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Eco-fashion: Meaning and Future Prospects
Fashion Studies

In today’s world, one of the most commonly discussed topics is the environment. Governments, businessmen, multinational companies, industrialists, and even common men of all countries are concerned with the environment. The common purpose of the entire human community of this world is to protect the environment (which is already damaged extensively), as damage to the environment is directly related to the damage of human life. So, to protect the environment, we are trying to do all those works, which are environment friendly.


Environment-friendly means the use of such kinds of products or even human acts, which can be absorbed by the environment easily and, in the process, it does not damage the environment anyway. Amidst all, the fashion industry and its products, i.e., clothes and other accessories, are also one of the protentional elements that can pollute and damage the environment. Therefore, to support government policy and protect the environment, the fashion industry has also started using environment friendly clothes and recyclable products, which is popularly known as eco-fashion or sustainable fashion.

Meaning of Eco-fashion

Technically known as sustainable fashion, eco-fashion is an all-inclusive term that describes not only the fashion textiles and related products, but rather includes the entire process through which threads are created from insects, from threads to cloth, and also how the cotton is farmed and processed to make cloth. It is believed that there are many acts and products, which are used in the fashion industry that are not environment friendly, in fact, damaging the environment. Therefore, using the environment friendly products and wearing environment friendly clothes will substantially reduce the adverse impact on the environment.

So, technically, the practice and promotion of eco-fashion not only conserve the environment, but also take care of human health, as some types of fabrics are of such a type that affect human health.

Likewise, the term eco-fashion includes:

Organic Farming

Organic farming means producing all those raw products, which are used in the textile industry organically. In organic farming, fibers or cotton (used in making fabrics) are grown without the use of chemicals or any other toxic pesticides and fertilizers. In fact, farmers use manures and other such products as fertilizers. They remove weeds manually and practice crop rotation. In addition to this, silk is extracted from worms raised on organic vegetation.

Less Use of Polluting Industry

For processing the raw materials to manufacture fabrics, workers avoid using the heavy machineries that pollute the environment rather they prefer to do it manually or with the help of some handy machines.

  • Some of the garments that cannot degrade naturally, such as artificial fibers, are used again, and fashionable and trendy dresses are manufactured through a recycling process.

  • Even for coloring, no chemicals are used. Instead, organic dyes or bleaches are used.

  • Along with the fashionable dresses, the fashion accessories are also made by such organic products. Many of them are handmade products.

  • Last but not the least, people working in the eco-fashion industry are properly taken care of. Most of the arrangements made for them are also eco-friendly.

Vegan Clothing

"Vegan" is another trending word, which means not using any sort of animal products. Vegan clothing is such type of dress in which animal skin is not used at all. Therefore, vegan clothing is also a part of eco-fashion as it is manufactured only from the plant products or man-made fibers.

Sustainable Clothing

As discussed above, sustainable fashion or eco-fashion both are same and explain the same meaning; similarly, sustainable clothing includes all those fabrics, which are derived from eco-friendly resources. For example, sustainably or organically grown fiber crops or/and recycled materials.

Conclusion

It is an unquestionable fact that conservation of the environment is our unavoidable obligation, as a threat to the environment is directly related to a threat to entire human lives. And, it is also true that the textile and fashion industries are amongst the leading industries that pollute and badly affect the environment on a large scale. Furthermore, because of globalization, fashion industries flourished and expanded globally, started mass production, and made clothes available at a low price. In the beginning, it was good for the consumers, but in the long run, it started affecting the environment adversely. So, it is a great move to use eco-dresses and promote sustainable fashion.

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Study Materials