How to Create a Conscious Closet: Part 2
In Part 1 of the Conscious Closet series, we discussed ways to cleanse your space, reorganize your stuff, assess your personal style and determine your values about how to participate in the fashion industry.
In this segment, we will share 5 ways to build your closet in a way that resonates with those values.
1. CONSIDER A CAPSULE WARDROBE
A capsule wardrobe is a limited wardrobe – one that consists of around 33 items – including high-quality key pieces and components that harmonize when mixed and matched. This collection is your seasonal wardrobe and within that 3-month period you don’t buy or wear anything else. If you are really serious about curbing a shopping habit and learning to live with less, this can be a great method.
For resources on how to build a capsule wardrobe check out The Unfancy Blog, Into-Mind and Be Less with More, all which have step-by-step guides for creating your capsule closet as well as rules to keep you in check.
However, you don’t need to go to this extreme in order to adopt the tenants of the capsule wardrobe into your life. Here are some great ideas that can be gleaned from this method without limiting yourself to 33 pieces:
- Building a wardrobe of high quality pieces that will last for more than a season
- Only buying pieces that really resonate with your personal style
- Investing in signature pieces in lieu of several cheap counterparts
- Cohesion in your clothing purchases so that you need less items to create multiple outfits
- Living with a less is more mentality
2. DO YOUR RESEARCH
One of the strongest messages to come out the Fashion Revolution that formed in the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse, is for consumers to challenge the brands they buy from by asking:
Instead of impulse shopping, or buying something that catches your eye in a window display, do some online research on that item or brand before pulling out your credit card.
Who made it? Where? From what materials? Based on which factors are most important to you (US-made, from recycled materials, fair trade etc.), you can support or decide against the intended purchase with your findings.
If this information is hard to uncover through a simple Google search than that brand probably doesn’t want you to know the truth. Look for companies that are transparent in their production practices and purchase accordingly.
3. SHOP A CONSCIOUS MARKETPLACE
The appeal of online shopping during a lull in your day is real. Next time, seek out an online marketplace comprised of ethical and sustainable brands. There are more and more conscious marketplaces that featured curated and vetted brands.
A few to bookmark for when the mood strikes:
4. VOW TO VINTAGE
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter of water in the world, after the oil industry. Cotton production for denim is a HUGE culprit. And with those vintage Levi’s mom jeans back in style, there’s no reason NOT to buy second hand!
Giving goods a second life cuts into the supply chain by reusing an item that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill, and by reducing the energy needed to produce it. Additionally, buying vintage and second-hand will ensure your style is one-of-a-kind, featuring items that have been proven to stand the test of time.
Etsy and Adored Vintage are great online options if you don’t have time to dig at your local thrift shop. However, if you think you don’t have the time, see #5.
5. THINK SLOW
Slow fashion is a movement gaining momentum in response to fast fashion’s cheap, disposable clothes that come at the very high cost of the rampant human rights abuses and environmental degradation. It connects with other slow living movements that ask us to slow down and live mindfully.
The slow food movement has challenged us to ask where our food comes from and take note of how our choices affect the world around us, while supporting a resurgence of local food cultures and traditions. In the same way, the slow fashion movement urges us to ask where our clothes come from, consider who we are supporting through our purchases and to wield that purchase power with care.
Thinking slow is a mindset that can surpass food or fashion, and offer an example of how to live in a mindful, positive way. Thanks for slowing down with us!
Stay tuned next week for our favorite slow fashion brands to help build your summer wardrobe.