Four Ways I’m Working on a More Sustainable Wardrobe

Here I am, exhausted from my recent move. I’m surrounded by stuff. I’ve thrown away and donated loads of stuff, too. I have no choice but to confront how much I consume and use unnecessarily. It’s an uncomfortable mirror to peer into. Moments like these are important. They can help you focus on the kind of person you want to be. I want to be better to the environment. During the past year or so, this desire has started to generate heat inside me. It’s finally getting hot enough for me to make a change. I want to start by working towards curating a more sustainable wardrobe.

My First Encounter with Sustainable Fashion

The spark for this change started more than a year ago when I covered Fashion Revolution Day. A series of encounters with the sustainable fashion movement followed. I wrote this article about the Ethical Style Collective in Richmond GRID. Then, I sat next to a seamstress for hours to pen this article in Style Weekly. My interest grew even deeper when I interviewed a peer, Kelly of The Good Wear. I wrote this article in RVA Magazine about her blog in which she covers her journey to consume only ethical and sustainable fashion brands. In an industry where it’s competitive enough to turn blogging into a business, she chose the less profitable road. I was moved. I didn’t change my own habits, though. I wasn’t ready.

Why make changes now?

I’ve been struggling with my place in the fashion industry ever since. I’m grateful to my freelance journalism career for this discomfort. Even before I was a blogger, I was always shopping, consigning, and purging. It was a never ending cycle. I thought I was doing the right thing because I donated my clothes when I didn’t want them anymore. That’s still a smart and valuable practice, but it’s not enough these days. It’s become harder and harder to avoid the evidence that fashion fuels the fire threatening our planet:

According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, textile production produces 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gas every year. The United Nations estimates that 10 percent of total global emissions come from the fashion industry. – Hello Homestead

Now I am ready. I’ve been taking baby steps this summer to create a more sustainable wardrobe. Having a fresh start at a new apartment is a new and helpful catalyst. I can focus more on this intention with a clean slate. I don’t plan to dive in head first. I want to make simple changes. Come along with me and give it a try if you can. Big change starts will small habits.

Here’s how I’m making small changes:

1. Renting Instead of Buying

I haven’t gone cold turkey on shopping. Remember: baby steps. Thanks to a partnership with Rent the Runway, I found a loophole. I can feed my desire to learn about new brands, try new styles, and get the perfect dress for an event without purchasing something new. I used the unlimited membership for the first month and got 12 new items. Did you hear me? Twelve! For $159, I had 12 new pieces in my closet in August. I wore some just once to bridal showers and big events. Pretty standard, right? Otherwise, you’d buy it, wear it, let it sit in your closet for a year and then donate it. When you donate clothing, not everyone wants to buy your item. Sometimes those items still go to the landfill.

Other items I wore three or four times. If I liked the piece, I could keep it and buy it for a discount. It’s a pretty smart way to shop: try before you buy. If you know you love the item enough and can wear it a variety of ways, it’s a good investment. My closet has less clutter because I’m buying less. I also am wearing higher quality items. One shirt was valued at more than $800.

I’m now moving into my second month, which is on my own dime (the first month was sponsored). If you want to try the service, you can click here and use the code RTRMegan for $100 off for two months. You’ll wind up paying a little over $100 for two months of unlimited.

2. Shopping Smarter

There are brands out there that aren’t so bad on the environment or society. If you dig a little deeper, you can find out who those brands are. I downloaded the Good On You App. Using the app, you can search brands to discover how sustainable they are or are not. If they aren’t, then the app suggests other brands that are.

For example, Zara’s rating in the app is “It’s a Start.” The brand recently announced that it will use 100 percent sustainable fabrics by 2025. Inditex, which owns Zara, says its other brands Zara Home, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear will do the same. That’s pretty amazing news, but it’s not 2025. For now, the app suggests you shop at bleed, People Tree, or Kuyuchii. You may pay a little more, but you should think longer about what you buy anyways. Buy one dress instead of three. Keep it instead of donating it in a few months.

3. Getting Educated

We all consume information differently. I happen to live on Instagram, so it’s an easy way to get knowledge about an issue I care about. I have been adding some new instagram accounts to my feed. Those include @fash_rev , @fashionforgood and @thesustainablefashionforum are larger accounts focused on sharing facts and resources about the industry. Other influencers help me, too, including @thegoodwearblog and @sustainablyrupa are two local bloggers who make sustainable fashion and lifestyles approachable. There are many more out there. Find some that speak to you personally.

I also make sure I’m reading articles about the fashion industry and other consumer products, too. There’s always new information about which brands are doing well and which ones are not. Forbes recently shared this article about H&M, Gap, Burberry and other fashion companies who signed a pact.

Also, I just learned that OxFam has encouraged the world to only buy second had in September. Amidst fashion week, it’s a tall order and I kind of love it. Why not challenge yourself? Visit a new store. Get something unexpected and have some fun with your style.

4. Repairing my Clothes

When my favorite pieces break, bust, or tear, I have the option to repair them myself, of course. Do I have the skills and tools? Yes. Do I have the patience or time? No. So, that leaves me with donation, which may lead to the clothing being sent to the landfill. Next up: throw it away myself since it’s going to a landfill anyways. Finally, I can have someone else repair the item.

You can send pretty much anything to your local dry cleaner’s seamstress on hand. You can also hand it off to someone who specializes in sustainable repairs like Lisa Hutchinson of Top Stitch Mending. I have had camisole straps repaired, zippers replaced, and skirts taken in. Anything you can imagine, you can do with the clothes you already have. If you bought the item, invest in it like you would a car or a bed spread. Make it last. Make it yoursIt may cost as little as $5 to keep it in action. I just dropped off a pile of about seven items I’d been holding for some time. For less than $100, I’ll have them all back good as new. It’ll be like Christmas when I pick them all up.