Keep it green with vintage!
Over the last few years, vintage clothing has become one of the biggest trends in the fashion industry, worn by celebrities, models and top fashion bloggers. Wearing it not only allows you to differentiate your outfits but also save yourself a significant amount of money. Vintage clothing has so much more to offer than a few extra style points from your girlfriends. Buying and wearing used and vintage clothing will actually benefit the planet in a number of different ways.
It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year in the UK alone and at least 50% of these textiles are actually recyclable. By recycling used clothing and buying second hand, you can prevent the materials going to waste and help to make the earth a better place.
Here we’ve shared some of the key environmental benefits of the recycling of used and vintage clothing.
Buying vintage clothing will not only gain you style points but also make you a more environmentally friendly person!
Reduces the need for landfill space
Some textiles are particularly problematic when it comes to putting them in landfill. Whilst woollen garments do decompose (unlike synthetic clothing) they produce methane, which contributes to global warming.
By recycling used clothing and buying vintage clothing, you reduce the need for landfill space, along with the amount of gas being emitted into the atmosphere.
Saves virgin resources and energy
If everyone purchased more recycled and vintage clothing, there would be less demand for new textiles made from raw materials like cotton and wool. This would help save a significant amount of energy used to manufacture clothing.
Not only that but according to Evergreen, if everyone in the UK bought one vintage woollen garment each year, it would save an average of 371 million gallons of water and 480 tonnes of chemical dye.
Reduces clothing miles
Buying used and vintage clothing will also lead to less pollution from clothing miles. Today many companies offer their clothing at low prices, meaning that despite sourcing their raw materials from elsewhere in the world, they end up having to manufacture their clothing in cheap countries like China, before transporting it back to the UK.
The amount of resources, energy and pollution that goes into transporting raw materials and clothing would shock you. By simply purchasing used and vintage clothing, you can do your bit to reduce demand for this cheap and low quality clothing and in turn, help to lower pollution.
Reduce pollution from clothing miles and manufacturing by purchasing second hand and vintage clothing instead.
Less pollution and chemical poisoning
Different fabrics have different impacts on the environment, depending on what they are made of. Clothing made from Nylon, Polyester and Rayon (Viscose) has a negative impact on the environment, as it drains resources and causes pollution.
Even raw materials you would think of as being environmentally friendly, like cotton and wool, can have a negative impact on the environment. In fact, cotton is currently the world’s most pollution crop. It is responsible for twenty five per cent of all pesticide used in the world each year and along with damaging the environment also causes hundreds and thousands of chemical poisoning cases each year.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many environmental benefits of buying used and vintage clothing. Many fashion businesses are taking steps towards manufacturing more environmentally friendly clothing but the biggest results can come from changing consumers’ buying habits. Recycling and re-styling vintage clothes and swapping clothes with friends can go a long way in making the earth a better place both for the people of today and future generations.
