Buying clothes, who doesn’t love it? We like to buy as many clothes as possible and when it’s on sale we can’t be stopped! But is this behavior actually still responsible? This is because the clothing industry is very polluting to our earth and clothing is often not made in a fair way. In this blog, you’ll read about what’s bad about the fast fashion industry and what to look for when buying sustainable clothing.
Fast fashion
Compared to the past, the clothing industry has become a lot “faster. This means that new collections are hanging in the stores much more frequently and we are all buying new clothes more and more often. It turns out even Dutch people only wear their garments an average of 9 times. Since we don’t wear the clothes very often anyway, we are quickly tempted to buy cheap but poorly produced clothes. This puts pressure on clothing retailers to produce their products as quickly and cheaply as possible, which has led to as much as 90% of clothing not being produced sustainably.
What’s going wrong?
But what goes wrong in the clothing industry anyway? First, the clothing industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. It pollutes the soil, air and water by chemicals used in the production process, by the huge amounts of water wasted and by all the waste that ends up in nature. And of the clothing that is produced, another third is shredded or burned. In fact, according to The Guardian, the fast fashion industry causes a truckload of clothes to be thrown away every second. It is not only the earth and the environment that suffer from these conditions, but certainly the people who work in this industry. Clothing is often made in unsafe factories involving child labor and unacceptable working conditions. In many cases, these people also do not earn a fair wage to live on.
Buy sustainable clothing!
As you read, a lot goes wrong in today’s clothing industry. Fortunately, there are more and more clothing brands that understand the importance of sustainable clothing and therefore produce fair and organic clothing. Do you want to buy sustainable clothing, but don’t know where to start? We can well imagine! We explain three things you can look out for. The first question to ask when buying a garment is: who was this garment made by? Did these people work under safe working conditions? And is the clothing not produced by child labor? Many online shops that value sustainability and slow fashion – such as ADUH – list these items on their websites. The second question you can ask is: does this webshop sell fair trade clothing? This means that workers have earned fair wages and that fair agreements have been made with every party in the production chain, from the farmer who picks the cotton to the clothing retailer. You can tell whether this is the case by an approval by the Fair Wear Foundation, among other things. Finally, it is good to ask yourself if the clothing was produced in an environmentally friendly way. For example, by using 100% organic cotton. Organic cotton is made from seeds that have not been genetically modified and are not treated with pesticides or fertilizers. Natural methods are used instead. Among other things, this ensures that water used for agriculture does not contain chemicals, allowing it to be reused and safely returned to water sources without causing harm.
ADUH
Want to make your own sustainable choices in the clothes you buy? Then look no further, because at ADUH you are guaranteed a durable product. ADUH’s cotton clothing is 100% organic, meets fair fashion guidelines and has high quality and comfort.