Sustainable fashion has been around long enough that most of us get the basics by now. We know those £3 tops from Shein aren’t made ethically. We know buying a new outfit for every event isn’t harmless. And yet some myths just won’t die. Like the idea that fast fashion is only about how much you buy and how quickly you toss them out. Or that sustainable style is for rich people with £300 to spend on a linen dress.
The most common misconceptions get called out all the time. But it’s the deeper, more persistent ones—the ones that make people shrug and say, “Well, it’s not realistic for me”—that do the real damage. They make sustainable fashion seem complicated, inaccessible, and joyless; quietly convincing us it’s not worth the effort. If we want sustainable style to be more than just a nice idea, those are the myths that need challenging.
1. “You can’t love fashion and care about the planet.”
Apparently, enjoying clothes and having a conscience is just too much for one person to handle. This myth is one of the laziest and most damaging. It implies that caring about style is inherently shallow, and that being sustainable means giving up your personality in exchange for moral superiority.
The assumption is that once you “go sustainable,” you’re contractually obligated to wear only neutral basics, give up all fun, personality, and joy, and never buy anything new ever again. That caring means dressing exclusively in linen sacks, practical shoes, and a “this is not a plastic bag” tote.
But the truth is you can love fashion and care where your clothes come from. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. Sustainable style isn't about giving up fashion—it’s about choosing to do things differently. By wearing what you love, being more creative with what you already own, and opting out of the endless cycle of buying just for the sake of it.
2. “Sustainable fashion is just for rich people.”
This one’s got real staying power, mostly because it’s such an easy cop-out. If sustainable fashion is only for people with money, you don’t have to think about it. You get to roll your eyes at £300 linen co-ords and keep shopping at Shein like it’s the only option you’ve got.
Yes, some sustainable brands are expensive. And yes, a lot of “ethical” influencers are dressed head-to-toe in (gifted) organic cotton. But sustainable style isn’t inherently a luxury lifestyle—it just gets marketed that way.
There’s no profit in telling people to shop less. So instead, sustainability gets sold as aspirational minimalism—bundled up with wellness, quiet luxury, and “clean girl” aesthetics—until ethical fashion starts to look suspiciously like elite fashion, just with better morals and a compostable mailer.
But that version suggests sustainability is something you buy into, rather than something you do. And in reality, the most sustainable thing you can do usually costs nothing at all.
Wear what you already own. Restyle it. Mend it. Buy secondhand. Swap with friends. Actually wear your clothes, on repeat.
Sustainable fashion isn’t expensive. Overconsumption is. And the idea that you have to spend more to be better, that’s a lie fast fashion is banking on—because if you believe it, you’ll never stop shopping.
3. “Fast fashion’s only bad if you buy too much.”
Ah yes, the “moderation” argument. Because apparently sweatshops, child labour, and mountains of textile waste are all fine as long as you only contribute a little bit.
This myth pretends that the only issue with fast fashion is consumer behaviour—that if you just buy a couple of things here and there, and wear them for a long time, it’s all perfectly harmless. But the truth is, the issue with fast fashion isn’t just how much you buy, it’s what you’re buying into.
Fast fashion is designed around speed, volume, and exploitation. It doesn’t magically become ethical because you only bought one top and wore it a lot. That top was still produced under unethical conditions, in a system that relies on overproduction and underpayment to function.
And before anyone pipes up with “But it’s all I can afford!” Let’s get specific. This isn’t aimed at people living on the poverty line. It’s not about the person buying their kid’s school shoes at Primark. It’s about the rest of us—the ones with a wardrobe full of clothes and a casual addiction to shopping.
Fast fashion isn’t problematic because you buy too much. It’s problematic even if you don’t. It’s bad by design. Even in small doses.
4. “Thrifting too much is just as bad as fast fashion.”
This opinion has become quite popular, but it's fundamentally flawed. Buying secondhand clothes—even if you accumulate quite a few—is not the same as overconsuming new fast fashion. The crucial difference lies in understanding what overconsumption really means.
Overconsumption refers to using more resources than the planet can sustainably support, like water, energy, and raw materials. When you thrift, you’re not increasing demand for new clothes to be produced. These garments already exist, so purchasing them doesn’t cause any additional environmental harm.
The real environmental damage occurs during production, not resale. Each year, around 100 billion new garments are manufactured worldwide, while only 10–30% of donated clothes actually make it onto shop floors. There is no shortage of clothing in circulation, and you simply cannot overconsume something that already exists in abundance.
If the clothes you find at thrift stores don’t get a second chance, they will most likely end up in landfill or be incinerated. So even if you don’t wear every item you thrift, you’re still preventing premature destruction and extending its lifespan. That’s a positive impact—not a problem.
5. “You have to build a capsule wardrobe to be sustainable.”
Capsule wardrobes can be brilliant tools. But they’re a style choice, not a moral obligation. They help you make more intentional decisions about what you buy and how you wear it. A thoughtfully curated capsule can reset your entire relationship with fashion, freeing you from chasing every trend or the constant pressure to buy new things.
It’s a way to get more wear out of the clothes you already own and, over time, discover a personal style that genuinely feels like you. But that doesn’t mean stripping your wardrobe down to a joyless edit of “versatile” basics. In fact, decluttering perfectly good clothes you love and wear just to own less often does more harm than good.
Sustainable fashion isn’t about wearing less, it’s about wearing better. Whatever your aesthetic—bold, eclectic, minimalist, maximalist, or somewhere in between—sustainability is about making thoughtful choices. Your style doesn’t have to be trend-proof, tonal, or tidy to count as sustainable. It just needs to reflect who you are and actually get worn.
Sustainable fashion isn’t about guilt-tripping or chasing impossible perfection. And it’s definitely not some competition to see who can become the world’s most extreme minimalist. That kind of thinking only makes it feel overwhelming and joyless—and that’s the last thing anyone needs.
Sustainable fashion is about personal responsibility and conscious choices. It’s about being thoughtful with what you buy, making the most of what you already own, and refusing to let tired, outdated myths dictate how you express yourself through clothes. It’s about finding a style that feels authentic, not sacrificial.
Choosing sustainability doesn’t mean giving up style or fun—it means your wardrobe starts to work smarter, not harder. It’s fashion that is kinder to the planet, kinder to your wallet, and kinder to your own sense of self.