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History of clothing
Since the beginning of the human race, the clothing has evolved in leaps and bounds.
It started with leaves, grass, ripping off the animal’s skin slowly moving to woven materials, but the sole purpose was shelter and protection from the vagaries of weather.
With the introduction of silk and cotton, the clothing started to become a fashion statement that signifies a person’s status. People began categorizing different attires for different occasions, like work, religion, sports clothing, etc.
Later, extracts from plants were used as dyes for adding colors to the clothes, then with the invention of needles, intricate designs were embroidered in the clothes – giving a new meaning to fashion.
Plastic in Clothing
However, in recent times, the production process of making clothes has changed drastically. Most of these processes involve mixing plastic particulates to produce cheap quality clothes that become distorted after regular use.
Sadly, every time we wash these clothes, the entire proportion of micro-plastic gets transmitted into drains. Eventually, the drain water, which is released into the water bodies, contaminates the ecosystem.
But fortunately, as more people have now started to realize the importance of environment protection, there is a significant shift towards eco-friendly or sustainable clothing/fashion.
Sustainable clothing – What is it?
Sustainable clothing is all about producing clothes by adopting a number of socio-economically and environmentally sustainable ways.
The main emphasis is to develop and use ecological materials for manufacturing sustainable clothes. For example, the ordinary and naturally grown cotton gets replaced by organic cotton. Organic cotton cultivation eliminates the use of pesticides and insecticides and doesn’t bring any threat to the well-being and lives of farmers.
Moreover, the cultivation processes involved in producing organic materials do not disturb the acidic levels of Earth or the Ozone layer.
Sustainable clothing- Importance
- Reduction in the release of pesticides:
The majority of clothing products are made from cotton and require a considerable amount of pesticides for cotton farming to ensure quality. But the usage of large quantities of pesticides can be reduced drastically by opting for eco-friendly or sustainable clothing.
- Decrease of toxic wastes:
The chemical components of cloth dyes are incredibly toxic to the environment.
The production of one cotton T-shirt requires 33.33% of a pound of chemicals. Subsequently, the overall amount of chemicals used for manufacturing cotton clothing products poses a severe threat to the environment.
On the other hand, sustainable clothes use natural elements like turmeric, onion shells, and indigo for dying. Hence, the shift to the use of sustainable clothing leads to a decrease in toxic wastes and chemicals.
- A great initiative towards support for animal rights and safety:
All the clothes made of fur or leather require several animal fatalities. Even though these clothes are essential during extreme conditions, but the guilt of people wearing them is unimaginable.
Hence, by switching towards sustainable clothing, you not only get to wear the same clothes without compromising your comfort but also eliminate the guilt of executing another living being.
- An opportunity to adopt a more creative dressing sense:
Learning how to make and customize their own clothes comes naturally to a person who starts wearing sustainable clothes. While adapting to sustainable clothes, eventually, you earn a brownie point of enhancing your creativity, along with contributing towards saving our Mother Earth.
- Curbing the cause of overexploitation on our planet’s resources:
Clothing materials demand a lot of resources from nature, the most claimed by cotton. Resultantly, the materials required for cloth manufacturing are being overexploited in order to meet the high demand in the clothing market. Hence, this has led to the adaptation of various farming practices harmful to the farming lands.
On the contrary, you can flatten the demand curve by using clothes obtained from renewable resources like hemp. This will diminish the pollution caused by clothing manufacturing companies.
- No side effects or threats towards your health:
You will find many people avoiding to wear certain kinds of clothes for skin or any other allergies. It happens due to the reaction between the material of the cloth and chemical dyes, which doesn’t suit a person’s skin.
By wearing sustainable clothes, you decide to eliminate any such threats towards your health, as these clothes are derived from organic materials.
- Uniqueness and enhancement of quality:
In today’s market, buying sustainable clothes from vintage stores would mean that your clothes are unique and high-quality. The manufacturing of mainstream clothing is done in huge numbers, and it’s not difficult to spot the same cloth worn by many individuals. Eventually, shifting to sustainable clothes will develop an ideal personality for you.
Final words
The fashion industry is known as one of the biggest contributors to polluting the Earth’s environment. Hence, with global awareness regarding deteriorating environmental change, many big clothing brands are starting to produce sustainable clothing. These companies have already started adopting various production, marketing, distribution strategies to manufacture sustainable clothing.
Moreover, these strategies also include observing the current patterns of use and consumption to determine people’s behavior and attitude towards a specific style of clothing. Therefore, you can also start using sustainable clothing without compromising your style and contribute to the environment.
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