There are many reasons why we should love and value our clothes. Below are three that we think are on the top of that list.
I’m not including the fact that they keep us warm because that’s too obvious. Nevertheless, as a starting point we can bear in mind that they are fundamentally essential to our survival. These are, after all, huge reasons.
1. They allow us to express ourselves in a way nothing else can
Clothes are a medium for self-expression. In this regard they are incredibly powerful, and have the ability to change both how others perceive us, and more importantly, how we perceive ourselves. Most of the time we are not conscious of how much our clothes mean to us, but their value is undeniable.
When you get dressed in the morning you are selecting items from your wardrobe that for some reason feel right for the day. You cannot be exactly sure why, but they just do. A pair of jeans, t-shirt, sweater, whatever it is, they are garments you purchased and identify with. They are a part of your identity, like your name or personality traits that you identify with. Even though they are not as important to you as your name, they are attached to your identity in a way that influences your feelings and behaviour each and every day.
Research suggests that we are not happy with wearing the same clothes for long periods of time, particularly over the last couple of decades. The average person today buys 60% more clothing than in 2000, while the average number of times a piece of clothing is worn decreased by 36% between 2000 and 2015. These numbers clearly indicate that we are getting bored of our clothes faster and faster; feeling the need to replenish our already plentiful wardrobes with new clothing. To some degree, it is normal for us to desire new clothes that match our evolving personality. How we want to express ourselves does of course change as we get older. But the purpose, and therefore value of clothing remains the same.
The Bureau of International Recycling has reported that rescuing a single kilogram of used clothing from landfill can help save up to 3.6 kilograms of Co2 emissions and 6,000 litres of water consumption. Kendall Benton-Collins, 9 Ethical Fashion Hacks: Look Great and Save Money
If we really love our clothes, we must acknowledge their unparalleled capacity for self-expression, and in turn care for them. When we want to dispose of clothing that is no longer desired, we should look for ethical, environmentally sound ways to do so, such as recycling or upcycling. Throwing them away and adding to giant piles in landfills is an action that fails to reflect the value they provided in terms of expressing yourself, both for yourself, and for the outside world.
It all starts with value perception. As individual buyers and wearers of clothing, we need to rethink the way we value our clothes if we are to make sustainable fashion choices that contribute to a healthier planet.
2. They take a substantial amount of resources to make
Did you know it takes around 10,000 litres of water to make a single pair of jeans? That’s about 10 years of drinking water for one person. The water is needed to cultivate one kilogram of cotton required to produce the jeans.
One t-shirt? 3,000 litres.
Such high levels of resource depletion are becoming increasingly noticeable across the globe. For example, the Aral Sea in Central Asia has shrunk to just 10 percent of its former volume, largely due to irrigation for cotton farming.
“It’s estimated that the fashion industry currently uses around 79 billion cubic metres of water per year, which is 2 percent of all freshwater extraction globally, and represents more than one tenth of the water used by all types of industry. On current trends, this amount is set to double by 2030.” — Common Objective
It gets worse.
Textile production is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global clean water pollution from dyeing and finishing products, and around 35% of all microplastics (very small pieces of plastic that never biodegrade) in the ocean came from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester.
It can be quite shocking to discover just how much resources it takes to make the clothes we wear. Production processes are hidden from us, out of sight so as to keep us focused on consumption as opposed to increasing awareness of alternative, sustainable practices. Nevertheless, the truth is there. We can choose to pay attention and make more conscious decisions that reflect a genuine care for the clothes we own.
To read more about the impact of fast fashion on the environment, check out our article, The True Cost of Fast Fashion: 10 Alarming Statistics We Need to Recognise.
3. Extending their life cycle brings a sense of contribution and fulfillment
Most of us are not familiar with the clothing repair process. We feel mystified when sitting in front of a sewing machine, and have no motivation to do so. There’s nothing strange or wrong about this, but we can choose to look at it differently.
We choose to nurture and maintain a lot of other things, plants and pets, for example. It is in our best interest to extend their life and keep them healthy. This makes you feel good for doing something that made that thing feel good; you contributed to its well being.
Yes, clothes aren’t living beings, but they are essential to your well-being, not to mention the other two reasons I highlighted as to why we should value them highly. Keeping them “healthy” instead of throwing them into a landfill or ocean somewhere will make you feel good, and this feeling will last much longer than any satisfaction gained from walking out of a store with a bag full of cheap clothes.
We are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of instant gratification fueled by smartphones and social media, but the effects extend to other areas of our lives, including our purchasing habits that drive fast fashion. Clothing, however, unlike Instagram posts, is something you can touch and feel, something that is intimately connected to you. It is this connection that, if paid attention to, can be a source of great satisfaction. By choosing to care for our clothes, we are choosing to value something that makes a genuine contribution to our well-being.
In short, extending the life of clothing and generally valuing them more enriches their meaning and the relationship we have to them, adding a depth of character that cannot be obtained by purchasing new items and wearing them a few times.
We all want to enrich our relationships. Loving your clothes and making them last longer is one clear path that we can all choose to take.
Author bio
Alex is a content writer and marketer. He has written for numerous tech blogs and is now working with Menddie — a clothing repair platform based in Finland that provides people with an easy, cost-effective way to repair loved garments and support handcraft professionals in the process. He also enjoys exploring the nature of consciousness which he writes about on his blog, confusedspecies.com. You can find him on LinkedIn.
