My 5 ways to Shopping Responsibly.

Hello Beautiful People! 
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

How do usually spend your weekend? Would like to hear all the crazy things you all do to de-stress on weekends after a crazy week?

Some might be planning to go shopping.

Shopping. for many, I know is a stress buster or something that makes us feel good. The power of a new dress or latest handbag to dramatically change our mood can't be denied. 

But when we are busy and very often impulsively shopping, just paying attention to a few things can change the way the fashion industry impacts the lives of millions. 

In my previous posts, I had discussed ethical Wardrobe and Sustainable Fashion.

Today let me share (what I know) about Shopping Ethically.

1. Quality over Quantity. 

Chose and demand for quality over quantity.
A garment is Cheap, either when it is made of a poor-quality material or the poor workers or artisans at the grassroots level, are getting underpaid, who dues to lack of knowledge and very often cause of need of employment do not even realize that they are getting underpaid or that they can demand more. Poorly stitched garments will last only 2-3 wears, and they end up in ever-growing landfills whereas when a dress is  Well stitched and made of good quality material it will last long, you can wear as long as you want or donate it. 

Look for quality over Quantity.

2. Go for classic trends. 

Classic styles will Never go out of Style. Invest in classic trends that don't go out of fashion, pieces that are well stitched with material that long-lasting. Owning such a piece in your wardrobe is like an investment. since they don't go out of style you don't have to worry about replacing it every year with a new one.

Choose classic styles.

3 Shop Local.

When we shop local, we are reducing the carbon footprint, by eliminating transportation involved.
We help in creating a livelihood for local artisans and giving them an opportunity to sustain a using their age-old skill and culture.
Which if not promoted, chances are might vanish.

Shop Local

4. Buy from an ethical shop.
Shops from stores that are transparent about their process,  It is not enough that the dress we buy has an international or popular brand name! , We from our end should see if the garment is made to last, made by workers who are paid fair wages under conditions that are safe. E-mail them, tweet or message them on their FB pages or insta pages, ask them.

Buy from Ethical Shop.

5. Shop Second Hand / Vintage Shops / Rent.
Buying secondhand clothes can help save a lot of resources that go into making new garments and also decrease the pressure that manufacturers put on their factory workers to keep producing one garment after the other at a rate faster than they can breathe! 
Some of the websites where you can buy pre-loved clothes in India are Elanic, Etashee or Spoyl
or

Rent from Flyrobe, Swishlist, Wrapd, Liberent or The Clothing Rental

Shop Secondhand/ Rent.

Beginners Guide to a Ethical Wardrobe. Part 2

How to create an ethical wardrobe?

My previous post was a brief introduction to what an ethical wardrobe is?
and to get an idea of how our fashion choices affect the environment?

I'll be using Ethical and Sustainable interchangeably for this series of posts, though they are two very different concepts. 
(A post specifically to talk more about this difference will be coming soon! ) 

So once we have understood what an Ethical wardrobe is,
creating it should not be very difficult. I have listed below few pointers to get you started! 


1. Take a nice look at your existing wardrobe.
Just because you are creating a new wardrobe, does not mean you have to get rid of the old and go on a mad shopping spree!!! Exactly the opposite in fact.
Open your closets, and check out all the clothes that you already own. There might be few gems lost and hidden away somewhere inside! Do you wear them all? Are there certain pieces kept for ages and ignored? 
well, it is time to clean it all up, give away the clothes that you no longer wear and are in wearable condition.
Some may be in good condition and just need a little touch from your local tailor, get it altered, a little fitting here or maybe a little loosing up there and it is as good as new.


2. Repair and Reuse.
Repair the small tears or loose stitches cause of which you have not been able to wear your fav pieces and get them back in your daily wear.
Clothes that are beyond the wearable condition, give it a go at DIYing it,
you can find some really amazing tutorials online!


3. Buy less, Choose well.
Go shopping only if you have to and need to, I know the 70% sale sign or the Buy 1 get 1 free deals all seem so irresistible.
But what we don't pay attention to is the quality of the clothes that we buy, is it stitched well, if the fabric of good quality or are these just going to get torn after few wears. 
Such impulse shopping only encourages the garment manufacturers to produce more low-quality garments, in subpar conditions of workers, they also put to use practices which create more waste and care less about how it is treated or disposed off.
( I know sad state of affairs. ) 


4. Try out Thrift shops or Vintage Shops.
Can't control that itch to shop, try out second-hand shops or vintage shops. As the saying goes, one man's food is another man's poison or the other way round, basically don't be quick to judge those pretty pre-owned pieces.  Sometimes we get tired of wearing clothes which might be in a perfect condition and these clothes go up for sale. There is no shame in buying second hand. Yes, they are Cheaper, that is a plus!!!
Buying a second-hand cloth means saving that piece of clothing from going to landfill and polluting the environment.


