8 advice in order to be more sustainable!

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In the past few months, some of my friends asked me how to be more sustainable. Obviously, the alternatives are endless and range from daily products to even car purchase. From a more practical point of view, when you wanna buy a piece of clothes, I think there are 8 simple actions you can put into place in order to have less impact on the environment without actually spending loads of money. Let’s see them:

1. Start thinking differently about the number of clothes you actually need! Limit yourself to buy less or fewer clothes of better quality;
2. When you do need to buy, consider shopping in second-hand stores;
3. Wash your clothes in cold water or less;
4. Instead of disposing of a garment: recover, reuse, repair, or recycle it;
5. If you have doubts about the brand you want to buy you can inform yourself through the “Good on You” app or consult the site online, which shows what you are doing in the direction of sustainability;
6. If you can afford to spend more money upfront, “vote with your wallet” – buy sustainable brands – or seek out “slow fashion” brands;
7. Responsible consumption or the sharing economy logic of swapping, secondhand, renting, or leasing are also gaining popularity, with an increasing number of brands providing this service. Mud Jeans, for example, operates a “Lease A Jean” model. For a small monthly subscription price, you can lease a pair of Mud Jeans. After a year (or whenever you feel like changing them) you can switch to a new pair of jeans, and your old ones will be recycled to make new wonderful items;
8. Last but not least always keep yourself informed constantly. Do not lose your curiosity, think critically, and ask yourself why something is good and something else maybe not, and look for answers.

You must realize that buying is a moral act, and not just an economic one, as it involves thousands of people sowing, harvesting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting, sewing, and embroidery. You must ask brands for commitment, honesty, responsibility, and investment, and you must show empathy, respect, be ethic, and human again because no matter how attached we are to nature, our whole existence depends on it.