The rise of sustainable fashion: how to shop ethically as a student

How to shop more sustainably

There are many ways to shop sustainably for both clothes and items, helping you to save money and protect the planet from overconsumption.

Charity Shops

Within Northampton there are many charity shops, selling clothing, stationery, and house products. Charity shops will have clothes priced considerably lower than most retail stores. Often, you will be able to find items of clothing made by more ethical brands, meaning that they are more likely to last you longer.

Fast fashion and shopping brand new are expensive, the clothes will wear faster, and they will be more expensive upon purchase. By refining your search for items, to brands with good reputations you will create a wardrobe which is established. Rather than feeling the need to purchase immediately, set a goal to search some charity shops and see whether you can find that item, to give it a new home!

Reselling

If you feel that your wardrobe is overflowing, why not sell on places like Vinted, eBay and Facebook marketplace. This will allow you to reduce the amount unused clothing you own, whilst stopping them from going to landfill and give you a source of income. If you find that you consume a lot of clothing, it can be useful to ‘sell to buy’. This means that to buy a new item, you have to sell something that you own. This will create a continuum in your wardrobe, or it will stop you from buying as you will consider whether you really want that item or not.

“Do I really need this?”

It is easy to get trapped in the cycle of continuous purchasing however by developing self-control, you can yourself the most important questions.

1) Do I own anything like this already?

2) Do I really need it?

The process of elimination will help you to have consideration, rather than being impulsive.

Setting budgets

Shopping can be expensive, if you want to control how much you are spending then budgeting is good.

If you set your budgets very low, then you may be forced to shop second-hand, or consider your purchases. Whether the budget is for one item or for how much you want to spend that month, it will help you to find good products for better value.

To conclude

There are enough clothing items on this planet to cover us for at least the next three generations, shop sustainably to prevent clogging our landfills and unnecessary waste.

Find out more about Sustainability at UON

Liv West

Liv is currently studying Popular Music. She plays the oboe, saxophone and bass guitar and is currently in an indie-pop band. As well as music, she loves playing football and experimenting with fashion.