Date: 07/02/2022 Shift: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Q. No: 43

Do you know that fashion accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity?
It is imperative that we educate ourselves about the ways in which we can reduce the impact our wardrobe has on the climate.
We are a society that is addicted to mindless consumerism. Each of us needs to think deeply about the ways and means through which we can reduce our carbon footprint on the environment. Let us begin with our wardrobe. What is it that leads us to over-purchase? Is there an underlying reason for our compulsive buying?
Psychologists say that underlying the impulse to buy is our need for self-esteem, status and belonging. They also say that the impulse to shop is difficult to control with the emergence of online shopping 24/7 over the internet.
One way to beat this is to simply ration the time you spend looking at clothes online. Another way is to open vintage or second-hand clothes stores. The latter can be more successful as it still gives the buyer the thrill of buying and experiencing the sense of reward and fulfillment. In doing so, one slows down the fast-fashion cycle by giving a second life to clothes.
Besides buying less, one can extend the life of our clothes by mending and repairing them. Websites like Love your Clothes encourage this and also offer tips on how to do this.
Finally, how one disposes one’s worn out clothes at the end of their useful life is also very important. Dumping them only adds to the huge landfills or to increased harmful emissions through incineration. The most environmentally sound way of disposing them is to send them for recycling. Some major manufacturers have now started using recycled fabrics, but it is often hard for consumers to find places to take their old clothes.