Embracing Conscious Consumerism

Embracing Conscious Consumerism: What Fashion has contributed.

Conscious consumerism? What is it? Most of us today are not too familiar with the term “Conscious Consumerism”.

Conscious consumerism is simply being aware of your buying decision as a consumer. What products and brands do you support individually? How are you using your buying power to ensure that a business that is aligned with your values is funded? It’s generally up to us, the consumers, to understand what businesses we get involved with and to support the businesses that are taking the great action to contribute sustainably to a healthier environment and planet as a whole.

The world we live in today is just becoming increasingly visible in terms of the technological ways made available for us to communicate and do general business. As a result of this new technological development, conscious consumers now have a greater knowledge to empower them in purchase decisions

“The world now consumes approximately 80 billion pieces of clothing every year. This is practically 400% more than the amount that has been consumed in just the past two decades. The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world after the oil industry therefore accounting for 10% of global carbon emission”.

The main question now is, are we consuming clothing and fashion in a conscious and sustainable way?

How to embrace Conscious Consumerism

Slow fashion is growing substitute to fast fashion, with regards to it promoting a more sustainable way of consuming."It encompasses the whole range of 'sustainable,' 'eco,' 'green,' and 'ethical' fashion movement".

Our world today, unfortunately went down the fast fashion trend so quickly, which has its own fair share of negativities. Pricing is a major deterrent in the purchasing of slow fashion items but as my dad always says “one piece of quality and a well produced product will definitely outlive a great number of cheap pieces”. “Slow fashion clothing is made out of high quality materials with usually timeless designs that can be worn for many years and will go out of style”. Slow fashion garments are generally, if made with high quality and well made natural fibers can be easily broken down, which is a major problem fast fashion is lacking as the industry results in large amounts of waste generated into landfills.

Second-hand shopping as a way out 

This is the easiest tip. Second hand shops could create pure obsession, as they are cheap, supports environmental sustainability and reduces textile waste. More so, they reduce manufacturing demands. Furthermore, second-hand shopping can also be applied to furniture, and other items too, which creates ease for the consumers.

Another significant point on second hand shops is that consumers can donate items they no longer use,It seems noteworthy to add that customers can donate items that they no longer use, whereas still also shopping for something new. Shopping second-hand is always a fun idea. It can seemingly lead to purchasing lovely vintage silk scarves, retro flares for the lovers of it or some trendy statement jewelry.