Happy Earth Day! Truthfully everyday should be Earth Day because we only have one planet that we are living on and we need to treat it better. In honor of Earth Day, I am sharing 12 ways to be more Eco-Friendly – especially in terms of your clothing! Scroll down to read more!
What did you wear today?
Just like every other day that I workout while working from home, today involved workout clothes. Shocker, I know! In case you weren’t aware, I own an insane amount of leggings. I wish I had taken a picture before I started this challenge just so you could see my legging drawers. Yes, I have two legging drawers – one for long everyday leggings and one strictly for workout leggings. They are two very different categories if you remember from Day 6. Yes, today involved another pair of Old Navy Elevate leggings with a tank top that I got from work (perks of working in fashion) and a Victoria’s Secret Sports Bra.
I also wore the sweater in the video at the bottom of this article for about 20 minutes while I filmed this reel for Instagram! OK now onto the good stuff…
12 Ways to be More Eco-Friendly
- Buy Second-Hand – There are SO MANY places to buy clothes that are gently used. Anywhere from a Goodwill type of store to a consignment shop, to online stores like Poshmark, Vinted, ThredUP, and the RealReal, you are guaranteed to find exactly what you are looking for either in person or online!
- Control Your Impulse Shopping – If you are noticing more and more Amazon packages (or any package in general) showing up on your doorstep you might have an impulse shopping problem. To combat this, put the item in your cart online and close the browser. Yup, exit out and wait 24 hours. If you still feel like you need it, then go back and buy it. Otherwise you just saved yourself some money and space in your home!
- Learn how to mend your clothing – A button fell off – you can sew it. Got a tear in your jacket – you can sew it. Zipper broke- you can bring it somewhere to get the zipper replaced! There is a solution to many clothing problems that don’t involve just tossing your clothes in the garbage.
- Dye or Bleach your own jeans – Before you toss out a pair of jeans that has faded in color, grab some dye and re-dye them yourself! You can also totally bleach them out yourself for a lighter wash! Youtube will tell you how to do it all!
- Energy Efficient Washer/Dryer – Lower your carbon footprint AND save money by splurging on appliances that are Energy Star rated. You can always find a good sale or wait until Black Friday to find discounts that are worth it. Save money, save our planet. It’s a win-win for everyone!
- Donate Clothes you don’t need anymore – As if I haven’t been harping on this one all month 😂The average American throws away 70 pounds of clothing a year. Keep those clothes out of our landfills and let them be re-sold, re-worn, or broken down into smaller pieces to be used as rags and housing insulation around the globe!
- Look for companies who partner with I:CO. They usually offer a discount to their store when you drop an item into their donation bin! H&M is a partner for those of you who enjoy the fast fashion trends.
- Read Hangtags – Most hangtags call out sustainability, recycled fabrics, or have a QR code you can scan to learn more about how the product was made.
- Bring your reusable shopping bags shopping – it’s easy to buy one while you are at the store and then forget it the next time you go shopping. Reusable bags help cut down on the plastic that is polluting our planet and minimize the amount of paper bags that need to be produced each year.
- Have a Clothing Swap with friends – A fun way to mix up your wardrobe when you are starting to get bored with your own clothes!
- Use your old clothes/towels as rags – Before you throw out those old ripped t-shirts and sweatpants cut them up to use as rags for cleaning! You can also use old towels (that you may have gotten some hair dye on) as well!
- Stop buying to trends – I know it looks cute today, but three years from now you are going to be over it. Fast fashion is killing our planet. Did you know that the fashion industry produces 10% of the entire planets carbon emissions – that’s more than all of the international flights! They also produce 20% of the global wastewater. This is from dying all of the fabric – a lot of which goes into that fast fashion you love so much. Buy pieces that are classic and timeless. Let them live in your closet for years and years to come!
Share your favorite ways to be more eco-friendly (especially when it comes to your clothing) below!
xoxo
Krysta
