The Financial Advantages of Having a Sustainable Wardrobe
by Alicia Crosswind
Did you know that the average carbon footprint of clothing consumption is 330kg CO2 equivalent per Swede? This may not seem like much compared to the bigger picture, as 330 kg amounts to only 3% of an average Swede’s carbon footprint. However, here’s a more important angle to look at these statistics: 80% of this climate impact stems from the production phase.
This means that it's possible to reduce this impact from 3% to 0% — through simple behavioural changes like finding magical shirts at a lower price when buying secondhand. These steps towards investing in a sustainable wardrobe will benefit the environment and the economy as we move a step closer to net zero and will also be advantageous to your financial security.
How so? Keep reading for a closer look.
Supporting sustainability increases the supply
Sustainability may seem like an unnecessarily costly trend, and that’s because it is! However, this doesn’t have to be the case. The primary reason for its current costs comes from the simple supply-and-demand principle. This means that the cost of sustainable fashion will decrease when new innovations become more mainstream —as increased consumer demand will lead brands to invest more quickly in sustainable materials and technologies.
The newly produced sustainable garments will never quite reach the dirt-cheap prices of fast fashion, which are made without any care for the environment and fair wages. However, the environmental price tag will be greatly reduced. Less deforestation, water pollution, and carbon production in our environment will mean better food and water security for our economy as well.
Generally unlearn bad financial habits
When we invest in a sustainable wardrobe, we learn to shop for longevity. This means that sustainable fashion can help you unlearn bad habits like buying trendy pieces at disproportionately low prices — which can build up to a wardrobe of clothing you may not necessarily love and may have spent too much money on. The nail in the coffin is that most of these pieces involve planned obsolescence.
Fast fashion is literally designed to break and fall apart to increase product desirability and increase consumption. We can see this manifest in the growing advertisement by fashion stores of 24 micro-seasons per year. Extending this instead of focusing on two seasons — spring/summer and winter/fall — has led to consumers discarding garments twice as quickly as 15 years prior.
Shopping with purpose thus lowers our cost per wear. This also means entertaining rentals for special outfits during one-time occasions like weddings or other fancy-dress events. This allows us to make the most out of every purchase we make, but never go out of style.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under cc.
Buying is more costly than repairing
Sustainable pieces are already made of more durable material. In cases where they do require repair from accidents or long-time use, mending and fixing well-made clothes is still cheaper than buying new ones. At first glance, this may not seem the case. However, it is essential to remember fast fashion’s planned obsolescence. An individual purchase may seem worth it for its lower price, but you will have already fallen victim to a cycle of buying new when the low-quality garment degrades.
This will eventually accumulate to higher expenses. With sustainable clothing and habits, on the other hand, our lifestyle becomes more circular, and we do not have to contribute to society’s clothing overconsumption.
It’s all about investments, and that’s what reaching net zero is about: investing in a brighter future. By relieving the world of carbon’s burden, we also relieve our own wallets. Taking the first step away from fast fashion and towards a sustainable wardrobe starts with us.
Author’s Bio: Alicia Crosswind is a freelance writer with a two-year-old daughter. She is an advocate of nature play, believing that a child’s strong bond with nature will help create a healthier future.