Zero Waste Fashion NY Resolution
One of our board members, Pat shares her New Year Resolution below…
My resolution for 2018 was to use less plastic. I already avoided plastic, but in 2018, I stopped buying shampoo in plastic bottles and now use shampoo soap. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to it, but now I would recommend it. I now also buy loose fruit and vegetables in supermarkets – I pile everything into my canvas bags for life, it works perfectly!
For 2019, my New Year Resolution is to go an entire year without buying any new clothes (excluding underwear). That may be over-ambitious, but if I really need to buy an outfit I will try to do the following:
- Try to buy eco fibres such as organic cotton, hemp or bamboo
- Buy smarter – i.e. buy better made clothes that fit well so will last longer
- Be clever with accessories
- Buy used or vintage
- Try to create a core wardrobe (from my existing clothes), so I can mix and match to create different outfits
- Maximise use between washes and wash on a gentle cycle at low temperature will mean clothes last longer.
- Make do, mend and alter
Why?
Zero waste should apply to fashion. Fashion is one of the world’s most resource intensive industries. In 2015, the fashion industry consumed nearly 80 billion cubic metres of fresh water, emitted over 1.2 billion tons of carbon emissions, and produced 92,000,000 tons of waste. In the UK in 2018, we sent 235,000,000 items of clothing to landfill. Polyester is also the most popular fabric used for fashion which sheds microfibres which do not biodegrade.
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