{"id":377813,"date":"2017-11-26T13:39:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T13:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=377813"},"modified":"2017-11-26T14:24:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T14:24:52","slug":"beyond-shopping-12-ways-to-care-for-your-clothes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=377813","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Shopping: 12 ways to care for your clothes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the fashion industry that has a massive waste problem. We all do. Our wardrobes are bulging with clothes, many of which we don\u2019t wear. The number of garments produced globally has doubled since 2000 to more than 100bn items. If you are anything like me, you will feel as if you own a good proportion of them already.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason retailers love Black Friday so much is because they have such huge excesses of stock to offload<\/p>\n

Black Friday, which has now spread from a single day of splurge buying to an entire week, means we are about to be bombarded with discounts and offers to buy everything from a new fridge to a cashmere jumper ( just you wait, there will be mountains of cheap cashmere).<\/p>\n

Part of the reason retailers love Black Friday so much is because they have such huge excesses of stock to offload. Cheap clothes mean small profit margins so the fast fashion model relies on massive volumes to create profit. So by buying excessive amounts of cheap clothes, we all become part of one of the biggest and most troubling waste problems facing the world.<\/p>\n

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The fashion industry was responsible for the emission of 1,715m tons of CO2 in 2015, about 5.45% of the 32.1bn tons of global carbon emissions in 2015 (according to\u00a0Copenhagen Fashion Summit\u2019s 2017 Pulse of the Industry report). In light of the world\u2019s governments\u2019 gathering for\u00a0COP23\u00a0for 11 days of talks on how to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions which began on 6 November 2017, we need to think hard about the rate at which we produce \u2013 and profligately discard \u2013 our clothes.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0We need to make our existing wardrobes work more efficiently – wardrobe clearouts are recommended Photograph: Matt Cardy\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cWe need to find ways to break free from our addiction, reverse the throwaway culture and discover new ways to love our clothes,\u201d says Orsola de Castro, co-founder of\u00a0Fashion Revolution, the global campaign to promote a more transparent and sustainable fashion industry. \u201cFar from being a part of the problem, we can all, enthusiastically and creatively, become a part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fashion Revolution\u2019s latest fanzine, Loved Clothes Last (the print version is available now, for \u00a315, from\u00a0Fashionrevolution.org; and free as a download from 1 December) includes contributions by experts including Rebecca Earley, Elizabeth Cline, Tom of Holland, Andrew Brooks, Kate Fletcher, and Greenpeace, with advice, tips and inspiration on how to make your clothes stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

To help us resist the temptations of Black Friday, here is a 12 -step guide to caring for your clothes and make more of what you already have.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1\u00a0<\/strong>Learn how to master the basics of how to sew. If you can sew on a button, you need never get rid of a shirt or cardigan again just because it\u2019s missing a button. There are lots of courses on learning to sew.\u00a0The Sewing Directory\u00a0will point you in the right direction.<\/p>\n

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Pick up a needle and thread, says Tamsin Blanchard Photograph: Andriu_s\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

2\u00a0<\/strong>Clothes worth wearing are worth repairing. Don\u2019t throw something away just because it has a hole in it. If you can\u2019t sew, try using an iron-on patch to cover a hole. Embroidery specialist\u00a0Hand & Lock has a patch shop\u00a0where you can choose from a range of embroidered patches.<\/p>\n

3\u00a0<\/strong>Celebrate the life your clothes have led with darning. If you do it in a contrasting colour, you can make a feature of your mending.\u00a0Tom of Holland\u00a0runs the Visible Mending Programme to highlight the disappearing art of clothing repair. And if you feel daunted by the idea of doing it yourself, Tom accepts commissions to do your mending for you.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Hand & Lock patches Photograph: Hand & Lock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

4<\/strong>\u00a0A single pair of nylon tights will take between 30-40 years to decompose in landfill. Cheap tights are a false economy as they tend to ladder more quickly. Old-fashioned remedies such as applying transparent nail varnish around a small hole to stop it spreading might seem crude but are actually quite effective.<\/p>\n

5<\/strong>\u00a0Buy second-hand and keep an open mind. So many clothes are given away because they have a missing button or a small bit of damage that can be easily rectified using your newfound (or rekindled) mending skills.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Keep an open mind with second-hand clothes Photograph: NCB \/ Alamy\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
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