Why You Should Get a Sustainable Wedding Dress

Ok, so, there’s a lot going on right now. On top of that, we’ve got a major climate crisis on our hands – rising temperatures means that we’re just decades away from parts of the world being totally unlivable. It’s scary, for sure, but we can take comfort in the fact that there are every day actions we can all take to work towards a more environmentally friendly world. Whether you decide to recycle your La Croix can when you normally forget or walk instead of driving, there are so many simple decisions that, together, will create a huge impact.

Another way that you can support making our world more sustainable is your fashion choices! Did you know that there are hundreds of brands that focus on eco-friendly garments? These range from items made from recycled clothing, second hands stores, and, of course, high-end fashion brands. The fact that fashion is making an effort in this fight is a huge deal – because business as usual is not cutting it.

Here are just a couple reasons why the fashion industry needs to change:

The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions – more than international flights!!

Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water.

Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is land-filled or burned.

Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

How insane is this? Our obsession with fast fashion is so bad for the environment. We all need to make more of an effort to choose sustainable, environmentally friendly brands. One way we can work towards this is with made-to-order fashion, which drastically reduces waste.

Made-to-Order: Fashion of the Future

"But wait!" you cry. "Bespoke and custom fashion is so expensive! Are you telling me that I have to shell out hundreds of dollars for every shirt, sock, and skirt?"

Well, yes and no. In general, buying more environmentally friendly clothing is more expensive - but that's only because the fashion industry has been taking shortcuts for decades. Right now, the supply chains that give us our ready-to-wear clothes are well-worn tracks that are hard to circumvent. Lucky for us, though, it's getting easier. Enter: the Internet.

Online-only brands offering made-to-order items have a huge advantage. They don't have any inventory, which means no advance orders, which means no guessing what consumers will want to buy. This means they don't have to waste any clothes at the end of the season. It also saves them a pretty chunk of change! As more brands are realizing this, the made-to-order, custom, and bespoke clothing supply chain is getting more use, making it easier for even more brands to follow suit.

When you order from a brand that offers made-to-order garments, it's not just an investment in the environment, the brand itself, and the item of clothing. It's also an investment into blazing new trails for sustainable fashion.

Want a sustainable wedding? Start with your dress!

Felicity dress

Look, you don’t have to have a zero-waste wedding (although huge kudos if you pull that off!). But you can make better, more intentional choices – and you can start with a sustainable wedding dress.

We'll be honest - a wedding dress is not the most eco-friendly purchase since you only wear it once (probably). But you can make sure that your dress comes from a more environmentally friendly place. At Grace + Ivory, we're doing everything we can do make sure our dresses are a more sustainable choice for your wedding.

All of our dresses are made-to-measure, which means we don't let any wedding dresses go to waste. We don't have any inventory (other than our samples), so we never throw away any unsold dresses. While other bridal shops and brands have inventory that sell off the rack or have to order in bulk, we only make the dresses once the order has been placed. This means that when you order from Grace + Ivory, you'll be getting a more sustainable wedding dress and taking a great step towards having an environmentally conscious wedding.