Sustainable Wardrobe Essentials: How to rethink your fashion dress strategy and research for a more organic, core, all year round wardrobe – looking for quality, not quantity.
Everywhere you look, there is a significant focus on how vital a more sustainable lifestyle is. You find it in your food, with vegan meals being as available as meat-based options almost everywhere you go. It is there with our transport, looking at electric cars, or ditching powerful vehicles altogether and opting for cycling routes to take us to work.
It’s safe to say that sustainability is here to stay, as it should. But many don’t feel they do enough to live a sustainable lifestyle, even by using a reusable water bottle or coffee cup. The place where many people need to look is their wardrobe.
Even when they do look at their wardrobe, it can be challenging to break their habits. Still, this isn’t for lack of trying, but rather because they don’t know how. For anybody who wants to create a more sustainable wardrobe, here are the essentials you need to remember.
30 Wears Or Bust
How many of you have bought something intending to wear it once and never again? It’s safe to say that just about everybody has purchased a dress or pair of shoes just for one night, and then forgotten about it.
Right away, you’ll need to quit this habit. While it is nice to treat yourself to a stunning clothing item, this is not what you should think about when wanting to wear more sustainable clothing. Instead, consider the 30 Wears campaign. Can you envision yourself wearing it 30 times? If yes, then go ahead (but don’t kid yourself). If not, it is not a purchase worth making for you or the environment.
Know Your Core Pieces
Deciding whether you will wear something 30 times will come from understanding your core pieces. These are items that make up the base of your wardrobe, including white cotton t-shirts, a little black dress, or a pair of quality denim jeans.
Knowing your core pieces will help you make better decisions when purchasing clothes. If you spot a cute little shirt on the rack, ask yourself if you have something similar to it. If you do, is it a necessary purchase? The answer is no, even if you spend the rest of the day thinking about what could be.
Do Your Research and Know What You’re Buying
Transforming your wardrobe from cheap fast-fashion pieces to luxury sustainable fashion items is not something you can do overnight, and you’ll need to do your research to find out whether this brand aligns with your shopping habits.
There are several ways to identify if a brand is sustainable, including its materials and where the items were made (the closer to home, the better). While it might sound like a lot of effort, you’ll soon get to grips with what you need to look for when purchasing sustainable but luxury fashion items, allowing you to make responsible decisions.
Adjust Your Attitude
We all have our shopping philosophy, even if it’s not something you have given much thought to. You know what you like, and you know how you like it. However, these attitudes could severely impact your sustainable dreams, and you might be doing more harm than good.
If you’re one of those shoppers who will buy a brand new outfit for every new night out, consider abandoning this attitude and instead look at luxury fashion rental. Preferably, this should be a service that’s close to home, so it minimizes CO2 shipping emissions, so look out for any local stores that might appeal to you.
No More Seasonal Clothes
Have you ever considered how absurd it is that we have clothes we don’t wear for six months out of the year? Frankly, it is ridiculous, and it is not just a waste of closet space, but also time, resources, and energy.
You should start a habit of only buying clothes that you can wear all year-round. Of course, this doesn’t mean wrapping yourself up in a woolly coat in the middle of July, but rather something suitable for all seasons. This will mean any thick garments will need donating, and you’ll need to adopt layering rather than wrapping up warm, but the sustainable benefits will be hard to beat.
Better Care (Or Learn to Repair)
What is the point of spending hundreds of dollars on a gorgeous dress or pair of shoes only to throw them out after a few weeks because they are stained or have a hole in them? Too many people give up on clothes after a slight problem, but all this does is add more items to the landfill.
You are an adult, so take better care of your clothes. If you need to, wear a bib when eating, or carry around wet wipes to clean off any stains. If you want to take even greater care of your clothes, learn how to sew and stick things back together. You’ll be amazed at how much fewer items you get rid of if you have a reliable needle and thread nearby.
Look For Quality Not Quantity
We’ve already mentioned how fast fashion can be a severe problem when it comes to sustainability. Still, it is cheap, it’s convenient, and so people will flock to buy these pieces over the more expensive, high-quality and sustainable items.
It’s all about changing this mindset, though. Instead of buying 50 new pieces of high-street items every year, you should look at buying more sustainable items. While they will cost more, they are also of higher quality, meaning they will last longer. Despite the initial cost, it should save you money in the long run.
Accessories Are Still Vital
Accessories are vital for making any outfit pop, but you needn’t rely on cheap -plastic jewellery to improve your look. Instead, consider high-quality pieces that will match with anything in your new (but also old) sustainable wardrobe.
These accessories can include everyday essentials, such as eyeglasses, and you can look here to find out more. Likewise, vintage jewellery items are proven to stand the test of time, while you could also make your accessories by combining mismatched pearl earrings with hair clips.
Donate, Don’t Ditch
When you’re throwing out your clothes, it’s tempting to chuck everything into one bag and dump it in the garbage. Considering you’ve made it this far, you don’t need reminding that this is a huge faux pas.
You can’t promote a sustainable lifestyle if you don’t act as the middle person yourself. While these clothes may not be right for you anymore, they could be perfect for someone else. Take them to a local vintage or thrift store, or donate them to charity so that someone else can get some joy from them, making them more sustainable along the way.
Organic Does Not Equal Ugly
People who know less than nothing about sustainable and organic fashion have this image of people walking around wearing potato sacks. Of course, this is so far from the truth, and it may as well be in another century. To properly embrace sustainable clothing, you’ll need to understand this, too.
Rather than focus on what could be wrong with organic items (such as dull colours), you should think about why it is better than alternatives. This can include high-quality construction or cruelty-free practices.
Renewable Luxury, Renewable Style
Sure, the idea of getting rid of your entire wardrobe is daunting, but you’ll do so much better after doing so. It will feel like a fresh start and allow you to finally live a more sustainable lifestyle in the luxury you expect for yourself. Understanding which essentials you need to remember will also help you navigate all other aspects of your life, from decorating to getting around, ensuring you reduce your footprint and impact on the planet.
