By Hollie McHugh

20th December 2021

Modern day consumers over recent years are becoming more intrigued and open to sustainability and eco-friendly measures when it comes to their wardrobes.

The fashion industry is becoming less sustainable because of fast fashion. High-Street brands are relying on mass production, low-prices, and copious quantities of sales.

The fashion industry is a diverse industry and is ever changing. By changing our habits and choosing to buy and wear more sustainable and ecological friendly clothing we are helping the environment and raising much needed awareness surrounding fast fashion.

Here are some simple guidelines to help you introduce sustainable fashion into your life!

UP-CYCLE YOUR WARDROBE

Irish Blogger Shona Lenehan has been leading the way for sustainable and eco-friendly fashion since 2017. Boasting an impressive 13,000K followers on Instagram, surprisingly Lenehan said

“When I first began posting about sustainable fashion my following decreased quite drastically initially.”

Despite this, Lenehan continued with her newfound love of sustainable fashion and has been showing off her expectational skills when it comes to up-cycling pieces of clothing.

“I would say my number one tip is to be open minded and get creative. There are definitely pieces in most wardrobes that can be worn over and over in multiple diverse ways” says Shona

THE #30WEARSCHALLENEGE ASK YOURSELF THE QUESTION?

Olivia Firth is the founder of Eco-Age, a company that accredits associations for sustainable practices. Firth created the #30wearschallenge to help encourage mindful shopping amongst modern consumers. The #30wearschallenge is there for us to stop ask ourselves before we make a purchase “Will I wear this item 30 times?”

"Today the consumer is completely detached from the clothes he or she wears and from who makes them, it happens far away so we don't see it... Out of sight, out of mind.” says Firth

When buying items of clothing keep in mind quality over quantity. Invest in items that you can carry from season to season.

REPAIR SHOES/CLOTHES

Instead of throwing away items that need a small adjustment, look up your local shoe repair and alteration shops.

Missing buttons, rips, holes or simply shoes that you do not think could be resorted to their originally state can be easily dealt with. This is a clever way to save yourself money instead of buying another item, whilst being ecofriendly and sustainable.

Supporting smaller businesses has become more prevalent than ever in recent times, they need our backing after the pandemic. Shopping locally is better instead of buying from big brands, you get more of a personal and customized shopping experience supporting these businesses.

Follow @stepfreshldn for some amazing shoe transformations

ALWAYS DONATE UNWANTED ITEMS

Donating your unwanted clothes to a worthy cause is another simple and effective way of being sustainable. Not only in this process are you helping yourself by getting rid of unwanted items that are slowly gathering in your wardrobe, but you are also helping by getting other people to invest in your clothes by purchasing them rather than buying from fast fashion outlet.

A good thing to have in mind when donating and purchasing a new piece of clothing is, the one-in, one-out rule which translates to every time you buy something new you must donate a piece from your wardrobe