How to be more sustainable while being fashionable
The TL;DR: Young people in Singapore say they want to shop more sustainably. Here are four tips from the experts – from finding cheap thrifting places to doing clothes swops.
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SINGAPORE – Fast fashion is wildly popular among the youth in Singapore. Brands like H&M, Zara and Shein all ranked among the top 10 fashion retail brands among Gen Zs in Singapore in 2024 according to a YouGov poll
Yet many young people want to move away from fast fashion – a report from online vintage-resale platform ThredUp
Fast fashion brands allow consumers to participate in the latest fashion trends quickly and at affordable prices.
But experts say that the high-volume, low-cost business models of fast fashion brands make them unsustainable.
Ms Audrey Yang, founder of sustainability consultancy Thought Partner Eco, said: “For fast fashion brands to be able to produce this much this quickly means there are massive trade-offs, often costing the workers in the supply chain, and our environment.”
“In order to produce cheaply and quickly, workers are often overworked and underpaid. A lot of these garments are also made with low-cost materials like polyester, a synthetic material derived from petroleum, which has a significant impact on global warming.”
They are also hard to recycle. Based on a 2024 report by non-profit Fashion Revolution, only 33 per cent of brands disclose the breakdown of the fibres sourced annually, concealing the industry’s reliance on synthetic fibres that are highly unrecyclable and are a major source of microplastic pollution.
But Ms Yang, like other experts, says that there are ways to be fashionable and sustainable.
Here are four tips from the experts.
Borrow, swop or rent instead
Before you buy new items for your wardrobe, consider if there are alternative ways of obtaining new pieces of clothing instead. Experts recommended three main ways of doing so: borrowing them from friends and family, renting them or swopping items from your collection for items you want from others.
Lecturer Rohaizatul Azhar, from Lasalle’s School of Fashion, said that these alternatives allow consumers “to refresh their wardrobes without contributing to textile waste”.
Experts recommended borrowing clothes from friends and family if you are looking for pieces for a special occasion or one-off event.
Ms Lumin Hew, founder of Gen Z sustainable fashion collective Fashion Parade, said: “Ask the people around you if they have specific clothes for a specific occasion. Beyond being sustainable, it also fosters community sharing and lending.”
If your friends do not have a piece you are looking for, you can consider renting. Online clothes rental platform Style Theory offers both one-time clothes rental services, as well as monthly membership plans that allow members to rent a fixed amount of pieces per month for a monthly fee.
For those looking for more permanent fixtures to their wardrobe, consider swopping clothes. The Fashion Pulpit and Swapaholic provide online platforms for consumers to trade in their clothes and accessories for pre-loved items that have been traded in by other users.
Other initiatives, like fashion social enterprise Cloop, also regularly organise community clothes swop events. You can keep an eye out for new events on their Facebook page
Buy second-hand
Experts said that buying second-hand, also known as thrifting, helps to extend the life of clothes, thus reducing textile waste and limiting the effects of pollution.
Contrary to stereotypes, buying second-hand pieces also does not need to be expensive. Cloop co-founder Tan Yin Ling said that second-hand stores that charge higher prices are usually vintage stores that often import used designer pieces from abroad to be sold in Singapore.
She added: “There’s some controversy about whether these stores are actually sustainable because of the emissions they produce flying the clothes in.”
She said there are many cheap thrifting options in Singapore.
Cloop has compiled a “ thrift catalogue
Don’t throw away clothes
If you need to declutter your closet, do not throw away unwanted clothes – swop, sell or donate them instead. Cloop’s Ms Tan said that thrown away clothes often end up in landfills abroad.
She said: “Passing clothes on more directly guarantees that clothes will be used somewhere, and minimises the environmental costs of throwing them away.”
Ms Tan offers some advice on how you can declutter your wardrobe: “A normal shirt, for example, could be donated or swopped if not worn for about two months. A gown for an event, on the other hand, could last for a year or longer (before you consider clearing it out).”
When looking to give away clothes, experts suggested looking for ways to pass on pre-loved pieces to others more directly and locally, before considering donations to charity or environmental organisations.
Ms Tan said: “It’s important to be mindful of who your beneficiaries are. Old socks, for example, can’t be re-worn by others.”
Experts recommend swopping clothes, selling pre-loved items via platforms like Carousell or Swapaholic, or even giving them away to friends and family. Organisations such as Cloop, Greensquare and The Salvation Army regularly collect pre-loved clothing items to be reused, resold or recycled.
Think before you buy
Experts say the most crucial sustainability tip is to be a conscious consumer and think before buying new clothes.
Mr Rohaizatul said: “Avoiding fast fashion entirely is an ideal scenario, but realistically speaking, it’s not feasible for everyone. Financial considerations play a significant role in shaping people’s consumption choices, particularly for students, young professionals, and families operating on tighter budgets.
“The goal is not to vilify fast fashion consumers but to create pathways for more sustainable behaviours.”
But experts warned that buying second-hand or swopping clothes does not automatically make consumption habits sustainable. It is still possible to overconsume.
Fashion Parade’s Ms Hew said: “Spending thousands of dollars on second-hand clothes is still overconsumption and it still isn’t sustainable.”
“Before buying anything, ask yourself – will I wear this more than 30 times?”
She also recommended creating shopping lists for clothes to prevent impulse shopping, and to consider if a piece can be restyled or upcycled before you clear it out.
Her fashion collective runs upcycling and sewing workshops to teach people how to upcycle and fix their clothes on their own, and to raise awareness about fashion sustainability.
Another tip experts gave was to be conscious of the brands you are consuming from.
Brand ratings site Good on You is a good way to check how sustainable brands are. Brands like H&M and Zara, for example, have received unfavourable ratings from the site based on their sustainability practices.
Ultimately, experts concluded that rather than focusing on avoidance, being sustainable is about making informed, conscious choices within your means.
Ms Foo Jia Wen, course chair for the diploma in fashion management and design at Temasek Polytechnic said that even if avoiding fast fashion altogether is impossible, “adopting sustainable practices can significantly reduce its impact”.
She said: “The goal isn’t complete avoidance but making more conscious choices that align with sustainability.”
