Do you know who made your clothes? Probably not—and the designers and fast-fashion companies that sold them to you probably don’t, either. That was the overarching message at last night’s Future of Fashion panel hosted by Zady and Parsons, which included speakers Rick Ridgeway, VP of environmental affairs at Patagonia; Quartz reporter Marc Bain; and stylist Sarah Slutsky. Their discussion covered everything from the rise of fast fashion and the garment industry’s carbon footprint to child labor and human trafficking. As much as we love scoring Gucci-ish dresses and Céline-y pumps for the price of lunch, that isn’t how things should be. The industry needs a serious reboot, and making a difference can start with simply adjusting your shopping habits and paying attention to what’s on your clothing labels. Below, five ways you can work toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

1. Know your numbers.

150,000,000,000: The number of new clothing items produced each year.

2,500,000,000: Pounds of used clothing that end up in landfills each year.

2,100,000: Tons of CO2 emissions produced by the apparel and textile industry each year (second only to the petroleum industry).

Between 70,000,000 and 100,000,000: The number of trees cut down each year to make cellulose fabrics such as rayon and modal.

700: Gallons of water it takes to make one T-shirt.

$91.45: A garment worker’s monthly wage in Bangladesh.

10 percent: The percentage of the world’s total carbon footprint that comes from the apparel industry. (To put it in perspective, the aviation industry accounts for 2 percent.)

61 percent: The percentage of clothing companies that don’t know where their garments were made.

76 percent: The percentage of companies that don’t know where their fabrics were woven, knit, or dyed.

93 percent: The percentage of companies that don’t know the origins of their raw fiber.

In other words . . . It’s probably worse than you thought. To keep up with the constant demand of new, inexpensive clothes, brands have turned to cheap labor, chemical-based fabrics, and unsafe working conditions. It was a quick fix with long-term consequences—and who benefits from it, besides a few people at those companies? Maxine Bedat, the founder of Zady, called it “the race to the bottom.” And once you’re at the bottom, there’s nowhere else to go. “It’s a business model built on volume,” Bain added.

2. Shop less but spend more.

“We’re buying more than we ever have and pay less than we ever did,” Bedat said. “But consumers are exhausted with the system and are hungry for change. They’re starting to spend their money on experiences that will enhance their lives instead of things. So maybe we’re coming full circle—how else do you explain the popularity of Marie Kondo’s book. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?” We’ve felt those sentiments here at the Vogue.com offices, too: After years of “bingeing” on fashion, it’s starting to make us sick. There’s too much stuff, and everyone is craving a pared-back, unencumbered lifestyle.

One reason we’re overwhelmed with stuff is that as clothing gets cheaper, we don’t have to mull over a purchase anymore. If our bank account isn’t suffering, it’s fun (and addicting) to buy things on a whim. But not only is that bad for your overflowing closet, it leads to more waste, too, because you’ll probably get tired of those items pretty quickly and throw them out. “I think it’s worthwhile to spend more money on each item of clothing,” Bain said. “It should make you sweat a little and think, ‘Do I really want this? Do I need it?’ Doing that over the past year has changed the way I shop. I buy less, but I buy better.”

3. Shop for high-quality clothes that are made to last.

According to Ridgeway, durability is a key component in the environmental impact of a product because its carbon footprint decreases every year that you own it. For example, a Patagonia jacket is produced on a sustainable supply chain with high-quality fabrics, so it lasts for decades—or you can return it to the company and they’ll recycle it for you. A high-fashion example: “My wife was one of the first few employees at Calvin Klein, and she still has some of Calvin’s best stuff,” Ridgeway said. “These are clothes that were made impeccably with the best craftsmanship and the finest materials, and with really timeless, classic design. Now, 30 or 40 years later, she still wears them. Our two daughters wear them, and they look great. Imagine how small the footprint on those items is.” It pays to invest in the best quality. Wouldn’t you rather have one incredible dress that will last forever instead of 10 cheap dresses that won’t make it through a laundry cycle? High-quality construction also calls for professional, skilled craftsmen who are paid well and work in safe, clean environments and ateliers, so human trafficking and child labor are less of an issue.

4. Prioritize natural fabrics.

Synthetic materials like polyester, nylon, and acrylic can take up to 1,000 years to decompose—which means that all of the polyester that has ever been made still exists. Those materials account for a large chunk of the clothing that’s currently sitting in landfills—plus, synthetics require chemicals to make, and those chemicals end up in the water supply of countries like Bangladesh and China. The Chinese government estimated that 70 percent of the water in northern China has been polluted by textile factories. Choosing all-natural fabrics is one way to work toward a more sustainable wardrobe—try silk, cotton, wool, hemp, jute, cashmere, alpaca, and Tencel, which are more luxurious than fake fabrics anyway.

5. Look for “traceable” companies that are transparent about their production.

Of course, just because a fabric is natural doesn’t mean it has a clean history. Think about how many steps it takes to make a T-shirt, from the cotton plant to your closet. Someone has to pick the cotton, then there’s someone else spinning it, someone weaving it, someone dyeing it, and someone finishing it. At some point along the way, that someone could have been a child or someone working in an unsafe factory. People want to know where their clothes have been and whose hands touched them. That’s why “traceability” is entering the conversation for brands big and small. A few examples include Everlane, Plyknits, and Zady. Here’s hoping other brands follow their lead. As consumers learn more about sustainability and the origins of their clothes, they’re going to stop buying from companies that can’t deliver those facts.

Retrived from: http://www.vogue.com