13 Sustainable Fashion Guidelines for the Common People: 6th one is important.

For most of the common people, the biggest problem to become sustainable is that they really don’t understand the term properly and the marketing gimmick of the fashion industry often mislead them. Sometimes the Sustainable Fashion term only remains restricted to the manufacturers of Textiles or Apparel. But the reality is until and unless the common people will develop the consciousness to become Sustainable the real problem won’t be solved.

Here, I have tried to provide a brief insight about “how to become sustainable “for the common people.

First, it’s important to understand the impact of not being sustainable in your life. Have you recently faced difficulties due to any unpredictable climate condition like heatwave or heavy rain fall? Have you or anyone of your family faced challenges with their children’s mental and physical development? Do you often suffer in any mental health problems, like anxiety, depression, stress, irritation etc? Have you or any of your family member has been diagnosed with any lifestyle diseases, like hypertension, heart related issue, stroke, migraine or even cancer?

If you have experienced any of the above-mentioned problems, then you need to understand that somewhere you are also responsible to trigger these issues and you need to evaluate your lifestyle to see how much you are damaging the environment and in turn to yourself or to your family members. Research shows that most of the lifestyle diseases, mental health issues, developmental delays in children have significantly been increased due to the toxic environment and we all are responsible for that.

So, what can you do? How can you contribute to make this planet more habitable? How can you offer better environment to the future generation? How can you remain sustainably fashionable?

Here are a few guidelines which you can follow:

1. Before you make any purchase of your desired clothes just ask a couple of questions to yourself.
   “Do you really need it, or it’s just because of your passion to become fashionable?”
   “How many times are you going to wear it?”
   “Is it something which can be worn as a casual wear and formal wear? Is it better to buy a semiformal outfit which can solve both the purposes?”
   “Have you tried all the mix and matches in your wardrobe to come out with a new style?”
   
   
   
2. If you have a positive response and you are convinced that you really need something new, start your research work about the brands who can offer you a sustainable outfit.
3. Please explore the possibilities to reengineer your existing clothes to get a new one. A lot many things can be done just by spending a minimal amount.
   
   
4. See the possibility to buy a secondhand or used cloth, you may get a better deal. There are many online stores also available now-a-days to offer you a wide range of options from the used or upcycled clothes.
5. Learn to read the details mentioned on the label or tag of the apparel you are going to purchase. You should carefully notice the certifications like GOTS (for wool and cotton), LWG (for leather products), FSC (for viscose) for the materials used for your garment.
   
   
   
6. Please try to avoid the clothing containing virgin synthetic(polyester), as these will take more than 500 years to decompose.
   A T-shirt made of 100% cotton takes 3-6 months to biodegrade whereas a T-shirt containing polyester can take 20-200 years to biodegrade depending on the blend.
   
   You should carefully notice the composition of the fabric from which the garment has been made, and give a preference to buy organic cotton, linen, hemp which are not only natural fibers but also easily biodegradable.
7. Look for the Made in Green by Oeko Tex or Bluesign certification, which declares that the garment you are buying has not been produced by using any harmful chemicals. These hazardous chemicals are not only bad for the environment these are equally bad for you to use.
8. Do a research work about your favorite brand and try to ensure that you are buying a product from the brand who are transparent in disclosing the information about their factories and policies about work environment, gender equality and wages about the workers.
9. You really need to take care of your garments and need to ensure that you are not dumping it to the landfill. Do you know 10000 items of clothing being sent to landfill in every 5 minutes in the UK?
   
   
   
10. It’s always advisable not to wash the cloth frequently, on one way it increases the longevity or the other hand it lowers the CO 2 emission and water consumption.
11. As it’s difficult to avoid the uses of synthetic clothes completely (nylon and elastane are still an integral part of activewear and intimate wear), you need to be more careful while washing your synthetic clothes. You must invest in a microplastic filter for your washing machine to avoid microplastic pollution which a killer for the marine lives and humanity.
12. Make sure you donate or resell your used clothes, it will not only save the environment from landfill issue but also will help one out of millions of people to get a single cloth.
13. Take step towards circularity, make it a habit to recycle and repurpose your clothes, it doesn’t cost much but can save you and your future generation from the harmful effects of dangerous environmental impacts.