Who said that sewing your own clothes was 100% eco-friendly? Who said that if everyone started sewing their own clothes there would be no more environmental problems related to the fashion and textile industry? Certainly, sewing your own clothes is a big step towards a sustainable wardrobe. However, this activity is not automatically synonymous with eco-responsibility. I still make mistakes myself, and I’m trying to improve: Here are 5 ideas that I’ve been trying to implement lately, and which I hope will also help you create an even more responsible wardrobe.
1. Pay attention to fabric composition:
The more a fabric contains materials such as polyester, polyamide or nylon (to name just a few), the less biodegradable it will be. Let’s choose natural fabrics such as organic cotton, hemp, linen, bamboo, lyocell, modal, tencel, viscose, wool and cashmere. However, please note that some of these fabrics, such as lyocell, may involve a chemical process during transformation.
2. Choose quality over quantity
Closely linked to fabric composition. When we own a quality garment, that garment will last over time and we’ll wear it for several years or even decades. A garment of lesser quality will tend to wear out quickly. There’s a good chance we’ll get rid of it quickly, and it’s this same garment that will end up polluting the many textile landfills located in developing countries.
3. Monitor your fabric consumption
There are cake lovers, chocolate lovers… But have you heard of fabric lovers? Who buy, stock, buy, stock, sew, buy, buy, buy (no more storage because no more space…). In short, when we buy fabric, let’s take responsibility for what will become of that fabric. Are we really going to use it, for what project? When? What will we do with it if we no longer want it? Indeed, what difference is there between a garment that isn’t used and a fabric that suffers the same fate?
4. Think about the second life of the garment you create
When we adopt a mindset that consciously knows that a garment will have a new life after us, we’ll take care with our finishing, the quality of seams, we’ll even add a spare button so that the next owner can more easily use this garment that we created today but may no longer wear tomorrow.
5. One garment: Multiple looks
Here’s a point that I’ve been trying to put into practice a lot lately: I realize that if we can create different looks around the same garment, we’ll be less likely to sew frantically, therefore consume less and wear our handmade clothes much longer and much more frequently. If we associate a garment with only one look, the day one element of that look is missing, we risk no longer wearing that garment.
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I hope you’ll remember at least one of these ideas, which can also apply to your store-bought clothes. Don’t hesitate to talk about it with others, and don’t leave without sharing your thoughts on this post, or contributing with more ideas.
Sending love,
