Sustainable clothing, sustainable clothing, sustainable clothing. If I say it 3 times in a mirror, will it come true? That would be awesome. But unfortunately that’s not the key to getting started with sustainable clothing.
I saw this question as a mid-year goals check-in sort of question, and thought it would be a good one to tackle. (There’s also a “fast way to find your personal style” pro tip PS at the end.)
The Sustainable Clothing Question:
“One of my resolutions this year was to be more environmentally sustainable and aware of my impact. I’ve kind of got a handle on my kitchen and house, plus some elements of work, and I’m working on all of that. But looking at my closet and learning more about the environmental impact of clothing, I’m a little overwhelmed. Do you have any tips for where to start?”
The shortest answer:
Good job wanting to bring more sustainability into your closet and clothing. Luckily the shortest answer to making your closet more sustainable is really simple. Plus you can start today. And it doesn’t cost anything.
To get started with sustainable clothing: wear what you already own. (A capsule wardrobe is a great starting point for this.)
That really is the shortest answer to bringing sustainability into your closet.
There are, of course, other things you can do. You can also: buy from fair trade, ethical, sustainable companies, buy resale, buy carefully. Swapping with friends is an option. You can mend and repair clothes when they break. You can adopt laundry habits that elongate the lifespan of your clothes.
There are plenty of other things you can do.
Coincidentally many of the things that help you keep the wardrobe you love also double as being more sustainable than many of our status quo clothing habits, and I have a whole freebie about building and keeping the wardrobe you love right here.
While there is plenty else you can do, the place to start is by wearing the clothes you already own.
From there buy what you need and what you love enough to wear for years to come.
From there buy your clothes resale or from fair trade, ethical, sustainable companies that you’ve done your best to verify the claims of.
And as you continue making your personal wardrobe more sustainable, we collectively will be coming up with better sustainability solutions.
The bottom line when it comes to sustainable clothing:
To wrap up: getting started with sustainable clothing is surprisingly simple, just wear what you already own.
Sustainability solutions must come from a multitude of arenas. This is not a problem we as consumers can solve on our own.
But we can certainly do something.
Pro Tip PS:
Wearing what you already own is also one of the fastest ways to figure out what your personal style is. Wear what you already own and take note of your faves, your hates and your “meh”s. You’ll start figuring out what you like and what you don’t without conflating “my style” with “just something new.”