Sustainability has become a concern for more and more consumers of each type of industry. Fortunately, fashion has caught up with today’s trends and begun to care more about the environment. And to be honest, it had all the reasons. For example, the fashion industry is
responsible for producing no less than 10% of the world’s carbon emissions in one year. At the same time, the fashion industry’s need for treating and dying materials accounts for 20% of the global water waste. But, all is not lost. More and more big brands are making changes and heading towards sustainable fashion at a faster or slower pace. Sure, some brands still have a long way to go, but at least the signs are encouraging. And if you’re curious about how the fashion industry has changed and what to expect in the future, here are the latest sustainable fashion trends.
● Replacing leather
● Recycling materials
● Renting fashion
● Buying secondhand
● Adopting minimalism
● Fashion on demand
● Greenwashing’s demise and product passports
Chic and cruelty-free
The prototype of clothes the first humans wore was leather. The pre-historic homo sapiens didn’t have any other choice but to keep themselves warm, but luckily, we do. It took a long time to acknowledge that we don’t need products of animal cruelty as synonyms for the highest fashion. Fortunately, today we came up with way better solutions than the killing of rare species because of their skin. Vegan leather comes in all forms today, and ‘faux cuir’ is the golden standard in the industry of attractive and chic clothing lines.
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Recycling materials
As we said, 10% of carbon emissions go to the fashion industry and making new fabric. Since the process of recycling reduces energy production as well as the emission of gasses into the atmosphere, it’s no wonder people have turned to this process in the fashion industry too. The most used fiber in large production branches is polyester. Did you know that PET bottles and nylon fishnets can serve as a base for creating recycled polyester? Saving the sea with all its creatures is quite a good reason (among others) to turn to this method of sustainability.
To rent or to buy?
Spending a huge amount of money on one piece of clothing is a luxury reserved for a few. For most (celebrities included), it’s a thing of the past. Many designers that have a nose for the business now have pieces they don’t sell but rent. That way of business solves two problems. First – is the infamous ‘I have nothing to wear’ problem. It’s never been about having nothing to wear but having to wear one piece of clothing many times. Fashion is fun, and by renting, you can always surprise yourself with an option according to your mood. Second – you don’t have to spend a lot of cash on the thing you will wear only once. Renting is a solution recognized widely in the industry, and today there are a lot of prospective dealers that made their job doing just that.
Thrifting culture
Fast fashion is an unfortunate trend that was born as a product of a corporate desire to make money on the majority of people that cannot afford the luxury of high fashion. The product of fast fashion, on the other hand, is clothes that are cheap, with no quality whatsoever, and wasteful. In the past years, there’s been a rising trend of buying secondhand. This is a good alternative for the people that cannot afford to rent or buy luxury models firsthand to have quality clothing that will last. Also, according to the experts at teddymoving.com, participating on the other end of the chain of thrifting culture and giving the old clothes you don’t use to the second-hand shops can be a good way of making more room in your storage facility.
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Less is more
Minimalism has ruled many branches of art in recent decades, and it hasn’t avoided fashion too (as we’ll see in September Fashion Week soon). It’s all about finding essentials that bring you joy and making a statement without unnecessary ‘overcrowding’ your look. When incorporating minimalism in your closet, you are deciding not to purchase many unnecessary items you’ll soon want to get rid of.
Custom-made couture is eco-friendly
It’s good to experiment with new things, but sometimes it’s all about going back to the roots. Making couture on demand has been a skeleton of fashion for centuries. By using exclusively the material needed for a certain piece, we avoid making a messy pile of wasteful fabric. Also, you’ll be sure that the clothes will work for you. It’s a quite good practice of sustainability and, fortunately, fashion on demand is no more only the pleasure of the wealthy.
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Product passports are one of the latest sustainable fashion trends
As ecological awareness grew, the corporations making money from fast fashion had to adapt. That’s how green-washing became a thing. Green-washing is a way of deceiving customers into thinking that the brand is sustainable when in fact, it’s not. That’s why product passports became an excellent solution and a trend in the battle for sustainability. A product passport is a digital trace of materials used in the production of an item in question that is supposed to provide more truthful information to the customers. They’re revolutionary and yet to bloom in the industry, but we’ll be there for it when they do.
Final words
If there is something that has made fashion so appealing to consumers over the years, it is its versatility and capability to adapt. Important brands have always listened to and responded to their customers’ wishes, whether to please or protect them. Today, these customers ask for environmental awareness, and the fashion industry doesn’t hesitate to answer. It responds to the new values of society with sustainable fashion trends that come hand in hand with the latest needs of our planet. Fashion recognized the need for change and joined the battle to keep our world safe and healthy for future generations.
4 thoughts on “The Latest Sustainable Fashion Trends”
Brilliant post! Greenwashing is awful. I definitely think people get misled by campaigns and 100% need info like this to educate themselves.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Yes to all! I have made lots of to changes into the way I shop but I still can improve a lot xx
Maria xx
https://www.elegantduchess.com/
I love how people are becoming more aware of the issues the fashion industry has caused, especially when it comes to exploiting severely underpaid workers (some even using child labor) and polluting the planet, contributing to the global warming. Greenwashing is still an issue we need to address, though, because it’s so easy to be fooled when someone really invests in marketing and caution is needed.
I tend to follow all these advice and hope that people all over the world will start and keep doing the same. <3 But I also can't wait for the global mega companies to take responsibility for their actions and change their way of doing things.
http://www.couture-case.com/
I think a lot of brands are trying to be more aware of sustainability. It’s sad though that there are so many that claim to be sustainable, but they end up not being at all. This post is super helpful!
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