Sustainable Costuming
It is a sad truth but making theatre is one of the least sustainable thing you can do. We waste so much stuff! It makes me sick to think about whole sets being thrown out and how much I’ve spent on costumes that were used for just a few hours. So what to do? After I pull the costumes that can be used from storage I like to start my search for fabric and whole costumes at thrift stores. Looking around at already made clothing sometimes sparks ideas that I wouldn’t have otherwise. It feels very good to reuse fabric and clothing. Sometimes I buy something that can be made into what I want using the basic clothing and sometimes I just buy used clothes for the fabric.
Another way to be sustainable is to be green in the costume shop where chemicals are involved. Fabric today is imbued with formaldehyde and other chemicals. Some are intended to kill bugs that might chew on the fabric and others are part of the finish, de-wrinklers, finishers, glue for embellishments etc. Just having a room full of fabric is reason enough to have an excellent air filtration system. In addition to the fumes from fabrics is the dry cleaning fluids that off gas from recently cleaned costumes and the solvents, dyes, glues and paints used in the shop. Even the fumes that can come from laundry can be toxic. It’s a real problem because one thing adds to another until you are breathing in a toxic stew. So make inquiries about air filtration in your shop and don’t accept the notion that it isn’t important.
For yourself start trying to change over to less toxic cleaning methods. Find a dry cleaner in your area who has switched to green cleaning method for your dry cleaning, tell them not to use bags and return the hangers. You can switch to vinegar and soda for cleaning surfaces in the shop, and using borax and washing soda instead of heavily perfumed detergents for your laundry is at least a place to start. In the dressing rooms try to reduce the use of hairspray or designate a separate place for people to spray. It’s really not good to have a lot of hairspray in a small room with people. Change the makeup lights to LED. It will make the rooms cooler too. Encourage actors to use cut up t-shirts and washcloths to clean their makeup off. Make it easy for the actors by providing said t-shirts and clean washing towels. This will cut down on the number of baby wipes used by everyone.
One of the most important things that you can do for your health is remove all costume crafts from the main room of the costume shop. Really, you do not want to spray any solvent, glue, dye or paint where people are working and breathing without a respirator. No one wants to try to sew in a respirator either. Move the craft area someplace away from the costume shop. If there really is no other option move the craft area outside. Then always wear a respirator even if you are outside when you spray anything. I can’t stress this enough. Your lungs and future health are way more important than some character having yellow shoes.
Reuse;
Look through your costume storage for costumes that can be re-purposed and reused and look carefully at the thrift stores before buying new fabric. Consider renting things from other theatres. This can work really well when you have a reciprocal rental agreement. Why remake everything?
Recycle;
Make decisions about what your theatre is likely to use again from storage and sell or donate what you will never use again. Find good options for donations or have a pre-Halloween costume sale. Storing less stuff will make what you have more usable, easier to find and care for.
Reduce;
Seek to reduce toxins from your environment. Consider all the chemicals that you are using to clean and do crafts and find substitutes for the most toxic substances. Educate yourself and make changes for your own health and the health of everyone around you.
Talk to your fellow theatre artists about reducing our carbon footprint. Theatre is always going to be wasteful, it’s ephemeral, but it doesn’t have to be a giant black hole of ecological disaster either. Make the case that changing to green practices can save money as well as saving the planet.
Costumier 