Today, we are used to a life of high consumption, stress, fast food, everything fast. We buy t-shirts, underwear, dresses, “tuti plen” outfits on impulse, for fashion, because now this type of long dress is worn with this cut, and I need it, even if I'm only going to wear it once.
We do not consider the impact of buying that dress. How much money does it cost you? This means that… if it costs you €50, how long are you going to have to work to earn that €50? Wait a minute, don't think of that €50 as income. Count it as Profit. Think about how much you earn - paid taxes - subtract the fixed expenses you have (flat, food, electricity, water, telephone, gym...). How much you have left? Well… Is it possible that to pay for that €50 dress you have to work for a week? It's not so pretty anymore...
One more step, have you looked at the label on the dress? What is it made of? Where is it made? We care? Most of the clothes we wear are made of Polyester. Polyester is a plastic. A material that, with each wash of that dress in the washing machine, pours 700,000 plastic fibers into the water, which ends up in the sea. Material that takes 500 years to decompose. Imagine for a moment, an entire wardrobe of plastic dresses, for the entire population of Spain alone. 42 million people? Do the calculation yourself, if we wash the dress about 30 times a year, because I prefer not to think about it.
And... if it's so bad for the environment, maybe it could be bad for our health, too. Polyester is a synthetic material, depending on the manufacturer and the fabric, it may contain more or less toxins. What is a reality is that it is a material that does not perspire. Does not let your skin breathe. And there is a lot of surface covered by our clothes. As your skin does not breathe, the toxins released - even in very small amounts - by the polyester, if they cannot fly, will be absorbed by your skin.
Then we don't understand why our skin gets irritated, itches, we get hives... we also don't understand why there is so much cancer today. Nobody really wonders why? There is no need to ask what do we eat? What do we wear? and what do we do? Because stress... is another story.
What happens if we take this to our underwear. Have you ever noticed why the panties have a piece of cotton fabric, right in the most intimate area? Perhaps because the material they are made of... is not the ideal one for this type of garment. Perhaps because a material that breathes is needed. And for that, we have to go to the material of a lifetime: Cotton, which now has to be organic. See the post on Why wear Organic Cotton lingerie? .
Well, we have already listed several impacts: Economic, on the environment, on your health.
Is there an impact at the place of manufacture? Exploitation? In the article Does the place of manufacture of a garment matter to us? I reflect on it.
I invite you to reflect on your lifestyle, on your impulses in the face of the pressure of fashion in the world in which we live. Less is more. It has always been said. Fewer items but higher quality. Less of everything, but of more quality. In the end it will become, more life, and of more quality.