Good news, there is an easy way to build your wardrobe sustainably, and it comes with a little help from technology. Apps are catching up to the sustainable fashion movement with solutions to help you build a capsule wardrobe or discover the latest sustainable fashion or accessory brands. You can even change your wear-once-and-throw-it-away-habit by renting out your wardrobe for others to try or by renting a new outfit for yourself. But the best part of these sustainable fashion apps isn’t just how easy they make it to shop. They make it easy to update your wardrobe sustainably.
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The problem with our modern-day shopping habits is that the fashion industry is dominated by fast fashion brands. While these brands offer affordable, trendy pieces to love (and wear once), they also come with a heavy price to the environment and humanity. Last year fast fashion retailer Boohoo came under fire for slave labor allegations. This is following a decades-long battle that human rights groups have been fighting against similar retailers and other billion-dollar brands. These brands have also come under fire for their environmental impact. It’s estimated that the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of all water pollution worldwide.
Our clothes release half a million tons of microfibres into the ocean every year, equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles.
Fossil Fashion
These are worrying facts, but with sustainable brands rising, organizations like the United Nations stepping in, and customers like you and I holding brands accountable, these are facts that we can change. Sometimes that change begins with educating ourselves and making better, more conscious shopping choices. We all need clothes, but how we buy them and who we buy them from matters. These sustainable fashion apps help us learn how our clothes negatively impact the environment and find ways to shop less and buy better.
Good on You
Good on You is a sustainable fashion app that launched in Australia in 2015. What makes this app unique is the algorithm; it analyzes data from Greenpeace Detox, Fair Trade, Carbon Trade, and other sustainable certifications. With that analysis, the app rates all the brands by the most sustainable-worthy levels – labor conditions, environmental policies, and usage of animal products in manufacturing. Choosing this app means choosing conscious retailers making an effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
Did you know that the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions?
Impact: Discover sustainable fashion brands that have ethical labor practices and strong environmental policies.
Stylebook
All of us need help with our closets. And if that help comes in a more sustainable form, then we will most certainly take it. Stylebook is an app that helps in organizing and building your wardrobe. It provides options to upload your closet and play with new outfit ideas. This sustainable fashion app is an excellent way to refresh the wardrobe without buying anything new.
Impact: Organize your closet to embrace slow fashion by shopping for only what you need.
Get It: Apple
Rent the Runway
Sometimes renting is just easier and Rent the Runway gets it. Instead of buying and tossing, rent a dress for a special occasion. Try out a few new outfits for spring or a special work look for your next presentation over Zoom. Instead of buying and never wearing those pieces again, why not rent them for the occasion that you need them and send them back to loved by someone else? The renting model is one way we can contribute to reducing waste while still having everything you need at your disposal – quickly and efficiently.
Globally we generate 92 million tons of textile waste.
Impact: Rent clothing to avoid buying items that you’ll only wear once.
Get It: Apple
Save Your Wardrobe
Save Your Wardrobe is one of those sustainable fashion apps that streamlines sustainable living by digitizing your wardrobe. You can upload receipts to keep track of your purchases and receive personalized recommendations about items that you need based on your current closet, lifestyle and the weather in your area. This app also boasts a list of repair, mend and clean services to help motivate you to keep your clothes in top shape and make them last much longer.
Impact: Learn how to organize and care for your closet to buy less and extend the life of the pieces that you love.
Get It: Apple
Wearwell
Wearwell is a another app that introduces customers to sustainable brands like Tonle, Soko, Outerknown and Mercado Global. After taking their style quiz, a stylist will send you a curated selection of clothing ans accessory items each month. Try on what you like and buy only the items that you keep.
Impact: Try on a selection of items from sustainable brands from the comfort of your home.
Get It: Apple