Ecofera's Top Trends in Sustainable Clothing
Every year, the global population consumes approximately 62 million metric tons of textiles. And, every year, at least 85% of all textiles are thrown away in the U.S. Since many of the clothes thrown away are made from plastic-derived fabrics, it can take over 200 years for them to decompose in landfills. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the fast fashion industry isn’t working.
Fortunately, the tides are slowly but surely starting to change.
Finally, green is the new goal.
Now that sustainable clothing has moved from being a “nice to have” to an essential imperative for ambitious brands, companies are starting to clean up their acts. As fashion goes green, we’ve put together a list of the top sustainable clothing trends for the future.
1. Circular products
Knowing that the fashion industry contributes to 10% of annual global carbon emissions (that’s more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined) consumers expect better from brands. Many are turning to companies who champion circular models, as they provide some reassurance that what they are buying isn’t having a negative impact on the planet.
What are circular products? It’s simple: the idea is to reuse and recycle all materials, reselling, renting and recycling garments to maximise their lifecycle before returning them safely to the biosphere.
2. Bio-based materials
According to findings from a McKinsey study on sustainable clothing, 67 percent of consumers in 2020 considered the use of sustainable materials to be an important purchasing factor when shopping for garments. In turn, innovative new biobased materials are being adopted by high profile fashion brands as the industry seeks to improve its record on sustainability.
It’s still early, but it looks like the days of leather, silk, PVC and harmful materials in fashion are numbered. In their place, bio-based materials and biofabrics are tipped to play a leading role in the future of the fashion industry. One after another, brands are trying to incorporate eco-friendly materials like biodegradable fibers made from waste, bio-plastics made from algae and plant-based leather alternatives.
3. Bottles become threads
The last few years have given rise to a growing trend in sustainable clothing that isn’t going away any time soon. Yup - you guessed it, we’re talking about recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate, more commonly known as rPET.
PET is the most common type of plastic resin - unfortunately, creating it requires vast amounts of crude oil and natural gas from the Earth. Sadly, more than 8 million tons of plastic bottles made from PET end up in the sea each year, and it’s estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the sea than fish.
Fortunately, many key players and budding brands in the fashion industry are doing their bit to prevent the deluge of waste. Instead of making fabrics like polyester with raw PET, many are using PET products already in existence like water bottles and recycling them into high-quality apparel. As the industry looks to go green, we can safely say rPET apparel and accessories like ours will be a mainstay moving forward.
4. Secondhand is stylish
Once reserved to hipster fashion and hand-me-downs, pre-loved clothing has made its way to the mainstream. Right now, over 20 million people worldwide use the peer-to-peer shopping app Depop to get second-hand clothing from across the globe. Meanwhile, eBay, the multinational e-commerce giant, has seen its preloved fashion listings increase every single year.
It’s clear that consumers are increasingly aware of the harmful nature of fast fashion and turning to the online thrift marketplace to cop unique garments and rare finds. With data from global fashion search platform Lyst revealing that sustainable-related keyword searches have risen 75% year-on-year, it’s evident that this trend is only going to continue.
5. Great design reigns supreme
You don’t have to perpetuate pollution and waste to create timeless designs and making iconic clothing doesn’t have to come at the expense of the environment. As we have shown in our diverse collection of eco-friendly outdoor accessories, style and sustainability go hand in hand, and the creations that come from eco-conscious brands often last a lot longer.
