Disposable fashion: Cheap and fearful

Did you know Australians now buy more new clothing per person than almost anyone else in the world — an average of 53 new garments a year — yet only wear around 40% of what's actually in our wardrobes? With more choice and cheaper price tags than ever before, we are still very much in a world of disposable fashion, and it's not necessarily a good thing.

Imagine you're browsing online. You spot a cute top. It's only $10! With a click of a button, it's yours. Instant gratification. There was no aching over the decision, no weighing the pros and cons. No questions of, do I want it? Do I really need it? Will I actually wear it?

Rather than asking "why?" you said "why not!"… Hang on. Not so fast, Sista!

When your top costs the same as a chicken panini, it's not usually a beautifully made and handcrafted product. It's not economically possible. So the stitching unravels after one wash, the buttons fall off, and the material pills. It's little wonder the average garment in Australia is now worn as few as seven times before it's thrown away.

Even if your top does miraculously keep itself together, because fashion trends now move so fast, the moment you hit pay, it's dated. That geometric patterned midriff (with buttons!) doesn't look so cool now.

I hear you thinking, "just chillax, I donate my old clothes to charity." But how much do you think an op-shop can sell a $10 top for? Don't forget it's missing a button! Plus thousands of your awesome-geometric-buttoned-midriff were made, sold and donated, so the poor op-shop has an oversupply — in fact, only around 15% of clothing donated to charity in Australia is actually resold here. The rest is exported, or landfilled.

So what happens? It goes into landfill. Australians now send around 222,000 tonnes of clothing to the tip every single year — that's close to four Sydney Harbour Bridges' worth of clothing, buried, every year.

Not only did Mother Earth give up resources to produce and sell your top (fabrics, dyes, colour setting chemicals, shipping, plastic wrapping etc.), but once in landfill disposable fashion keeps sticking it to her.

Clothing doesn't just 'break down' like an apple core. Even natural fabrics go through processes, often chemical, to become clothing. When these products sit in landfill, they leach nasties that can enter the soil and groundwater, and as synthetic fabrics degrade they shed microplastics and release methane. In fact, textile waste dumped in Australian landfill is estimated to be the equivalent of pouring away 18,000 litres of oil, every single hour.

So what do we do?

We buy sensibly. Lose the impulse. Think it over. Buy classic pieces made well from quality materials.

At Ovae we are really passionate about this. We are obsessed with quality workmanship. We love re-using vintage fabrics to create unique and one-off pieces and whenever our collections are inspired by current trends, we take care to ensure they're classic enough to remain stylish and timeless.

We don't want you to throw away our creations after a few washes; we want you to wear and love them for a lifetime.

Love Ovae's Resident Blogger x