‘Cause we are living in a material world, and I am a sustainable girl… The quest for sustainable fashion

I love clothes, I love fashion. Yes, I’ll say it, I have a passion for fashion. Always have and, I predict, always will.

I was a teenager in the 80s, the days of Molly Ringwald and repurposing clothes. I remember taking a red pair of pants, dyeing them black, sewing the legs together to make it a skirt, pairing it with combat boots, a button down shirt (and a broach), and voila, new outfit. In the 90s, I have fond memories of spending hours at the mall with my BFF. We’d come home and compare our purchases. The one who found the deal of the day was crowned ‘the winner.’ In my young adulthood, I had a short stint in retail, but my paychecks would go to buying clothes with my employee discount, hence the short stint. As an adult, I would often buy clothes for a special (or sometimes just a regular) event and it would later hang in my closet ... indefinitely. Enough is enough, my carbon footprint on my clothing habits are downright embarrassing. The fashion industry is one of the major polluting industries in the world. The industry produces about 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions and uses about 1.5 trillion liters of water annually. 

Thrifting: Enter Marie Kondo, the KonMari method, and her book Tidying Up. I learned to keep only items that ‘spark joy’ and fold my clothes just so and that they line up like colorful fabric soldiers in my drawers. Virgo girl’s dream! Bags of garments were being delivered to the thrift stores by the truckloads (I might be exaggerating a little, maybe). Now I’m curious, what happens to the clothes that don’t sell at the thrift stores? In a perfect world, donated clothing gets purchased and loved by someone new, and the proceeds go to paying employees, costs of running the store, and whatever charity the store is aligned with. In a not-so-perfect world, the unsold clothes may end up in a landfill (400 million pounds of clothing ends up in landfills annually, and this is just in NYC!). Another scenario is the clothing that doesn’t sell may end up being shipped to another country and sold or distributed there. That sounds good, but it may also end up hurting the local economy by competing with their local textile industry, or ending up their landfills. I am in no way disparaging thrift stores, they are a necessity for some and becoming increasingly popular with the middle class and the environmentally conscious Gen Zs. Donating to thrift stores is beneficial and convenient, but thinking of the fate of my past clothing definitely makes me more mindful of my future purchases. 

Enter pandemic and quarantine, a time when the fancy clothes gathered dust, the same sweatpants and leggings were being alternated between washes, and a lot of thought was put into wardrobe purposes and clothing in general. During this time, I have also become more mindful, meditative, and monklike. I feel the need to simplify even further, and let go of the stuff so that I have more room for the really important parts of my life: family, friends, making memories, being creative, exploring, health, career… 

Reselling: Let’s explore another option to mindlessly bagging up clothes and dropping them off at a thrift store. My daughter has been selling clothes on Depop, a peer-to-peer social shopping app, where she would post her clothes and sell her clothes. I noticed that she was packing up and mailing out packages pretty regularly. Hmm, I sold all my maternity clothes on Ebay back in the day, maybe it’s time to try again. I was directed away from Depop, apparently it is for “younger users,” I need to go to Poshmark, for “older women,” or “moms.”  Whatever, here I am on Poshmark. I created an account, took pictures of my clothes, and started listing. It wasn’t long before I got my first offer. Oh, you can negotiate? Cool, counter offer. Sold! Didn’t take long to hook me. I’m following other “Poshers,” they’re following me, I’m in the network, the network of “older women” or “moms” who enjoy clothing as much as I do. I’ve made some offers of my own as a buyer and have scored some great deals. So far, I have been satisfied with my experience on this app. I can write a whole other blog entry on the ins and outs and good and not-so-good of this practice; but overall, I am pleased that my clothes are going to someone who cares. 

Another app I came across is ThredUP. This is an online thrift and consignment store. You can request a bag for you to pack up clothing pieces, send it back, and they go through it all. They will take accepted pieces, price them, and put them up for sale on their website. They say that they end up only accepting and selling a small percentage of what they receive. You can pay to have your unused items sent back to you, or just donate them. Their website claims that they responsibly recycle or repurpose items that are donated. I ordered a bag and will send them some items. I’m not expecting to make any money on this, I just want the clothes to find a good home. More to follow on this side adventure.

Staple Pieces: What pieces do we really need? Have you heard of a Capsule Wardrobe? 37 items per season. During a family Zoom meeting one day, I asked my mom, aunt, cousins, and daughter to tell me about their three most can’t-do-without wardrobe pieces. These female family members all represent different generations, from the Silent Generation to Gen Z. Here are some of the named staple pieces: black pants, black tops, jeans, jewelry, high heels, leggings, outerwear (scarf or sweater), sneakers, perfect white T, black jumpsuit, black dress, leggings, tunics, hoop earrings, and an oversized blazer. This list has helped me build (while removing) staple pieces, holding onto a variety of colors and styles of the following. Based on your lifestyle, everyone’s staple pieces will be different. Mine, jeans and T-shirt heavy; others, leggings and dress heavy. I will share my list at the end.
  
Renting: Now that the thinning shears have been taken to my closet, I feel like I have just the right amount of clothes at the moment. Hangers aren’t overlapping, hanging and folded clothes have room to breathe, and I don’t have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to wear because there is less to choose from. Basic colors, basic pieces. What about special events? What about those fun pieces that make fashion fashionable? What about the excitement of wearing the latest trend or a splash of color? All, very valid points. Renting clothing seems to be a perfect solution for my inner fashionista. Monthly rental subscription services such as Nuuly or Rent the Runway, offer customers trendy, super stylish, and way-too-expensive items to rent. I have been renting from Nuuly off and on for a couple of years now (more off this past year). The way it works is that you can choose from hundreds of clothing items and put them in your ‘closet.’ Every month you can choose (at least) six items to rent for less than $100. This is how you can try out the latest styles, wear a trendy dress to a party, or just add a fun flashy piece to the staples. If you love the piece, you can buy it for a discounted price.   

Purchasing:  If you really have to buy clothing retail, my last recommendation would be to do your research. One of the ways I research is through an app called Good on You. You search a brand, and it gives you a sustainability rating. They rate based on environmental impact, labor practices, and ethical treatment of animals. If a company rates low, they offer alternatives. Digging deeper in the research, it’s surprising the companies that you think are environmentally conscious based on their vibe or their name, but not so much. On the other hand, big companies who seem more fast fashion and big business are actually taking sustainably responsible steps. 

Something that has stayed with me from my days of living in Europe, I noticed that people would spend a fair amount of money on a quality crafted clothing item. The items were locally made and once purchased, it was meant to last for years. Fast fashion has since made its way to the old country, hopefully the prudent values prevail. These days, I’m not shopping a whole lot, but when I do, I spend a fair amount of time researching, I make better choices, think about the future of the item, and most importantly, I wait. I give myself a cooling off period, no more impulse consuming. 

Mindful Fashion, Google it.

Staple List:
Jeans (skinny, loose, bootcut, cropped, black, white, distressed)
Pants (basic work stretchy, joggers, hiking)
Jacket (moto, denim, camping, rain, blazer)
Sweater (cardigan, pullover)
Casual shirts (long sleeve, short sleeve, favorite white T, tanks)
Blouses (mostly easy pieces for work, camis, white dress shirt)
Dresses (emergency dressy dress, sun dress, maxi)
Active wear (this is where leggings go with me)
Shoes (running, sneakers, dressy- taupe and black, boots- taupe and black, sandals, and slippers)
Bags (tote, clutch, over-the-shoulder, backpack)
Jewelry (just favorite pieces that have meaning to me)