Buy Less, Wear GUIDE More. THE 8 R'S OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION
REDUCE
THE AMOUNT OF CLOTHING YOU PURCHASE The average person buys 60% more clothing than we did 15 years ago! Try to avoid fads by asking yourself how many outfits you can style the item with and whether you think you will wear it again in a month. Maybe you have something similar in your wardrobe already? By asking yourself these questions you can save yourself hundreds of pounds in under worn items of clothing. The most sustainable clothes are ones you already have in your wardrobe.
Buy Less, Wear
RESPECT
YOUR CLOTHES
Taking good care of your clothes can help them last much longer. Following the care instructions on the label, air drying and not over washing can prolong a garments life. Choosing higher quality or more durable fabrics can also help prolong your clothes' lifetime. Some examples are linen, hemp, rayon or cotton. Loved clothes last.
r More.
Buy Less, REWEAR
THAT OUTFIT
Try and avoid buying clothes to wear once. If you have an event, why not borrow from a friend or restyle that skirt with a different top. If you have an outfit that makes you feel good, wear it more than once! Lets normalise wearing your favourite outfit again.
Wear More. RESTYLE
YOUR OLD CLOTHES Give the clothes at the back of your wardrobe a revamp by exploring different ways to wear and style them. Such as transforming a dress into a top or a skirt, a cardigan into 3 styles of top, or layering that cami with a different jacket or jewellery. Its amazing what some safety pins and some creativity can do to switch up an old scarf.
, s s e L y u B . e r o M r a e W REPAIR
INSTEAD OF REPLACE If your favourite dress rips or your jeans are too big, repairing them instead of replacing is a great way to save money and give the garment an extra lease of life. It can also make your clothes more personal and one of a kind.
RESELL OR SWAP
Apps like depop, vinted or ebay make it super easy to get some money from the clothes hanging out at the back of your wardrobe. around 85% of textiles are thrown away in the US amounting to13 million tonnes! By selling, donating or swapping your used clothes, you can prolong its life and reduce the amount ending up in landfill. This is another reason to invest in quality clothing that can be resold after you have got your wear out of it.
L y u B r a e W
RECYCLE
Globally just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled, most gets sent straight to landfill or incinerated. Recycling textiles is difficult due to mixed fibres and additional fixings and additions that all need to be separated. So only recycle garments that can no longer be worn.
, s s Le . e r o M REFLECT Our clothes have been manufactured by real people by fibres and fabrics which take hours of growing, harvesting, weaving, dying and cutting to become something beautiful for us to express ourselves with. We need to reflect on our clothing and learn to love fashion again, not just for a day, but for its lifetime.