Could You Wear Only Eco-Friendly Fashion?!

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The buzzwords of the moment are sustainable, eco-friendly and green. These concepts often seem more at home on the political or social stage. However, fashion is staking a claim to being all three of these postmodern phrases. Many people who adore the world of fashion are also keen to flex their eco credentials and care about the world in which they live. This means that it’s time to combine these two facets. Can fashion ever be truly eco-friendly and can you be an eco fashionista? Yes, you can.

Steer Clear Of Trends
Forget about purchasing the garish pink, unsustainably sourced and Korean made sweater simply because it graces the cover of the odd fashion magazine. You might not like the garment, and yet you are purchasing it. Couple this with the fact that it is an unethical piece of clothing and you may find yourself having buyer’s guilt. Don’t opt for trends and consider researching your clothing a little more. Head online and check out the policies of your favorite labels. Do they care about where the materials come from for their garments? Are they paying the people making their clothes a decent wage? Ensure you look into this before parting with your cash.

Forget Fast Fashion
Purchasing ethical and sustainable clothing means shunning fast fashion. Those cheaper pieces are good value, or so you think, but when they shrink in the wash, bobble up within a week, and lose their shape after only one wear, then what’s the point in them? This garment ends up in land fill and you are stuck looking for more clothing to buy to replace it. Instead, opt for clothing made from a sustainable material like linen or organic cotton and pay a little more for a well made item. This means you can wear it more often, it can be upcycled and personalized at a later date and you don’t have to worry about replacing it anytime soon. Consider using one of the many eco-friendly drawstring bags on the market to carry your new purchases when you buy them on the high street to save on your single use plastic usage.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
When you venture into your wardrobe and you are greeted with a sea of garments that you no longer wear, don’t just throw them out. Many of the clothes you own will be in a very good condition and can be worn again. Just because your 1980s jeans no longer fit, doesn’t mean you can’t whip them up onto eBay to make a few dollars, or you can’t donate them to your local charity shop to be reused and loved once again. Clear your wardrobe and make some extra cash as part of a side hustle. Then, you can consider the more ethical brands that you might wish to refill your emptier wardrobe with.

Bring an eco fashionista isn’t difficult. You simply need to rethink your approach to fashion and be willing to shun the trends in favor of sustainability.

Organization is an art: Your Closet & Drawers Need to be Pretty Too

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You know already that your outfits mean a lot to you, and how comfortable you feel in your ensemble can dictate how your day will go. But what about other aspects surrounding your clothes? For instance, the way in which they’re kept. You’re lying if you say you don’t care about your closet’s aesthetics because everyone wants to have the opportunity to open up the doors and be in awe of what they’re seeing! Having an organized and assembled set of clothes and accessories is a beautiful and tranquil feeling. Here’s how to get it:

Plan Everything Out Beforehand
Like with most things, you’ll need to think about it before you make any moves. The last thing you want to do is start this little project, and get stuck halfway through. You’ll likely make things worse than they were before, and you’ll probably get a little down. To avoid any issues, you should probably write out what you want to do. Drawing out a little design might not be a terrible idea either. Once you have a clear idea of what you want to do, the actual work ahead will become a lot easier. It would just be a simple case of following along with what you have projected in front of you. This entire might end up being somewhat tedious, so it’s just a matter of lessening the tediousness!

Remove Everything
The first actual step you’ll want to take is to remove everything from your closet and drawers. Just declutter the whole place. When everything is completely removed, you’ll have a better chance of making improving it all due to your newly-formed blank canvas. If you were to take a few pieces out and then redo it all bit by bit; not only will it take longer and be more arduous, but the chances of making errors will probably increase, too.
Removing everything also gives you the opportunity to discard anything that you don’t want anymore. You’ve probably kept a few things for too long, and thinking about changing up your look – this would be a great time to sort everything out.

Make It Easy On The Eyes
When you have a blank canvas to play around with, it can become very easy to want to make something completely unique and special. In doing this, lots of people tend to go crazy and overcomplicate. Don’t just lump it all together – that defeats the entire object. Also, think about some of the extras: do you want plastic hangers or would wooden clothes hangers go with the entire design better?

Don’t Overdo It
Keep things relatively simple. There’s no need to do anything special here. You might want to start out and create something that nobody has ever done before, but that might just cause more problems. Overdoing it might even cause damage to some of the expensive clothes and accessories you have stored there. Enjoy the clearness and clarity – simple is pretty.

Your Ideal Closet is a Capsule Closet

Paradox of Choice

If you have too many things to choose from, the fact is it actually becomes harder to make a decision. And, when it comes to clothing, we typically have much more than we need. We pack too much in our suitcases, and yet – we wear the same things almost all of the time.
You technically already have a capsule wardrobe, you probably just don’t think of it that way.

Capsule Wardrobe

It is a bit of a buzzword. It does the rounds in eco-friendly articles, clothing, time-saving, and so much more. If you head to your closet right now, and you browse what you have, then look at how much you actually wear, the chances are there is a big difference. By stripping out the things you don’t wear – or don’t like, and leaving only what you do like, you are going to give yourself more space, more options, and less fuss. And who doesn’t like saving time in the mornings?
Owning less isn’t a sign that you can’t afford to own more either, it just means that you have a more refined taste.

Designers

Typically you will find that designers will release collections. In almost all cases, anything from the collection can be paired with anything else in there. Why? Because it has been carefully curated to mix and match. Higher quality pieces that work together and are based on the capsule concept.

The Good and The Bad

There are always going to be pros and cons to curating and cutting down your clothing. The obvious one is it can get boring. Choosing only from the same items all the time. Depending on your style, people might actually point it out to you too. If you haven’t prepared your closet correctly, you’re likely to find you are missing things like custom made suits for things like weddings, job interviews, and meetings. The advantages are that it is time-saving, you can get dressed much quicker. Fewer options mean you need less time to make a choice. It is space-saving – you’ll find that you have less mess and less washing too. If you travel a lot for work or fun, you won’t have so much to pack and will be able to pick almost anything, and it will work together.

Money

While fast fashion is cheaper, in the long run, the rate you will replace low-quality items will be pretty high. They aren’t usually designed with more than the immediate trend or season in mind. So the wash and wear you will get isn’t as high and a higher quality item of clothing.
Another issue is, you are much more likely to buy many more items than you need, and because it’s so cheap, it seems not to matter if some get thrown away. If you purchase items of clothing that have a more classic cut and color to it, you’re more likely to take care of what you own and only replace or buy more if it is really necessary. The upfront expense is usually a lot higher, but the quality will last.

Starting

You don’t need to suddenly start throwing everything away. Instead, you should, over the space of a month, look at what you are wearing most often. We gravitate towards the same things because we like how they look and feel. You’re probably going to find that there is a lot of similarities in what you wear. Every week, remove a few items that aren’t getting used, and you can donate them or sell them – whatever makes sense for you.

Finishing Up

You will still need to make sure that you have enough items to last a week or so. There are a few recommended items too.

5 or more white/black T-shirts
3 shirts
1 or 2 blazers
2 pairs of jeans
Sneakers – classic white is usually the best bet
Ankle boots – tan or brown
Trench coat
Bomber Jacket or Short jacket
Suit
Chinos

Try to get each item in colors that complement each other, tans, browns, and navy blues will always look classic and are slightly elevated from the black and white, which is a pretty safe choice.