By: Mia Griffith
We’ve all seen those influencers who are obsessed with overconsumption. Realistically no one needs the same top from amazon in ten different colors. We live in a world which glorifies consumption. It seems the more you buy the happier you are. We all know the monstrous collection of lululemon scubas quite influencers flaunt to audiences of young girls.
Brandy Melville, edikted, princess polly, zara, and many other brands. Cheap prices paired with cheap quality and cheap labor yield overconsumption and a disaster for sustainability. We justify spending by looking at the people around us and by the tantalizingly insignificant prices of fast fashion. Each year the fashion industry produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste. Much of this ends up in landfills and waterways. According to the United Nations Environmental Program around 60% of the material in clothes is plastic.
Even when able to suppress the urge to continuously buy new variations of the same outfits we have it is hard to sustainably source our fashion. Especially in an age where greenwashing is so common it's hard to differentiate sustainable fashion from the rest.
And on top of these issues it is undeniable that sustainable fashion is a luxury. Harper’s Bazaar attempts to assist the world with sustainability, listing its favorite 30 sustainable brands. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford a 1,175 dollar plain white button up from Stella McCartney or–on the less extreme end– a 300 dollar pair of jeans. Even thrifting, the holy grail of anti-overconsumption and sustainable fashion, is often a privilege. Spending hours on end shifting through clothing is not a hobby that most can afford to indulge in.
So what are some solutions? There is no easy answer to the problem of overconsumption and fast fashion. However there are some simple steps that each person can take. Upcycle. Convert old clothing into the new. Trade your old clothing. Wardrobe swaps are fun and sustainable– you're basically getting a whole set of new clothes! Ask yourself do I really need this?
