The Outpost — Fashion

How to shop for clothes ethically

With the holiday shopping season upon us, there has never been a better time to think about shopping ethically and sustainably. Many big-name stores offer cheap clothing, but their "fast fashion" model exploits workers, uses vast amounts of natural resources and pollutes the environment with toxic dyes and microplastic waste. Additionally, millions of tons of clothing are thrown away every year, landing in landfills having been worn just seven times.

How can you shop for clothes ethically? It is as simple as asking yourself three simple questions before buying new clothes:

1. How much do I already own?
2. How much will I wear it?
3. How long will it last?

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The busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday lands annually on the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally kicks off shopping for the Holiday season. A day known for deep discounts and deals, shoppers queue in long lines and await store openings to get great discounts. As Black Friday has become engrained in modern culture, deals are found both online and as well as in traditional brick and mortar retailers, to incentivize people to shop with abandon on Black Friday and throughout the weekend.

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Research done by omnichannel inventory management firm Brightpearl has revealed that one-third of consumers polled say they have been “let down by an online order since the COVID-19 crisis,” while 45 percent of shoppers said online deliveries “are taking longer to arrive.” This presents an opportunity for retailers to focus on their ecommerce presence and order fulfillment in a time when consumers are increasingly relying on online shopping for purchases.

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Traditional apparel manufacturing is a filthy process. As one of the dirtiest industries in the world, it is tied with oil at being the worst offender in increasing climate change. Much of the pollution from apparel manufacturing is concentrated in India, Bangladesh, China, and Southeast Asian countries, where a vast portion of the world’s supply of apparel is dyed and made. The pollution associated with making apparel is ruining childhoods and changing lives, but not for better.

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Apparel brands have had to adapt and get out of the “business as usual” mode, LumberUnion has taken this transformation to the next level. Early this year, the company placed tech and finance leader Shane Boudreau into the role of CEO. Reshaping, rethinking the way they do business, LumberUnion had to rethink the end to end apparel process of the typical apparel company and change it to behave like an agile market-responsive leading tech company.

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Landfills are overflowing with our fashion waste. In the 1980’s, the average person bought 12 new items of clothing a year. The average person will now buy 68 garments annually, wearing each item a mere seven times before discarding it. Wasteful. You can make a difference by disposing of your used clothing in a responsible way.

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