January Edition︱Fashion
How Upcycling Helps | By Isabella
Imagine this scenario: you get lots of money from a luxurious birthday party! So, you take a big trip to the mall and buy cool clothes for your new school year. Although the brands you see people wearing are only getting more expensive, they fall apart fast. So which companies can you shop from to obtain durable clothing? Maybe it doesn’t have to be a brand–you could make your own!
For centuries, clothes have been what would really define your status. But if that would apply to us, we would all be the same, copies of the same dull shirt with different models. Many clothes are discarded, and thrown away to be burned or take up space in a decaying dump. One alternative is upcycling. When you upcycle something, you give old materials to a tailor or seamstress, or make your own piece of clothing, furniture, or even curtains. You just need to use something that would otherwise be thrown away instead of buying something expensive yet somehow low-quality.
Some useful skills in life might not help you academically, but are useful elsewhere. For example, knowing how to do (even basic) embroidery can help give you confidence when facing the challenge of fixing a rip in a pair of old jeans, a fading corner of a shirt, or maybe the common sock hole. Taking just a few days to organize your closet and salvage lots of pretty fabric can help with the growing issue of fast fashion wastes. Trends have existed for a long time, which is why knowing how to make your style be classic and authentic is important in finding yourself.
Speaking of fashion, lots of older styles from the 2000s are coming back: Mcbling, flared jeans and leggings, straight leg and flared capris, along with pants that have lots of embroidery and such. No matter how intriguing it is to see styles which were once considered ugly and tacky become trendy and new, not everything must be bought with tons of unnecessary money and packaging, merely contributing to damaging the planet.
Another alternative is thrifting, especially when it comes from small businesses. Many jeans can actually be bought cheap, have some embroidery done and maybe a few patches ironed on, and you are in possession of an authentic, unique, and fun take on simple clothes.
Overall, fashion is ever-changing: whether or not it brings back old styles, or makes new ways to be the trendiest, it never really stays the same. The planet has taken the consequences of our harmful behavior, which makes getting back on track even more essential to us, even if that means looking for alternatives to buying “fast fashion” clothing.