The trend toward green living effects industries from manufacturing construction materials and energy efficient appliances, to food and fashion trends. Gravitating toward choices that are better for the environment invites a new way of thinking about what looks good. Green clothing and accessories, modeled after the chic new styles of fashion- savvy shoppers, are easily accessible, better for the environment, and can be less expensive than similar styles made from all new materials. While green fashion does not require compromised quality or selection, it does require patience and flexibility.
Modern consignment shops and thrift stores reinvent the idea of wearing secondhand clothes. Collecting inventory is a lucrative business. Yard sale leftovers and vintage pieces from Grandma’s closet are no longer the norm. Charities solicit households in upper income-communities for donations that are collected and sold in bulk to thrift super-stores. Inventory is carefully sorted, allowing only the best quality clothing and accessories, often with designer labels, to be sold in stores. Store mannequins are decorated in outfits inspired by models on the covers of high-end retail catalogs. Designer purses are displayed behind glass cases, sitting proudly aside Italian leather shoes.
Community recycling programs geared specifically toward repurposing and recycling clothing and linens, called textile initiatives, direct items away from overcrowded landfills where they decompose for hundreds or thousands of years. These programs simplify the process or recycling clothing for resale. Clothing donations are accepted alongside standard household recyclables and are collected and sorted. The best clothes make their way into community tag sales or fundraisers, providing fashionable clothing for members of the community that may not have the resources to buy decent quality clothing that is affordable.
Green fashion encourages innovative ideas, like using automobile tires to make the soles of shoes and turning plastic bottles into cloth. Plastic bottles, once broken down and reused in a different capacity, become polar fleece jackets, and robes with matching slippers. Popular juice pouches are re-purposed and sewn together into durable tote bags and pencil pouches. Strips of denim, a material that has remained in style since its introduction to fashion in 1873, are woven together to form sheets of material for making denim skirts, vests and purses.
The agricultural clothing movement emphasizes all-natural material, called organic material that compliments nature and minimizes waste. If organic material brings burlap to mind, think again. Organic fibers are soft, unscented and natural; a blank slate for fashion designs that are stylish, comfortable and allergen free. Void of perfumes and dies, organic is the new buzz word, in the world of celebrity infant fashion.
Clothing and accessories made of all new materials place unnecessary financial burdens on consumers. Modern styles consistent with current fashion trends are available at local thrift stores, for a fraction of the retail prices advertised in expensive shopping malls. Green fashion is not a world of gunny sack dresses and moccasins. It is a world of environmental preservation, eco-friendly materials and truly realizing that “new to you” clothes are better in many ways, than clothes that are simply new.