Breaking Down 2 Common Myths About Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable fashion is something we talk about a lot. It’s the idea that everyone should be more conscious of their fashion choices. Primarily, you want to avoid situations where there is a lot of clothes waste in the fashion industry and people are constantly buying new items every single week. This leads to the idea of fast fashion, which is when you have cheap brands producing high volumes of low-quality clothing that follows trends like crazy. It encourages consumers to constantly buy the latest things and is highly unsustainable. 

Unfortunately, because sustainable fashion has only really been focused on for the last few years, there are plenty of myths out there about what you can or should do. The problem with these myths is that they can discourage people from being more sustainable. As a result, we’re about to break down two of the most common sustainability myths relating to the fashion industry: 

Sustainable clothing is of a poor quality

Perhaps the biggest myth is that sustainable clothing - this means items made from recycled or sustainable materials - will be of a lower quality than traditional clothing. Realistically, this isn’t true at all. You can find and wear clothes made from recycled materials and they will feel just as good as some of the other items in your wardrobe. 

Likewise, one of the big problems with fast fashion is that the clothes are so poorly made. If you buy a top from a cheap brand, it’s hardly going to last before it has a rip in it. So, to argue that sustainable clothing is of a lower quality than this is simply false. 

Sustainable fashion is all about wearing recycled garments

Speaking about recycled clothing, there’s a huge myth that every single item you wear needs to be “recycled”. What we mean is that all of your clothes should be made sustainably and with recycled materials. While this is good, it is not the be-all and end-all of sustainable fashion. 

Instead, you should also focus on cutting down on your purchases and making items last longer. Sometimes, you can do this by buying higher-quality clothing at more expensive prices. A pair of jeans from a brand like 883 Police or Levis will last considerably longer than a pair from Asos or Primark. Similarly, buying second-hand clothing also helps you be more sustainable as you prevent waste and don’t go out and buy brand-new things all the time. 

When you combine these two myths, you can see why people are cautious about becoming more sustainable. If sustainable fashion equals recycled materials, yet recycled clothing is of a lower quality, why would you bother? In reality, both of these myths are wrong. You can find some really high-quality clothes made from either completely or partially recycled materials - and it is a smart idea to start adding these things to your wardrobe. At the same time, you can take your first steps towards sustainability by cutting down on what you purchase. Avoid buying cheap items that wear down quickly and need to constantly be replaced. It’s okay to invest in some higher-quality stuff if it means you will keep wearing the items for years. Try to buy second-hand clothes as well, leading to circular fashion where things are reused instead of thrown in the trash. 

As you can see, when you know what to do, sustainable fashion isn’t has hard as it seems.