As the rise of fast fashion has covered the globe, climate change has shown us how to become more sustainable in our day-to-day lives, especially in fashion.

For years now, the fashion industry has relied on Fast Fashion to create affordable and comfier outfits. However, it has impacted the planet by its way of creation, leading to a humanitarian and climate crisis: water waste, chemical pollution, and human rights violations. This is when many ecological fashion enthusiasts began to use sustainable fashion as a way of saving the planet and lowering health risks while advocating for human rights. This sustainability is highly recommended for our shopping routines, and here is why.

How to Detect Non-Sustainable Clothing:

In the past few years, fast fashion has taken the world with its cheap clothing. However, shops like H&M, Zara, Forever 21, and many others have turned the climate into a disaster that we are now facing. It is no surprise as well that shops like Shein and Temu have also impacted the world by growing a sort of addiction in many adults with their overly cheap prices. Yet, these types of clothing never last long, making people consume them every day, leading to this drastic rise in fast fashion. 

Detecting them shouldn’t be an issue. Most of the fabrics used have chemicals that pose a great risk to our health and our planet. In fact, it is the main reason why the fashion industry is more of a threat to the world than any of the other chemically related industries. Here are the main chemicals that pollute the earth and damage our health: 

• - Lead.
• - Polyester.
• - Microplastics.
• - Non-organic dyes. 

In addition, these chemicals pollute our water when we wash it. A good amount of microplastics end up being sucked up by the water, leading to its pollution and microplastics in our environment. This could negatively impact our seas and their biodomes. Meanwhile, air pollution worsens because of the tons of CO2 emitted during the production of such clothes.

Lastly, human rights violations are also very common in the fast fashion industry with child labor, sexual abuse, verbal or physical abuse, modern slavery, and hazardous work conditions.

To this end, we now see many sustainable fashion companies that make sure all their products are long-lasting, organic, and made with good hands.

How to Become Sustainable: 

As mentioned, fast fashion can be easily detected with more research. So, sustainability can be achieved with zero issues. 

Sustainable fashion is characterized by diverse elements contributing to saving the earth. These key aspects include: 

1. Vegan and Cruelty-Free: Avoiding animal testing and products.
2. Ethical and Fair-Trade: Ensuring fair labor. 
3. Conscious Fashion: Making informed choices on the company behind the clothing. 
4. Environmentally Friendly: Reducing harm to the planet and its people.
5. Slow Fashion: Focusing on better quality and longevity.
6. Upcycling Fashion: Repurposing materials by using organic materials such as cotton, recycled cotton, linen, bamboo fabric, hemp fabric, and protein fabric (ethical wool). 
7. Circled Fashion: Promoting recycling and reusing products. 
8. Eco-friendly and Green: Addressing environmental issues caused by fashion. 

Nowadays, sustainable companies have been addressing the issues with fast fashion. While doing so, they also ensure the 100% sustainability of their products. Many shops have been spotted around the globe, promoting stylish and eco-friendly clothing such as Urbankissed, Rêve en vert, Staiy, Immaculate Vegan, and more. 

Regarding Lebanon, there are few slow fashion companies. However, two main sustainable shops, Earth Weavers and Overworked, offer many environmentally friendly outfits and products for both women and men. 

By this means, sustainable fashion offers diverse styling choices while also saving the planet little by little. This is why we ask ourselves, would more people finally get to improve the environment with their fashion?