Days 35 & 36 of 365 Days Of Low Carbon Living.
Each year my family members offer to each other clothes that we no longer love, need, want or fit. (We’re lucky because we are similar sizes.)
It’s great fun returning to the childhood and teenage joys of trying different clothes and looks – often of things we would never consider if we were in a shop. And because this all happens in a relaxed home environment, there are none of the pressures you feel in a shop.
Last summer one of my siblings gave me a pair of black ramie trousers.
They were just one garment in the pile but were just what I needed: black, stylish, cool in summer, warm for cooler days, good pockets – and a perfect, flattering fit!
It is rare to find clothes that tick so many boxes. I doubt that I would ever have found them in a shop – and yet my sibling had and had passed them on to me.
Needless to say, I practically lived in them last year.
Unfortunately, last year I also put on a little extra weight – more than the inelastic luxury fabric could bear, and the fabric gave way just before Christmas.
So this summer I was on the hunt for a replacement pair of black trousers.
What I did
While other people were out hitting the big shops in a post-Christmas retail frenzy for more ‘stuff’, my priority was op shops to find me some ‘new’ black summer pants made of natural fibres.
One of the main features of op shops is that you never know what exactly will be in stock. That means that you may or may not find what you are looking for in any particular shop. And that means that:
- you might (or, more likely, will) have to visit more than one op shop to find what you are seeking
- if you see something that you are need/want/attracted to then you need to seize the opportunity to buy it (hence the term ‘opportunity shop’).
I found plenty of black pants – racks of them – but they were not what I was seeking.
If I was large or very small, then the choice available was large.
But I’m not – I am stunningly average size. (Even new retail shopping can be challenging for me – especially during sales.)
If I didn’t particularly care about the fabric, the choice was also large.
But I was in the hunt for trousers made from lightweight, natural fabric. Unfortunately, most of the trousers were neither.
I was, after all, replacing summer trousers, so the last thing I wanted was a heavy fabric that would keep me very warm.
Furthermore, almost all the long pants available were made of synthetic material such as polyester. The problem is that synthetics threads are just plastic – and we know there is a big problem with plastic pollution. But did you know that one of the biggest problems with plastic pollution comes from the microfibres from synthetic clothes? Synthetics also tend to be hotter and not to breathe as well as natural fabrics – key considerations for summer clothes.
My other criteria were style and fit – which narrowed the choice even further.
Eventually I found a suitable pair of black trousers. They were a perfect fit. They were made from linen (natural) and rayon (a semi-synthetic fibre made from cellulose, which is natural) – not perfect but acceptable (especially as my deadline for having something to suitable wear was imminent). And they were from an op shop – so they were inexpensive and offering re-use of something already made.
Why?
There are so many reasons, so here are a few.
Fast fashion relies on what appears to be cheap materials, labour and energy to produce huge amounts of textiles and clothing that are quickly turned over. Australians are now the second-largest buyers of textiles (about 27 kg per year).
- The money we pay for the items does not reflect the true costs to the people who make them or to our world.
- Huge amounts of textiles are often manufactured using materials and methods that harm our common home (at local and global levels) and people.
- The quick turnover creates huge problems for how to deal with the unwanted material – both in terms of quantity and quality. In Australia, more than half a million tonnes of clothes goes into landfill every year – that’s 6 tonnes every 10 minutes. And there it sits, because most of it is made from synthetics (plastic) – which doesn’t decay. And ‘landfills’ themselves can also change and damage the local environment.
- Furthermore, synthetics (plastics) are usually made from fossil gas…which is methane, a powerful and quick-acting substance that damages our climate from the moment it is mined to the moment it is turned into plastic. (That’s because gas pipelines and fittings leak.)
When we ‘throw away’ goods, we also ‘throw away’ the energy and other resources used for producing materials and manufacturing goods and transporting them – all the while damaging our climate and local environments.
- The energy used during manufacturing clothing is usually from a source that damages our climate and the local environment (coal, fossil gas, large hydro, wood).
- Most of our transport currently uses petroleum…and when it is burnt in an engine it creates carbon dioxide, the main gas that is overheating our world and making our oceans acidic.
That’s why our obsession with acquiring ‘stuff’ like clothes is inextricably linked with damage to our climate and depletion of resources.
Using second-hand clothes avoids these problems.
It also saves me money, time (often) and resources compared with buying new.
Importantly, it enables us to make more use of the energy, materials and labour that have gone into making the product and avoid creating more damage.
Also very importantly, op shops provide much needed incomes for volunteering.
And many people love op shopping because it is the main way to buy ‘vintage’ and clothes for re-purposing at affordable prices – and it can be great fun!
The challenge
Next time you need some ‘new’ clothes, think about how you could get them without buying new. Try clothes swapping or op shopping.
Join me!
Any change or challenge is easier if you have company along the way.
So let’s embark on this journey together.
- Read my blog every day for ideas, thoughts and experiences for living a lower carbon lifestyle, more in harmony with nature – while also adapting to the consequences of our damaged climate.
- Subscribe to get posts direct to your inbox.
- Commit to taking action yourself.
- Add a comment to let me know you’re joining in the effort to turn around our world so it can remain liveable – and what your experiences are.
- Share with others my posts and what you’re doing – our efforts, progress, experiences and challenges – on Facebook, on Twitter, in conversations with friends, on talkback radio and in letters to the editor.
A problem shared is a problem halved. We’re all affected by the changes to our world so we need to be all in on the action!
Till next time…