Circular Fashion in relation to climate change

By Ellie Peach

What is circular fashion?

Circular fashion describes clothing and accessories manufactured in ethical working conditions, using ethically sourced and sustainable materials. These items can be reused or recycled at the end of their life and thus never create additional waste. Circular and slow fashion is generally one in the same thing. They provide excellent quality garments that will last a long time while simultaneously avoiding waste wherever possible.

How is fashion currently affecting the planet?

The fashion industry makes up around 2 to 8 per cent of global CO2 emissions. Water consumption is even more significant at 215 trillion litres of water consumed by the industry annually. For instance, a pair of jeans needs around 1800 gallons of water to grow the cotton required and demand is ever-growing with the rise in fast fashion popularity. So this statistic shows no sign of slowing down.

Not only are the material choices and sheer quantity of fast fashion today drastically impacting the planet, but many companies also use greenwashing to appear environmentally conscious. They use buzzwords like “sustainable” or “eco-conscious” to influence consumer spending, which means that large corporations are manipulating the growing consumer interest in buying sustainably. 

How does circular fashion reduce personal CO2 impact?

Fashion is a massive contributor to the world’s overall emissions, as we already know, but why? Fast fashion’s growing dominance in the fashion industry is a significant contributor (which will work only to exacerbate the number of emissions). However, if we all started buying slow fashion from circular retailers or second-hand clothing, this would create far less demand for fast fashion. Due to the fact slow fashion is made to make the smallest impact possible. They can often be recyclable or up-cyclable, meaning you won’t have to replace the piece often and can keep your impact low. 

How is LaBante circular?

LaBante uses only sustainable, vegan materials in our products. Our apple leather sneakers, for instance, are made from apple waste, and the laces are from recycled plastic bottles. The environmental benefits are recirculating plastic into a new long-life product, reusing apple waste leftover from the juicing industry, and creating a sustainable alternative to cowhide leather. LaBante also takes great care that all employees are treated with respect and paid a fair wage to ensure excellent ethical working conditions.

LaBante’s accessories and shoes are made to last and can be recycled at the end of their life. The materials used consider the environment at every step, as LaBante recognises the need for slow circular fashion. A bonus is for each purchase; we plant ten trees to make your order carbon-negative.

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