Building a sustainable wardrobe for summer and beyond

Every year, around a hundred billion clothes are produced around the world. That’s a pretty big number and when it comes to textile waste, 92 million tons of it get tossed. The solid waste pollution generated by the fashion industry isn’t the only thing harming the Earth, with so much clothing being produced, one-fifth of worldwide industrial wastewater pollution comes from the fashion industry. While we believe that a huge part of the responsibility lies primarily on the fashion brands to make changes, consumers like us can do our part by challenging our long-held beliefs on fashion, clothing, and our propensity to consume. 

In the recent Fashion Revolution Philippines event held in Common Room Mess Studio, we did just that as the conversation led by our friends from Glorious Dias, Anthill Fabric, Rags2Riches, Popjunklove, and Basically Borrowed challenged some prevalent beliefs and attitudes toward fashion. (Where is the shame in repeating outfits or borrowing a dress for a one-time wear? Is using sustainable materials enough?) And that there are different ways to do things and you just have to keep asking the questions. When it comes to building a sustainable wardrobe for this summer and beyond, it’s all about making conscious choices about the clothes we buy, how we care for them so they last longer, and how we dispose of them. 

Buy second hand first

Want a cool new top or a one-of-a-kind dress? How about making your first stop at thrift shops? There are many options for second-hand clothing—from well-curated vintage shops to ukay-ukay haunts where finding a treasure is an adventure in itself. Buying pre-owned clothes allows us to reduce (no matter how small) the impact of fashion waste in landfills and oceans.

Jodinand Aguillon of Glorious Dias, who has made finding and reworking vintage clothes an art form, has shared with us pro tips on thrifting and being able to look at things differently. So if you need just a bit of inspiration or know-how when it comes to second-hand clothes, be sure to watch our YT episodes with him.

Buy local

All things being equal, if you’ve got a choice between a local piece or one made overseas, it’s often better to stick with homegrown brands because you get to reduce carbon emissions from shipping and support the local economy at the same time. Of course, there are many other factors to consider (here are a few things to look into) to make sure you’re supporting the local businesses that do good things for both the community and the Earth.

Local brands such as Anthill Fabric partner with weaving artisan communities in the country, while supporting sustainable livelihood through community enterprise building and circular fashion. They also ensure price transparency (you can see where the cost goes in every item they sell online), so customers can also see “the value that goes into every piece of fabric,” explained Anya Lim in our previous interview with them. And when it comes to value...

Buy less, choose wisely

It’s easy to just keep adding to cart and heading for check out when those huge e-commerce platforms constantly offer payday sales and discounts galore. Who doesn’t want to save money in this economy? But saving money can also take the form of minimizing how much you buy and how often.

Instead of buying two or three new items of clothing in a month, for example, you can try just one? Picking the piece you love the most (so you know you’ll happily keep wearing them) and the one you know will last a long time, also means investing in good quality pieces. Look at the stitching and the materials used (best to pick those made of natural fibers because synthetic materials take longer to decompose).

Mend your favorite clothes (or upcycle)

Don’t want to part with a favorite piece of clothing but it has seen better days? Check if you can still mend it or (if you’re up for the challenge) upcycle it. These days with planned obsolescence a business strategy adopted by some manufacturers to make their products break more quickly (hence, be replaced more frequently), learning to repair or fix our things is another way toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

In Common Room’s recent YT episode, Jamie Naval, Anthill Fabric’s managing partner and co-founder and sustainability manager of Barrio hub, Anthill’s circularity arm, teaches us three ways to mend our clothes. Repairing hems, holes, or missing buttons enables us to save money, make our beloved clothes last longer, and keep them in our closet and not in a landfill.

Go for a clothes swap

If you want to save money even further when it comes to your clothing budget—how about a clothes swap! As the name suggests, a clothes swap is an event where people bring their used (but still nice!) clothes that they don’t wear anymore and exchange them for other clothes from other people participating in the swap. It’s a good way to add pieces to your wardrobe without spending while reducing clothing waste.

You can watch out for swapping events (like the one we held at the Mess Studio last April) or get your friends together for a clothes swap. Just have a place to get together, bring a few of your well-loved and gently-used pieces (best to have some guidelines on its condition), have some hangers or racks for easy perusal, and get ready to hear some stories behind the clothes. You get to give your clothes another chance, have a new outfit in exchange, and be kind to the environment.

Don’t throw, donate or sell instead

Don’t let clothes you don’t want anymore languish at the back of your cabinet or add to the pile of fashion waste. If you’re not able to discard them via a clothes swap or sell them (you can simply do it via your social media platforms), donate them instead. A quick Google search should show you some organizations that accept in-kind donations, like Segunda Mana under Caritas Manila (for second-hand clothes) or I Support the Girls (for usable bras and underwear). Make sure what you’re donating is still wearable and not basahan-levels. Keep in mind that you’re passing on a garment that you hope will find another life to help build somebody else’s wardrobe.