How to Start a Sustainable Fashion Business from Scratch

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Sunday, 27 August 2023

Written by Jess Cooper

How to Start a Sustainable Fashion Business from Scratch

Undoubtedly, the fashion industry is one of the biggest industries worldwide, employing billions of people.

As such, it is also an industry with the potential for huge profits. Due to the nature of the industry, at the same time, it is also one of the most polluting industries in the world. To save our planet, we need to try to be more sustainable in several aspects of our lives, for instance, living more sustainably and manufacturing and wearing sustainable fashion. Being sustainable fashion-wise doesn’t mean that you get to wear unfashionable items - no - it just means that the items you are wearing weren’t produced in a way that harms our planet. Keep reading to learn more about how to start a sustainable fashion business from scratch.

First of all, we will briefly discuss the concept of sustainable fashion, explaining what it is and why it matters. After that, we will move to the steps you need to take to start a sustainable business from scratch. These steps include expanding your knowledge, sourcing eco-friendly materials, manufacturing sustainably and advertising your brand.

What is sustainable fashion, and why is it important?

Sustainable fashion emerged to make the clothes we wear safe for the environment. It ensures that the way we manufacture clothes and the materials we use in the process doesn’t harm the environment. Not only that, but this kind of fashion industry aims to ensure animal welfare, social justice and equality, and ecological integrity. Sustainable fashion has a few subcategories, such as ethical, circular and slow fashion.

As far as its importance is considered, if we continue with fast fashion production, it is estimated that the fashion industry will be responsible for more than a quarter of total carbon emissions in the future. This is where sustainable fashion helps, as its main focus is saving natural resources and decreasing waste and pollution.

How to start a sustainable fashion business from scratch

Expand your knowledge

The legal process is the same when starting a sustainable fashion business from scratch. However, there is a huge difference in certain aspects. So, let’s learn more about them. The first thing that you will need to do is expand your knowledge of a sustainable fashion model. You will need to learn about the potential materials you can use, things to pay attention to, how to manufacture sustainably, etc. You can use Google, buy some courses, read books - use everything at your disposal to build up a solid knowledge base.

Source eco-friendly materials

With a solid knowledge base, you can focus on finding suitable materials for your sustainable clothing items. You can use natural materials such as wool and design beautiful skirt and blazer sets. Another popular option that saves around 90% of water is organic cotton, as opposed to traditional cotton. You can also recycle and upcycle materials. Besides the eco-friendly materials, you should also pay attention to the packaging, it shouldn’t be plastic. You should use some other way to pack your orders more sustainably. You can look up some ideas online. Also, you can even offer green shipping options with competitive prices.

Manufacture sustainably

As we already mentioned, all the aspects need to be sustainable. Besides material unsustainability, the aspect that pollutes our planet the most is the manufacturing process. Traditional manufacturing processes use much water and harmful chemicals and produce polluting emissions. You need to create a suitable manufacturing process that will produce clothing while saving water and other resources and won’t emit harmful gasses and chemicals.

Advertise your brand

Lastly, sustainable businesses also require a quality and thorough marketing strategy, like every fashion business. So, don’t overlook the importance of this aspect. Hire a professional to tailor a specific marketing strategy to boost your online visibility and increase website traffic and sales. What you need to use as your advantage in the marketing campaign is that you manufacture and sell sustainable clothes, listing all the benefits. People are becoming increasingly aware, which is essential in buying a particular clothing item.

The key to success is to stay focused, determined, and patient and not give up. Believe in yourself and in what you do, and you won’t make a mistake.

About Jess:
Jess Cooper is a part-time journalist and blogger based in Sydney, Australia. She is an energetic, creative, highly motivated person with plenty of interests. The most prominent areas of interest include makeup and cosmetics, entertainment, fashion, style, event organization and decoration, kids, healthy food, fitness, learning languages as well as home improvement.