Jul 14 2010
Going Green? Hip, Vintage Clothing Kills Two Birds With One Stone
If you haven’t checked out vintage clothing and accessories lately, you really should. There are some beautiful things out there. You can go hippie or goth, or pair some original circa 70s Italian pumps with a sleek 1920s brocade spaghetti-strapped cocktail dress that catches the eye. Vintage clothing can be hip, stylish and unique. Each one-of-a-kind outfit says ‘you’, and it often comes at a very good price. With all that cushy indulgence, you wouldn’t think you were also doing the earth a good turn. But have you ever thought about how much clothing ends up in the landfill?
In the U.S., we throw out about 254 million tons of unwanted items every year. Of that, about 7% is clothing, shoes and bedding. That’s about 18 million tons per year. If just 1% of that were womens clothing, that would be, roughly, very roughly, about 40 outfits per woman, per year.
Some of those outfits are vintage clothing that others would be very happy to get their hands on. I, for example, have made some great finds. A crisp white linen suit that sold initially for $400 was mine for $50. Handmade Italian shoes in ice-cream colors of pistachio, raspberry and lemon for $25 – they’re still my favorite. A full-length beaded black velvet opera coat – looks great with jeans, too – for a pittance of its value. And how about that fabulously flowing silk pantsuit that makes me feel like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s? And that’s just the beginning.
Not until someone brought it to my attention did it ever occur to me that my beautiful opera coat would be left and forgotten in a landfill if it weren’t in my closet. But now that I’ve had my eyes opened, I can look forward to my vintage clothing shopping sprees with even more enthusiasm – and less guilt.
Want to go green? Go shopping! But make sure you’re shopping for vintage fashion – you’ll look great and save the energy, raw materials and other resources used to make new clothes.
Author, Tia Jones, is a freelance writer who contributes articles on vintage clothing and vintage fashion for LA Vintage formerly The Factory Vintage. For more information visit http://www.lavintage.com
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