5. Shop Local. 
When we buy local, we help in reducing the pollution caused by transportation, empowering someone in our community and give back to the society and doing our little bit.
When I say Shop local, I don't mean, shops which get cheap stuff from a different city and sell it in ours. Shop Local products by local people or designers who use their traditional skill of weaving or embroidering or use fabrics that are locally made and manufacture clothing locally. This saves on transport pollution and creates a livelihood for the local community and also keep a tradition alive which otherwise seems to be vanishing in this fast fashion world.



Creating and maintaining an Ethical closet is all about thoughtfulness, towards out clothes, toward our surrounding, towards the people who make them. It is not something we buy but something that we feel.
how responsible do we feel about our fashion purchase choices?
about our discarded clothes.

Being ethical and sustainably ffashionably is a process which takes time, it isnt something we one fine day decide and get it from a shop. 

The first step is being aware of the problem
Second, understand how our actions are contributing to the problem
third, evaluate how can we stop, find substitutes and solutions.
fourth, start taking those action, take those baby steps.

And in this entire process  be easy on ourselves, I understand old habits die hard,
but keep trying. Dont be harsh on yourself when you can't resist 
Focue on need than on want.
Putting an end to this dark side of fashion is in our hands. leaving behind a better earth for our next generations is in our hands. 

Beginners Guide to a Ethical Wardrobe. 

(Note- I am not an expert, just a novice like probably anyone else reading this post right now, trying to get a better understanding about sustainable fashion and sharing the little knowledge I have! ) 


You can find the part 1 & 3 of this post
Here for Part 1
&
Here for Part 3

Beginners Guide to an Ethical Wardrobe. Part 1

Before, we get into 'How to create an Ethical Wardrobe?',

these are few things I would like to talk about-

1. What is an Ethical / Eco wardrobe all about?

2. How do we create an Ethical wardrobe?

and

3. Why is it important NOW than ever before?



In my this part of the blog let us first talk about  Ethical Wardrobe.
Creating an Ethical Wardrobe is, maybe still a concept that is taking baby steps
in India. Some us might be wondering what we mean when we say an 'Ethical wardrobe'?

Beginners Guide to an Ethical Wardrobe.

'An Ethical Wardrobe in simple terms is to own a
closet which takes into consideration the impact it creates on the environment
and the lives of the people creating it .'

So does that mean,
Is it owning clothes only from Ethical Brands?

Is it dressing up in second-hand clothes?

Is it wearing only garments made out of natural material?

Is it JUST Shopping Locally?

Well, it is a little bit of all of the above I feel.I personally don't think that there is a hard and fast rule to creating an ethical wardrobe. There are guidelines- and we just play around them. The main essence, to keep in mind of an Ethical wardrobe is being responsible towards our surrounding and the people involved in making them.


How do the clothes that we wear impact the environment? Do they even have an affect? Yes!!! They do! In fact, the Textile Industry is the 2nd largest polluting industry, it creates upto 10% of the global carbon emission, and upto 17 to 20 % of the global water pollution is a result waste of the clothing and textile industry. 

The different aspects of our fashion choice which impacts the environment are-

1. The materials, that they are made of. 
Is the fabric the garments made out of natural, pesticide free, chemical free?

2. The manufacturing process put to practise. 

Does the Garment manufacturing process produce environmental waste? How is the Garment manufacturing waste disposed off?

3. How do we treat our clothes?
How many times do we wear the garments before we wash it? Are we using eco-friendly ways to wash it?

4. How we dispose off our old clothes?
What do we do with the clothes that we don't wear anymore? Does it end up in the garbage?Do we donate it?  or give it away to other members of the family? or create some interesting D.I.Ys?


Therefore, an Ethical wardrobe is considering all of the above, starting from the very fiber our garments are made out of to the very end, how do our garments end up.  Taking a keen interest in the different aspects of the clothings-  with a humanely perspective is what we can define as 'Ethical Fashion'.


In Short , the 5 ways to create a Ethical Wardrobe are

Beginners Guide to an Ethical Wardrobe.

You can find the Part 2 & 3 of this post
Here for Part 2
&
Here for Part 3