How You Can Participate in Sustainability When it Comes to Your Closet

So you have heard about sustainable fashion and you want to start having an impact too. How can we buy right, extend the life of our garments, and think differently? As an indie blog, we want to help you through this amazing journey into fashion sustainability.

Here are a few pointers to get started:

Buy Trans-seasonal Clothing

We all have that one sweater that we love and adore. We manage to wear it in summer with a bikini top under and high-waisted shorts, and in winter with a thick turtle neck, puffy vest, and wool pants. When it comes down to buying new clothes, cast your vote by choosing clothes that can easily be taken from one season to another, for example: by layering.

Sorting out clothes — Photo by Karolina Grabowska

Care for your Clothes Properly

Wash your clothes less. It is ok to have a halfway chair for the clothes that “aren’t dirty but not so clean they don’t go into to the closet” end up.

Also hanging them up to air helps get out odors.

When washing clothes pay attention to the care label and wash at low temperatures.

Clothing on hang line — Photo by Karolina Grabowska

Give your clothes a second life

When I lived in Rome we used to do Sip-and-Swap meets, we would all bring clothes we weren’t wearing anymore and pop a bottle of our favorite Italian wine while we browsed, just like in a flea market. The clothes were hung on racks or laid neatly on tables. It is the next level of going to a thrift store or flea market. Somebody loved an item of clothing so much that they bought it. They decided to cast their vote and say yes to that brand and style. It is a great way to expand your style and make new friends.

Repair and upgrade your clothes

Whether it is by your hand or that of a good tailor, repairing your clothes will make them last longer. Now if we want to take it a step further we can embroider into it and redefine what it means to you.

Let’s make this a playful process. Taking care of an item doesn’t mean leaving it unaltered, you are not disrespecting the item if you modify it, you are elevating it.

When something rips, tears, or gets stained, don’t throw it away. Patch it, embroider on it or take it to the tailors.

Change your perspective

Hearing the word eco-friendly or sustainable may bring up images of brown hemp clothes in a more hippie aesthetic that may not necessarily match ours.

Take a moment to check what are your values concerning sustainability and fashion, so they are reflected in your shopping patterns.