Sustainable is not always accessible
Sustainability should be viewed holistically , prioritizing buying and using sustainably.
Consumption and use are significantly impactful stages of clothing. How we use clothing can positively or negatively impact its sustainability factor. Yes, It doesn’t just stop at buying a sustainable product, nor does it end when you have purchased a product that wasn’t sustainably produced. While we should all try to buy sustainable products, we probably already have products that were not produced sustainably, or maybe the most sustainable option is not attainable for you. This focuses on using and caring for our clothing and how we can use it to improve its sustainability.
Let’s be clear: regardless of whether you’re buying sustainable products, we must all buy less. This is one of the reasons sustainable products are emphasized; they are designed to last, so you don’t need to purchase new products constantly. There are various ways to analyze buying less, but an important aspect is using your clothing more, maximizing that garment. There’s no point in purchasing a garment and having it sit in your closet for months and years without use. If we have less clothing, we use the ones we have a lot more.
It’s also essential to examine the care labels of our clothing. Care labels tell you things about the fibre composition of a garment and more information on how to care for that garment. To make your clothing last, you must understand and follow these instructions. It’s important to note that we don’t immediately see degradation in our clothing when we don’t care for it properly, but over time, poor care practices will damage clothing and shorten its lifespan.
Things like doing your laundry at a certain temperature or ironing at a certain temperature are vital to the quality of your clothing. Depending on their fibre compositions and chemical treatments, different garment labels will set the water temperature for washing clothes; you can always go lower than this temperature but never higher. This means almost every garment can be safely washed in cold water.
Rack of clothing at a thrift shop on Queen Street, Toronto.
However, using a suitable detergent when washing in cold water is essential. Tru Earth (n.d.) states, “It’s important to note that some powder laundry detergents are less effective in colder water temperatures. Choosing a liquid detergent is best if you’re washing in cold water. Liquid detergents are formulated to perform well in cold water and help ensure your garments come out clean without residue or buildup.”
How often you launder can be the reason your clothes do not last, but this goes beyond how often to how. How we wash clothing impacts its durability and environmental impact.“Once it has been manufactured and sold, clothing’s main environmental impact arises from washing and drying by the consumer.” (Black & Jardine, 2012, p. 60).
For a long time, human beings have hand-washed clothing, but with technological advancements, we have innovated to make things easier for ourselves, so most people wash clothing using a washing machine and dryer. The washing machine and dryer uses a significant amount of water and energy, and this isn’t a call to abolish washing machines and dryers but to rethink how we use them to reduce our carbon footprint.
Frequency of washing is one way to do this. The washing machine utilizes the same amount of energy regardless of how full the machine is. Therefore, instead of washing our clothes every two days just because there are clothes to wash, we should wait till we have enough clothes to fill the machine.
This also means that we use the machine less. Another way we can minimize energy use is by washing with cold water; heating the water utilizes a significant amount of energy, and washing with cold water eliminates that. We can minimize the use of dryers by line drying or using drying racks where applicable and possible.
Rack of clothing at a thrift store on Queen Street, Toronto.
How often we wash clothing is also important. Think about it: you won’t wash a winter jacket after every use. There are so many more pieces of clothing that we do not need to wash after every use. Some garments, especially those with polyester or other synthetic fabrics, release microplastics every time they are washed.
Washing less often protects and preserves your clothing and reduces the microplastics released with wastewater in several waterways. It is also essential to use filters in the washing machine and dryers to trap some of these microplastics.
We see how the use and care of clothing can maximize or minimize its sustainability. It’s no use to buy sustainable products and then use them carelessly. You want it to last, and how you use it daily is important. Taking simple steps like these helps us live sustainably. If you already have a piece that’s not sustainable, taking these steps enables you to maximize the clothing and extend its life.
The point is that we should treat our clothing with utmost care and not like they are disposable items. They are supposed to last and remain with us for years and years, even through multiple generations. Think not only about sustainable products but also sustainable use.
References
Black, S. (2012). The sustainable fashion handbook. Thames & Hudson.
Kupec, B. (2022, January 18). Your complete guide to understanding care labels. Planet Care. https:// blog.planetcare.org/complete-guide-clothing-care-labels/
