Sustainable Fashion Within A Culture Of Consumption

In technical language, sustainable refers to something that can be sustainable and be maintained at the current level or rate. Sustainability is a ubiquitous term usually used in businesses. Sustainable fashion is a concept of fashion that refers to garments made in a mindful manner considering the worsening environmental conditions of the environment. Sustainable fashion refers to adopting the type of fashion that motivates using natural fabrics and processes which are not harmful to the environment. Sustainable fashion brands refer to the fashion wherein humanity, and environmental concerns come before head the fashion trends.

Sustainable fashion includes eco-friendly production and packaging, emission-reduced production, social and ethical working practices, excellent quality, organic materials etc. These apparel does not really focus on the trends but instead focuses on the betterment of nature. Sustainable fashion involves making apparel that looks good and saves nature from disposing of harmful chemicals and dirty water.

What Does The Culture Of Consumption Refer To

Culture of consumption is one of the hiking areas in various disciplines, which refers to the consumption of services and goods with aesthetic functionalities. Although relating sustainability and ethics with fashion is a task, but the culture of consumption can make it effortless.

As the name suggests, the consumption culture is an era that must be given particular importance. This is because trends are worsening the environment so severely that its impacts have started revealing in the conditions. The fashion industry disposes of trillion tons of solid waste and million litres of water worldwide. It affects the living conditions of humans, animals and nature, affects the health of the people surrounded by clothing industries, promotes water scarcity, releases tons of microfibers, uses extreme levels of plastic etc. 

This is all happening because of the culture of consumption that the people create in the past. The fashion trends set by the ancestors had been going on for a very long time and had developed a particular set of standards that people adopt. Different cultures follow different consumption modules, which motivate trends and environmental distress.

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The clothing culture is different in different countries and states, which only promotes the usage of even more harmful chemicals and toxic dyes. Changing the culture of consumption is extremely important for the users because if not taken it seriously now, it may lead to vast destruction later. Fashion trends are vastly impacting the lives of textile workers by giving them serious health concerns, vast contribution to carbon emissions etc. If these concerns are not given much attention now it may lead to an extreme natural disaster and worsen the environmental conditions.

Why should sustainable fashion be the culture of consumption?

The most significant fashion industry issues are consumption, sustainability and disposal. These have been analysed as the three main and the most critical problems with fashion. The culture of consumption which is currently in trend is exceptionally toxic, promoting newer trends every day, which is increasing disposals and consumption but reducing sustainability. Fast fashion is the current trend, and there are always more notable trends being introduced in the market, which decreases the probability of sustainability. Various challenges in the fashion industry are the production processes, opportunities, consumption challenges, poor work conditions, labour, and high technological and electricity requirements. Because of the toxic fibres, greenhouse emissions, water pollution etc., the fashion industry is one of the biggest industries contributing to pollution. These manufacturing industries create pollution by dumping untreated dyes and chemicals in the water.

Some of the most accessible apparel when coming to choosing sustainable fashion are hats, caps, t-shirts, skirts, tops, shirts, pants, shoes, sustainable backpacks, bracelets, jackets, coats etc. Sustainable fashion has to offer everything that any common fashion trend provides, but just in better quality. When wearing standard fabrics, you may also complain about rashes and itching issues, but with the clothes made up of natural materials, you will be able to feel the comfort of wearing natural clothing, which helps you with its natural functions and abilities. 

Sustainable fashion is manufactured of fabrics derived from eco-friendly resources. These include the grown fibre crops, recycled materials and natural fabrics. Some of the most common and popular fabrics used in manufacturing sustainable yet fashionable clothing include recycled cotton, organic cotton, organic bamboo, ECONYL, recycled polyester, lyocell, modal, cork, pinatex, qmonos, apple leather, woocoa, cupro, silk, cashmere, alpaca wool, wool etc. There are many environmentally friendly fabrics that are sustainable yet effectively beneficial for the environment as a whole which can contribute to developing a sustainable culture of consumption. When adapting the sustainable consumption culture, humans can benefit from the worse causes of pollution in the near future.

Impacts of not accepting sustainable fashion in the long term

1. Health issues: If we continue to use the current fashion module, it will lead to a lot of health issues like asthma, heart attack, respiratory infections, lung cancer etc. there are many such serious health issues that people may have to face when surrounded by cloth manufacturing industries.  
   
   
2. Visibility impairment: Visual impairments are analysed as one of the riskiest and most common issues faced by the people working in the cloth manufacturing industries and surrounded by it.
   
   
3. Inaccurate nutrient balance in coastal water: Coastal waters carry the highest amount of nutrients which are beneficial for the smooth water cycle, accurate rainfall, snowfall etc. these nutrients also maintain a good balance and help nourish. When toxic fires are dumped in the sea and the ocean, it leads to a worsening of water quality and ultimately inadequate water consumption by a human.
   
   
4. Promoting acid rain effects: The water and air pollution done by the manufacturing industries directly impact the ecological environment of the aquatic environment like lakes, marshes, and streams which are incredibly harmful to aquatic life. The trees cannot bear extreme acid rain resulting in lowering oxygen levels affecting both humans and the environment.
   
   
5. Sensitive forest and farm crops: Nature's ability to provide sustainable and eco-friendly raw material will decrease with the increase in pollution as the crops may not get enough nutrients for nourishing because of bad quality water, ultimately killing the crops early.

Final Thought :

It is high time that sustainable fashion shall be brought into the culture of consumption to reduce the worsening environmental conditions in the future and promote better health and living conditions. If not given much attention, the fashion industry may also start producing approximately 33% of pollution in the future. For the sake of a better environment and living conditions in future, it is a compulsion to bring sustainable fashion into the culture of consumption.

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