What is Fashion Revolution Week 2019 about?
April 22nd to April 28th is the fashion revolution week 2019. It started with the tragedy of Rana Plaza Building collapse in Bangladesh where approx 1300 garment factory workers were killed due to sheer negligence. These factories housed wholesale garment production for major fashion brands and majority of these workers were women. Along with giving credit to the actual maker of the garments, the Fashion Revolution week initiative also campaign for Conservation of Environment. At the time when Global warming is a pressing subject of concern, the Fast fashion is fast filling up our landfills with hazardous chemicals, dyes and synthetic fabrics.
Fashion Revolution
Approximately 37 kg of clothes are thrown away by an average shopper every year which amounts up to 12 billion kgs of clothes landing up in landfills. Not only that, there is a huge amount of water pollution with synthetic dyes and chemical laded waste water from the garment industries land up in rivers and seas. There is no record of the amount of air pollution discharged every year just to ship billions of garments from the eastern world where they are manufactured to the consumers in the western world. Its time we do not need fashion revolution week to remind us our duty towards mother earth. Its time we wake up our conscience.
Dire Need for Sustainable Fashion- Re-wear and Restyling.
I know what you are thinking. Fast fashion is not good. We should transition towards buying biodegradable outfits made up of khadi and cotton. But Wait till you hear this! Did you know it takes approx 2700 liters of water to make one cotton t-shirt? Cotton plant is the most water loving plant species. Not only that the genetically engineered cotton plants created to fulfill the demand supply chain add to the environment tons and tons of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. So the so-called sustainable fashion brands, despite being not the bigger culprit, are not completely guilt free!
How to be Environment conscious as well as Fashionable?
Winter capsule wardrobe
The only sustainable solution to this vicious cycle is to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle or Restyle. These are times that call for Sustainable Clothing and Conscious shopping. In fact before you head out and buy any garment, read the above mentioned statistics twice and decide whether that pretty dress or cute denim is worth it? Can you not create your own version of the same style? Can you not use your existing wardrobe to create something similar? And if at all you really need to invest into something. Invest wisely. Spend on something that you will wear for the next 10 years. Something that is versatile in style and something that has caused the least impact on Environment.
Different ways to wear a white shirt
Once bought, do not throw away your outfits. Try reusing them, restyling them, make them work for your kids. It all starts from one thought. Let us pledge to save our environment together. I am sticking on to my #Nobuyingnew pledge of 2019 and I feel proud to share that I am still hanging on to that pledge. And it is strange how liberated I feel. Earlier I used be in a constant pressure of my desires whenever I saw any new trend or any of my fashion ideals following them. I used to feel a sense of lack and “there is not enough” towards everything that I owned. Now that I am not buying new, my perspective has totally changed. I realized how much I already own and that so much of it is hardly worn. It also instilled in me a sense of gratitude apart from the satisfaction of utilizing my creative streak to restyle. I have learned a lot from my fashion ban! I can happily say I am a proud Outfit Repeater.
What is a capsule Wardrobe?
8 ways to wear Denim Dress
Another way to be a conscious buyer and promote sustainable fashion would be to not follow silly trends. Its one thing to appreciate a creative output and another to buy silly replicas (sometimes not even that) without thinking. Think of the amount of time spend by those workers in the factories to create one outfit. Our fast buying is pushing them towards becoming just machines to replicate. Which is why Fashion revolution week 2019 has started with a campaign that gives credit to the original makers. Instead find ways to come up with unique outfit ideas using only a few select garments. There are many environment conscious fashion lovers who believe in minimalist fashion and Capsule wardrobe. These slow fashion enthusiasts show you how you can style a single outfit in so many different ways. There is one New Jersey teacher, Julia Moone who wore one outfit for 100 days.
A capsule wardrobe a collection of few essential items of clothing that never go out of trend. These can be then paired with your other outfits to create different looks for your everyday fashion! Like a basic white shirt. There is so many different ways to style white shirt for every day office look and yet look stylish. I myself have styled it in 10 different ways (click the link to check out my styling, if you haven’t already!) So in lieu of the Fashion Revolution week 2019, I will be sharing my restyling ideas for the current trends on the Blog. I will start with the most hottest saree trend of the year – The Palazzo Saree. I will be Styling all my looks of current trends from my existing wardrobe. Stay tuned for some amazing sustainable fashion styling tips.
