surprised to learn that sustainable fashion does not equate to wearing a paper bag. To see just how ‘normal’ eco-friendly clothing can appear here are some websites with images.

http://www.thegreenloop.com/Mens_Apparel_s/51.htm

http://www.thegreenloop.com/Womens_Apparel_s/50.htm

http://gretchenandgrace.com/cart/kids-c-250.html

http://www.fashionandearth.com/us/

 

“Not Biodegradable” – One of the Many Faults Associated With Plastic Bags

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

MSNBC submitted an article yesterday on the California’s potential to be “first state in the nation [U.S.] to ban plastic shopping bags”. As written earlier in a blog entry, the inability of plastic to decompose within our environment has resulted in one of potentially many more islands in the Pacific composed of literally garbage. Countries in Africa such as Rwanda, have already made the move to ban this useful but impractical device and according to AFP, the “law banning the manufacture, use, import and sale of polythene bags was passed in September 2008.“

It is unfair to compare countries and pit them in a competition against each other, especially when they are trying to better our planet. It is common knowledge, for example, that the United States of America has a higher population than Rwanda and hence the enforcement of a plastic ban will take longer to become fully integrated into the lives of citizens. Yet, regardless of acceptance, decomposable shopping bags or bags intended to last a decade (some, a lifetime), are the best practical alternative short of raising your own sources of meat, fruits and vegetables and other common supermarket items. Canning has been a useful tool to preserve food like beans or soup, for a longer period of time than if left exposed, but as a recent episode of Dr. Oz warned, BPA can leach out of “plastic and the plasticized lining of tin cans and so epitomizes the concern that our food packaging is toxic.”

While it may seem like everything in our modern world has the potential to turn against you, it is unlikely that cans will be the next plastic shopping bag. Dr. Mehmet Oz even remarked on our dependence to plastic bags by saying,

We use 500 billion (that’s billion) plastic bags a year around the world. Use them for 10 minutes and then it’s into the landfill they go, staying there long enough to greet your descendants 500 years from now. Instead, use reusable cloth bags (keep them in the car or kitchen). Or choose paper bags, since paper is a renewable resource and easily recyclable.

In addition to being non-biodegradable, some plastic bags have been labelled as choking hazards for children. Just another of the many reasons why our reliance is not as smart as it may seem. Ultimately the choice as to whether or not plastic bags are continued is lies with the person, the fundamental unit of any state. If one person is seen using a cloth bag like the one depicted below, it could very well spark a trend that has infinite design potentials without the harmful traits that hurt our planet.

Image by dhyanji via Flickr through Zemanta

*Title quote from MSNBC, references are embedded throughout rest of article.