How to set up a sustainable wardrobe

How to set up a sustainable wardrobe

You can prevent garments with toxic substances that harm your health and pollute from entering your wardrobe. There is a sustainable and healthy fashion.

To create a sustainable and healthy wardrobe, you can stop consuming fashion with textile pollutants that are harmful to our health and the environment, limit access to brands that ignore sustainability or that exploit animals or workers.

AVOID TOXINS IN CLOTHES: THEY PASS INTO THE BLOODSTREAM

Not all fabrics that are called sustainable because they are obtained from recycling are free of synthetic fibers derived from petroleum, therefore not all are ecological or natural.

Remember that when in contact with the skin, toxins from dyes and additives, such as waterproofing or flame retardants, enter the bloodstream and can cause endocrine disruption and skin allergies or contribute to multiple chemical hypersensitivity (MCS), chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.

Women, who are also more exposed to other toxins, such as those found in cosmetics and cleaning products, are more vulnerable.

ENHANCE YOUR PERSONAL STYLE

Conventional fashion is the second most polluting sector on the planet and produces more than we can consume, tempting us with low prices. That is why we have to change the way we relate to our clothes and choose them more consciously. We must go back to talking about personal style instead of focusing on brands and trends, which standardize and promote consumerism.

GUIDELINES TO RENEW YOUR WARDROBE WITH NEW IDEAS BET ON VALUES

Choose brands with values ​​that you identify with. Ethical Time is a new search engine and app to select the values ​​that you ask of your brand: that it be vegan, zero waste, a social project, sustainable dyes… “We want people to choose everything that makes them feel good on the outside and inside, among all the stores and brands of sustainable fashion”, says the company. Before you buy, research the brand. That’s what Google is for.

FIND YOUR SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING ROUTE

In addition to pioneering platforms such as Slow Fashion Next or brand spaces such as The Circular Project from Madrid, new platforms are being hatched to strengthen responsible shopping routes. Very recent is Kalon Madrid, specialized in the designs of “contemporary craftsmen”.

LOOK BEYOND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE GARMENT

The decent working conditions of those involved are as important or more important than the technical process of sustainable manufacturing. Ethics in production is a universal value, but it is especially present among millennials, vegans, neo-rurals, or mothers.

SUSTAINABLE FASHION IS NOT EXPENSIVE

We don’t need many garments, just a few of the best quality so that they are more durable and that characterize us. You can always alternate purchases of author designer clothes with second-hand, vintage or exchange garments, which you can do through apps or groups of friends. Used clothing is always the most sustainable.

DO NOT GIVE UP ON BUYING FASHION

But you shouldn’t buy on impulse, out of habit, for leisure or to fill a void. A healthy habit is to count the clothes you have in your closet and set a limit per season and, before buying, think about whether you really need them.

In fashion there is a return to the origins. In the MOMAD forum, in Madrid, they explain that good treatment, experience and service are taking many customers away from large surfaces and brands to take them to more personal spaces and alternative designers to fast fashion.

DON’T MISS OUT ON THE STAMPS

There are many environmental and social accreditations: Bluesign, Gots(GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARD). Oeko-Tex 1000, Cradle to Cradle… But think that small brands that do not display seals can also do things well. Certifications cost money that some small brands and designers cannot afford to spend.

MAKE YOURSELF

With more and more materials, textures, colors and styles to choose from, sustainable fashion has gone to another level. In Madrid, Be2Fabric is the first showroom for sustainable fabrics, created to bring together the wide variety of good raw materials available and inspire new collections of sustainable clothing. You can go, browse and buy retail to create your clothes, repair or update them.