Sustainability has become a buzzword in the fashion industry.
It's in TikTok hashtags, your favorite influencers are using it, and most of us are trying to make sustainable choices, Her.ie reported.
Yet sometimes it seems that the only brands that can be truly sustainable and responsible are those designed for the "high-end customers".
While we ordinary people often feel torn between what we would ethically prefer to buy and what we think we can afford.
Is sustainable fashion really out of reach for us on a budget, or is that a misconception?
Style on a budget
Yes, there are sustainable brands that are designed for those with the luxury of spare cash.
Well-known brands such as Zady, Reformation and People Tree are noticeably more expensive than Penneys or Shein for example.
Of course, this is for good reasons: they guarantee ethical and sustainable buyer peace of mind.
Yet, go back to the years a few decades ago when we bought less and clothes lasted longer, clothes were an investment and made for a lifetime.
Part of the problem with fashion consumption comes from poorly made clothes falling apart and having to be replaced.
Investing in new ethical or even designer clothes from champions of sustainable fashion like Vivienne Westwood will cost you a bit more, but they'll last a lifetime - and you're likely to take better care of them.
Shopping second hand is an option
It is not necessary to buy something brand new, but to shop second hand, and there is no shame in that.
Tiana from Fab Socialist talks about this in her YouTube video about elitism in sustainable development.
"You might say, 'well, you know, we don't have a lot of money, so we need these cheap clothes'. When in reality I don't think so, because you can buy second-hand clothes. It's a cheap way to get the things that you want. It challenges us to be smart consumers," Tiana said.
While even then it's not an ideal solution, charity shopping offers both limited styles and often doesn't include sizes, providing yet another hoop to jump through.
So how can I change things?
Sustainable fashion isn't necessarily elitist, but it's definitely just more accessible to people with higher incomes.
We can still do something to change the situation, but it requires more brains and patience.
Should it be so? Probably not, but we're at that level as a society right now.
Let us not fear being excluded from the green revolution. Instead, we can engage in ways that address the root causes of environmental problems in a way that suits your socioeconomic background./BGNES