Lots of our fashion brand partners are mentioning sustainability terms in their emails and blogs more often. Especially on the Earth Day. Eco-friendly is never been so close to us. The most wired thing is even if you have many sustainable clothing in your wardrobe and you are totally agreeing with the eco-friendly opinion, it’s still complicated for you to understand the popping up buzzwords or scientific jargon of sustainability terms. What are these? And why does it matter?
To know about all these sustainability terms is not for showing off. But to avoid the trap in eco-friendly clothing purchasing. Want to know more about what is greenwashing? Or what is natural fibers? Don’t worry. We will explain the sustainability terms one by one for you.
1. Carbon Offsetting
It seems carbon offsetting has no relationship with fashion industry. No. It has. Fashion industry need to reduce its carbon emission. So that’s why more and more fashion brand companies are going to take actions in carbon offsetting. But one side making carbon emission, the other side taking action in carbon offsetting like forest restoration. It’s not a good way. We need to go further from the first place of fashion industry. That is the material. Using more natural fibers or sustainable fibers seems the better way.
2. Natural Fibers
Natural fibers which comes from our Earth Mother. For example, from plants or animals (such as cotton, linen and wool). Organic cotton is less harmful to Earth than normal cotton. Sometimes if a clothing mentions organic cotton in its content, it will be a better choice. Tencel or loycell is also one kind of eco-friendly fiber but they are not natural fibers. They have less pollution in production and high biodegradable than synthetic fiber.
3. Microplastics
I’m sure you’ve heard about the news of scientist has find the microplastics in our water. Even the content is very less now but it’s harmful for our body. Why does it happen? Think about the broken polyester dress. Where does it go? When you throw it into the garbage can, it will be smashed into piece and some will release into river or ocean. The plastic bottle or plastic bag also the same. Not all of them but part of them will become microplastics and release into ocean. We can do something to stop it. When shopping, buy the clothing contains sustainable fiber and use less plastic items. It’s easy. Upcycling is also a good way.
4. Upcycling
We’ve talking about recycling before and the cost for recycling is higher. So brands may choose to use new material rather than using recycling materials. But as brands become more conscious about the sustainable trend. They have to do some actions. Upcycling is a new idea spreading in fashion trend. Balenciaga and Miu Miu all start to use pre-existing materials in recent seasons. And recently I heard the news about some brands are going to sell the stock clothing online rather than destroy them.
5. Biodegradable Materials
Biodegradable materials will break down by microorganisms like bacteria naturally. But it requires certain temperature and circumstance. It’s not 100%. If you have another choice, try the clothing with sustainable fibers. Because that’s a better way.
6. Greenwashing
Some clothing store will put large advertisement about sustainable clothing pad in their shop or on the tag. But you may find the content is still normal polyester. So that is greenwashing. They mis-guide you on this issue. Telling you the clothing are all sustainable but actually it’s not. Check the tag and content carefully when shopping. Don’t always trust the advertisement.
7. Overconsumption
Every year, for every brand, they will have lot of stock in the warehouse. We produce 100 billion garments per year. But that’s too much for us. We don’t have that much inquires. Overconsumption is a real headache these days. Especially these years when COVID-19 happens, the inquiry reduces a lot. So how to deal with that? Pretty easy. Please always remember, buy less and buy good.
Pariss Textile Sustainable Collection
Using the eco-friendly material from the beginning of fashion industry is the best choice. We and our R&D team working on sustainable collection for years. Here you can check our new ideas for sustainable fabric and patterns.