Earth911 is honoring the 52 years of Earth Day with 52 Actions for the Earth. Each week via Earth Day 2023, we’ll share an motion you possibly can take to invest in the Earth and make your personal life extra sustainable. The fashion industry has an incredible environmental influence, and even when you’re not a quick fashionista, you is likely to be a part of the issue when you don’t care for your garments. This week, you possibly can take motion for the Earth by studying the way to mend your garments.
Action: Learn to Mend
The Environmental Impact of Fashion
Fast trend is notoriously wasteful – yearly, 40 million tons of textiles are disposed, typically with out having ever been worn. But the style business has an incredible environmental influence at value level all through its life cycle. The trend business is answerable for greater than 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. It takes almost 3,000 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt and three,781 liters of water to make a pair of jeans. More than half of our garments are made from synthetic fibers derived from oil that contribute 35% of all ocean microplastic air pollution. After expertise manufacturing, the garment business is the subsequent main cause of modern slavery and little one labor.
We all must quit fast fashion and spend money on a extra sustainable wardrobe. But how we store is just a part of the answer. It doesn’t matter what you purchase when you throw it away over a popped button or free thread. The different a part of a sustainable wardrobe is sustaining your wardrobe. That means greener laundry habits and studying to restore garments as an alternative of throwing them away.
Learn to Mend
Nowadays it’s simpler to exchange an merchandise of clothes than to repair it. But you don’t should be a grasp sewist to increase the lifetime of your garments. This week, choose a method to study based mostly in your present ability stage. If you’ve by no means picked up a needle earlier than, begin by studying to exchange a button. Other simple clothing repairs embrace fixing torn seams, changing drawstrings, hemming, patching holes, and when you’re very frugal, even darning socks. More superior sewists can observe alterations that may allow you to dangle onto garments even when your dimension adjustments. And when you’re very expert, take into account upcycling unfashionable thrift retailer finds into inventive new personalised model creations.
Whatever ability you select to pursue, the web is full of how-to wikis and YouTube tutorials that can assist you grasp it. And when you develop into impressed to study extra, you could find in-depth expertise books at your public library. Project-based books like Little Fixes present step-by-steps steerage for revamping broken children’ garments whereas books like Stylish Remakes educate you the way to make new gadgets out of outdated t-shirts and sweats. Every new mending ability you study can save garments from the landfill and prevent the expense of buying a substitute.