How To Make a Difference With Your Clothing Choices

By: Ria Bakhaya and Ben Baisinger-Rosen

The average US consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes every year (CALPIRG). The impact that this waste leaves on the environment is huge! Moreover, buying and selling clothes at our current consumption rate means the fashion industry is responsible for more than 10% of global annual emissions. Both SWAP and Pareto try to decrease this impact in two major ways. At SWAP, reusing clothes and prolonging their life cycle is a huge priority. At Pareto, we focus on helping women build a minimalist wardrobe – after all, women wear 20% of their closet 80% of the time.

Today, we wanted to share 5 small steps that you can implement today to help minimize the impact of your clothing choices on the environment.

1.) Wash items with cold water. Washing with cold water is one of the main ways to lower the amount of energy you use, and the amount of CO2 you emit! Why does this happen? Most of the energy from your laundry machine works to heat your water, so when you wash with cold water, this energy usage is almost completely eliminated! About 90% of the energy the washing machine uses goes towards heating the water. According to the Sierra Club, every household that switches to cold water washing could eliminate about 1,600 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 

P.S. Cold water is a win, win as it also helps your pieces last longer!

2.) Start thinking about cost-per-wear. Cost-per-wear (or CPW, for short) is a method of finding out how much monetary value a piece of clothing holds to you. Simply put – take the price of the clothing and divide it by the amount of times that you wear it. This gives you the cost-per-wear. For example, if you buy a shirt for $40 and wear it twice a month for 2 years, the cost per wear is $0.83. The lower the CPW, the more usage and value you are getting out of that piece of clothing! When purchasing new clothes, it is important to consider more than just the absolute price on the tag. Try to think about how many times you plan on wearing that item, and apply cost-per-wear concepts.

3.) Find a group of people to help you with your journey. Making lifestyle changes to impact the environment is definitely a difficult task! One of the most helpful and important steps is having a community to support you. Whether it is a switch to a different form of transportation or switching to a capsule wardrobe, there are Facebook groups, communities, and clubs to chat with! A great first step to learn more about a capsule wardrobe and how to get started is to join this Facebook group – Maximizing a Minimalist Wardrobe. In addition, organizations like EcoChallenge allow you to form similar communities that give advice for how to act sustainably and keep track of how you are doing. Finally, SWAP helps to cultivate an on-campus community for sustainably-minded students. 

4.) Find clothes that are made of sustainable materials. In addition to consuming less and maximizing the longevity of each item, it is important to think about what your clothing is made of. For this, consider if your clothes are made from natural or synthetic fibers. The difference is that natural fibers are made from materials like plants, animals, or minerals. Some common examples of these are silk, wool, and all-natural cotton. Synthetic fibers are usually cheaper, but are a manufactured combination of chemicals. These do not break down the way that natural fibers do. Popular examples of these are rayon, polyester, and spandex. This negative impact makes it really important to look for natural fabrics in clothing, since these do not emit as many chemicals into the environment. Buying clothes that are produced sustainably means that you are supporting brands with sustainable processes that help keep the environment clean!

5.) Explore other ways to dispose of your clothing, such as donating and recycling. Help your clothes find a new home! Find local communities that can help you with repurposing and donating your clothes. A great place to start, right on Washington University in St. Louis’s campus, is the SWAP! Stop by to donate clothes you no longer wear, and to give some pieces a new home.

The next time you shop, think through some of these points to make a more environmentally friendly impact! One small change can make a huge difference.