Have you ever walked around a shopping complex or scrolled down a shopping app, fallen in love with a dress and made an impulse purchase? Did you stop and think about where it ends up eventually or how it was made in the first place?
We do not pause to think about the condition or safety of developing country workers in a garment factory in remote villages, or where old clothes are disposed.
Actually, clothes that do not land in someone’s pretty wardrobe end up in landfills, polluting the environment.
Former shopaholic turned climate change and sustainability advocate Melissa Tan used to spend her time and money in shopping malls trying “to score the next best sale”.
She is now a firm advocate for sustainability.
“Everyone was susceptible to this thinking, that we could shop our way to happiness,” she observed.
“But when I go back to my wardrobe, I have this overwhelming feeling that no matter how much I buy, I still feel that there is nothing to wear. I thought that I’ll just go out and buy more while trying to de-clutter the wardrobe at the same time.”
