My Smart Mouth: Sustainable Fashion

One buzzword that seems to be getting a lot of airtime these days is “sustainability.”

Most often, the word is used to mean the responsible maintenance of the world in which we live, so that the planet’s resources will be able to support many future generations, and the word comes up in discussions on a variety of topics, from the economy to environment to lifestyle.

The first thing that comes to my mind when someone mentions sustainable living is the modern “homesteader” movement, in which a growing number of hipsters are striking out from their urban strongholds in search of a “simpler” life, in which they attempt to recapture the skills of their great-grandparents, growing and preserving gardens and keeping small livestock.

Anyone who has lived and worked on the farm or ranch their ancestors clawed out of the wilderness just a scant few generations before, knows that this sort of lifestyle is not the idyll the would-be modern-day homesteader imagines it to be. I daresay most of those who give up the comforts of city life find that out, soon enough. Still, although I think the widely accepted concept of the “simple” country life is a naïve one at best, I do respect the desire to embrace a more self-sufficient lifestyle. I think it’s important that we be able to feed ourselves and our children, should the Wal-Marts of the world someday become a thing of the past.

A key component of sustainable living is the reduction of waste. I’d like to believe that most thinking individuals would probably agree it wouldn’t hurt if we were all to make at least a marginal effort to slow down on our relentless consumption, and the rate at which we are clogging the world with our waste and excess. Perhaps it is true that industrial civilization is not, nor can it be, sustainable. However, unless something catastrophic happens, I cannot see most of the world going back to a pre-industrial state anytime soon (as appealing as that may sound to some).

Until that happens, or some disgruntled dictator blows us off the face of the planet, there are of course any number of things a person can do, short of taking up goat-keeping (which, my regular readers may have noted, I do not recommend), to cut down on consumption and waste.

Some of the simplest ways to reduce your “carbon footprint” are to reduce waste, re-use commodities, and recycle. This can be applied to any number of areas of everyday life. I will admit I’m not a shining example when it comes to some of these applications, but I have made changes in my household and in some of my habits, in an attempt to be more conscientious. I’m not saying anything I’m doing is going to save the world…but maybe if we all made just the slightest effort, we might be able to extend the time in which our planet is not only a functioning ecosystem, but one we can enjoy without living on top of a mountain of garbage, ‘Idiocracy’ style.

Before I hop down off my little soapbox, I’ll share one of the small changes we’ve made in our household and lifestyle - a personal favorite of mine – which is that we’ve all but stopped buying new clothes.

Frankly, as a household with growing kids, I can’t imagine buying everything new. As a rule, kids grow out of, or destroy their clothing so quickly, a person could go broke just keeping them clothed and shod. Granted, you can buy your kids brand new clothes on the cheap at Wal-Mart, but the operative word there is cheap. For the same amount, with a little creativity, you can purchase much better made (maybe even American made), longer lasting options. With the ubiquity of the internet and smartphones, there are any number of options for clothing yourself and your family second-hand without sacrificing style or spending an arm and a leg.

Personally, I love a good vintage item, but even if wearing a piece of fashion history (and looking pretty rad doing it, if I do say so myself) is not your thing, why not try searching your favorite brands or designers on e-bay, or keeping an eye on the local classifieds? Someone always has something they want to get rid of because it no longer fits or no longer suits their style.

At this point, I’d say about 90 percent of my wardrobe, as well as my stepkids’ clothes, came to us pre-owned, and I’m proud of that fact. In a world where clothes are often equated with status, I’ve been a bit of a rebel on that count for many years. Frankly, I think it’s stupid to spend more so you can be a walking advertisement for one designer or another. That’s not to say I don’t own designer pieces but - and this is a big but- never have I ever paid full price for a single one of them. I buy them, gentlyused and massively discounted, from the person who was dumb enough to do that.

Overall, my policy on clothing allows me to feel smug not only about how fabulous I look, but also about the landfills I am singlehandedly emptying into my closet. Plus, if you want to live a little more sustainably, vintage and second-hand clothing are a lot easier to keep in February than goats.