Don't Buy the Dress!

No you don't need that new dress, that new jumper, those shoes you'll only wear once. Really, you have another choice and the planet will thank you for it.

Sustainable fashion is something I am super keen to learn more about this year. I have only been dipping my toes into this topic by following other people on social media who post about this, and finding alternatives to buying clothes from fast fashion brands.

It is a huge throwaway industry. Companies produce such mass quantities of items and these big brands don’t even contribute to paying workers living wage. Some brands (e.g H&M) are catching on to the environmental demands and now have ‘conscious’ ranges which as a consumer we believe is them making positive changes and progress... WRONG. Whilst they do this range they are still producing hundreds of other garments alongside this, so how is that sustainable in any way!? Just by having a few items 'conscious' does not account for any other issues, even considering why certain items are so cheap.

Another tip when you’re shopping is to check what materials clothes are made from as most are made from synthetic materials (eugh plastic really is everywhere). 

We are brought up in a culture where we feel that we need to buy a new dress for the next party we have.

Or maybe we feel that we can't wear that dress worn to a party last week again. We see people on social media platforms wearing lovely clothes (hardly ever wearing the same clothes twice in posts), so it's no wonder we think in this way. I was like this too and I am starting to tell myself not to buy new. I'll tell you now, with New Look clothes staring at me all day it requires a LOT of willpower. You also save money when you stop and really ask yourself if you need it. Think about how else you could spend your money, maybe save it and spend the money on a piece of clothing that would last longer, and contribute to better ethical standards. (more on this another day). (I will acknowledge that I am in a privileged position to be able to choose where I can buy clothes from.)

In this particular situation that has inspired me to write this post, I found myself trying to find a dress suitable for a black tie event.

This meant that my options were to either:

- Wear something I already own

- Buy a new dress

- Buy secondhand (thrift/charity shop)

- Borrow from someone

As I don't own any long dresses, I reached out to friends and asked if anyone had one suitable for said event and then bingo - a close friend had a long black dress which I could try on, and luckily it was the perfect fit. Popped a pair of heels that I already own and voila!

If you take anything away from this post please let it be this:

The most sustainable fashion is wearing the clothes that you already own.

I'll be blogging more tips and info very soon!