Having read all about pollution that results from fashion, are we deterring you from making your next purchase? I hope we didn’t! There are still ways for you to look like you just came off the runway through prudent and conscious shopping. One way is through thrifting (which will be shared in our next post), and the other is the use of accessories — eco-friendly accessories — to glam up your overall outfit and look.
Fashion accessories are deemed to be wardrobe essentials, with tons of guides out there showcasing how the most basic outfits can be transformed with the help of accessories. Yet, accessories contribute have negative impacts on the environment as well. For instance, jewellery – made up of silver-plated or gold-plated cheap metals – often have a short lifespan as they are easily tarnished or damaged. With that, they are disposed of and often end up in the landfill (Tegen Jewellery, 2019), thereby contributing to land pollution. Others made of plastic further exacerbate pollution on land, and at sea. The environment is also not spared with jewellery made from authentic gold as numerous harm are brought to the environment in the process of gold mining – ranging from the erosion of land, leakage of harmful chemicals into water bodies, to the alteration of an entire ecosystem (Kirschner, 2017).
That said, does this mean we should avoid buying and using accessories? Well, not really. You can still look glam and be environmentally-friendly at the same time through the use of eco-friendly accessories!
There is a wide array of eco-friendly accessories in the market such as those made with alternative natural materials like shells, seeds, fibres, nuts and dried fruits (Ray, 2019). In particular, SVNR’s handcrafted earrings are made from reused, upcycled and natural materials like seashells.
Another form of eco-friendly accessories are those made from recycled jewellery such as recycled gold jewellery as this will not only give unwanted gold a new lease of life, thereby reducing waste, it also lowers the demand for newly mined gold, reducing environmental impacts associated with gold mining. Recycled gold jewellery can be found in some retailers such as Ana Luisa who prides itself in using 100% recycled gold for its gold jewellery. Likewise, Singapore-grown Scéona is committed to using only lab-grown diamonds and 18k recycled golds in its products.
Besides these, you can also consider reusing unwanted jewellery by going vintage (Kirschner, 2017). A vintage item never goes out of style. What’s better than staying in trend and also being 101% environmental-friendly?!
More than just jewellery, eco-friendly bags are also widely available. For instance, Above Studio uses natural materials such as rattan to highlight the value of nature, our environment and the traditional craftsmanship of Thai villagers.
Eco-friendly eyewear is also available. Eoe Eyewear is one such producer with a collection of sustainable eyewear made from thermoplastic derived from wood pulp – a material that is completely recyclable and biodegradable.
Indeed, eco-friendly accessories are widely available, you just gotta do a tiny little bit of research to find out where you can get them. The examples above are surely non-exhaustive. But one takeaway from today’s post will be: you can definitely stay glam-ed and environmental-friendly at the same time!
References:
Kirschner, C. (2017, June 5). Is There Such a Thing as Eco-Friendly Jewelry? https://www.treehugger.com/is-there-such-a-thing-as-eco-friendly-jewelry-4863152
Tegen Jewellery. (2019, June 23). Absolutely Not-Fabulous – Why Fast-Fashion Jewellery Is Harming The Planet. https://www.tegenjewellery.com/absolutely-not-fabulous-why-fast-fashion-jewellery-is-harming-the-planet/
Ray, S. (2019, April). New trend in Jewelry industry and Sustainable materials to develop lifestyle products. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332672275_New_trend_in_Jewelry_industry_and_Sustainable_materials_to_develop_lifestyle_products