What Is Sustainable Fashion & the Impact on the Environment

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In the middle of emerging fashion trends in Indonesia, sustainable fashion has become one of the widely encouraged fashion styles. This fashion concept brings various significant benefits, especially for the environment.

Sustainable fashion has emerged as a style of dressing that positively affects the preservation of the environment. To understand what sustainable fashion is and how it benefits the environment, read this article until the end!

What Is Sustainable Fashion?

Sustainable fashion is a clothing concept that prioritizes eco-friendly and sustainable principles. The implementation of both principles works end-to-end, from production, promotion, and distribution up to product usage.

Sustainable fashion aims to restore environmental balance through changes in fashion. The concept of sustainable fashion goes hand in hand with a sustainable lifestyle, which both aim to encourage a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

The characteristics of products carrying sustainable fashion are as follows:

Animal-free.
Using natural dyes.
Leveraging waste.
Transparent and accountable.
Minimal carbon footprint.

Advantages of Sustainable Fashion

The benefits of implementing sustainable fashion cannot be felt instantly since it takes a long time. However, even small steps are still meaningful to be part of a bigger change. The advantages of sustainable fashion are as follows:

1. Supporting Environmental Conservation

The sustainable fashion industry supports the use of decomposable and environmentally friendly materials. Additionally, a natural dye is also utilized to prevent pollution. In the end, this practice can support environmental preservation.

2. Creating a Healthy Work Environment

The implementation of sustainable fashion can also help improve the quality of the work environment, such as the provision of appropriate wages and working hours, because sustainable fashion prioritizes worker protection throughout the supply chain.

According to the Global Goals by the United Nations (UN), sustainable fashion is not only about reducing carbon emissions but also about advocating for the welfare of people in this industry.

Therefore, ethical and responsible garment production becomes one of the approaches in the sustainable fashion concept. This approach emphasizes quality over quantity, paying attention to the workers’ safety and welfare.

Another important aspect of this fashion concept is transparency in the supply chain network. Typically, sustainable brands will establish closer relationships with suppliers who can create decent working conditions.

3. Encouraging Environmentally Friendly Innovations

Carrying sustainable fashion cannot hinder you from dressing modestly and fashionably. Various sustainable designs have been made using eco-friendly methods and materials. Recently, collaboration and exchange of ideas have also increased with the rise of this fashion trend.

4. Building Consumer Awareness

Did you know that many consumers have been aware of the importance of sustainable fashion? Research on 100 respondents in Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin Indonesia revealed that the perception towards sustainable fashion affects their purchase decision significantly.

This high level of awareness can open up a deeper discussion on environmental issues. Therefore, sustainable fashion can build consumer awareness of how important sustainable fashion is to preserve the environment.

Examples of Sustainable Fashion

The examples of sustainable fashion begin with small actions, and when you are used to them, the actions can bring a bigger positive change. Here are some examples of sustainable fashion you should know:

1. Wearing Organic Clothes

When you need new clothes, you should choose clothes made from organic materials so they can decompose well in nature. These eco-friendly clothes are usually made from organic cotton, silk, wool, tencel, pinatex, linen, viscose rayon, or other organic materials.

2. Recycling Clothes

Did you know? Some zero waste communities are now processing unused clothes to make them more useful. However, before deciding to throw them away, you can try styling some of your old clothes to get a fresh look.

3. Shopping Mindfully

Usually, the decision to buy clothes is from your impulsive behavior. This will lead to wasteful behavior, increasing the amount of garment waste. For this reason, before purchasing clothes, make sure that you really need them.

You can ask yourself whether you need or want the product. If it is important, you do not need to hesitate in buying it. But if it is only your want and not urgent, you can postpone buying it.

4. Clothes Thrifting

When you want to add a new outfit, consider buying secondhand or thrifted clothes. In addition to supporting environmental sustainability, thrifting also helps in saving money, as the prices are generally more affordable.

To carefully buy thrifted clothes, you can choose a thrift store appropriately. For example, you can ask for recommendations from people nearby or research on the internet to find thrift stores that have positive reviews and provide real pictures of each product.

5. Selecting Quality Clothes

Due to its resistance to damage, high-quality clothing has a longer lifespan, and it reduces the need for new clothing. They also feel comfortable wearing them because they are made from high-quality materials.

You can examine the type of material used to determine the quality. Generally, clothes made from cotton will feel soft, absorb sweat, and be comfortable to wear.

In addition, you can check the quality of the stitching on the clothes. To do so, you can pull both sides of the shirt slowly to see if the stitches are tight. Clothes with strong seams can usually be used for a long time.

6. Donating the Unused Clothes

If you have unused clothes, you can donate them to share happiness and support environmental sustainability by reducing new clothes.

That is the explanation about sustainable fashion and how to implement it. The decision to implement this concept not only encourages more innovations in the fashion field but also becomes the real action to create changes for the environment.

If you are interested in doing sustainable fashion, this is the right time to implement sustainable living in your life. To make it easier, you can join Indonesia Asri!

Indonesia Asri has #SiPalingSustainable as the first step to live sustainably. Through this campaign, you can participate in simple and fun challenges, bringing a positive impact to the environment.

Along with fixing your sustainable lifestyle, you can also fix other habits easily with #SiPalingSustainable. So, what are you waiting for? Register yourself and become a Warga Asri now!