The First Step to a Sustainable Closet

This post may be an eye-opener for most of us shopaholics. The first step to a sustainable closet is wearing what you already have. I know, that’s bold and unheard of but that means your shopping habits need to cool down for a little. For me, slowing down on my shopping habits has been a hard but necessary task.

Before I give some tips on how you can shop your own closet, let’s break down my outfit. Every time I am wearing is before I started researching and investing in sustainable clothes. Although these items are not sustainable, they have been in my closet for a long time and I plan on keeping that way. The first step of a sustainable closet is making sure all your clothes are getting plenty of use.

• Velvet top: Christmas present in 2016.
• Jeans: 2015 when I was on the hunt for olive green pants.
• Jacket: 2015 and I’ve worn this thing to the death. At the beginning of my outfit pictures, this jacket would be in 75-80% of the outfits.
• Shoes: Christmas present from 2015. They need a good suede cleaning but they’re still one of my favorite pairs I’ve own.
• Necklace: 2017 one of my favorite necklaces at the moment.

Try a 10×10 Challenge

One of my favorite, but most difficult, fashion challenges I’ve tried was the 10×10 Spring Challenge: 10 Pieces, 10 Outfits, 10 Days. The point of the challenge is to become creative with your current wardrobe and come up with 10 new outfits by only using 10 pieces. I admit, it was really hard but I made it through the 10 days with flying colors. You can find out more about the rules here. (Also, the fall challenge is October 22nd-31st. I’ll definitely be participating again so make sure you check that out on my Instagram Stories).

Mix Different Colors Together

I normally would never wear a purple-blue velvet top with muted green pants, but I’m loving this combo. To spice up your own wardrobe think of combinations that you would never put together. For example, I love this outfit where I wear a turtleneck under a tank top dress or throwing on an unexpected accessory like this bandana. You can get the most out of your wardrobe if you think in different ways to style items. Plus, accessories are your best friend!

Sew, Patch, Love Your Clothes Longer

26 billion pounds of textile waste goes into the landfills each year. To make sure that does happen, we have the ability to make sure our clothes last. So instead of going out and buying a whole bunch of sustainable clothes, make sure you’re taking care of and loving your current clothes. I talk about how you can love your clothes longer in this post. 

The Clothes Hanger Trick

Okay, I admit, I was a little weary about putting a section titled a clothes hanger trick… but this trick isn’t morbid. Start your closet with your hangers all facing the same way. They can face into the closet or face outside the closet, whichever you prefer. After you wear and wash an item you then can put it back on the hanger and face it the opposite way all your other clothes are hanging. By the end of the year, you will *hopefully* have all of the hangers turned the opposite way you started. However, we aren’t all that lucky so if you find some items that you still haven’t worn it’s time to say buy-bye and give it to a friend or decide how to wear it.

As a fashion lover, not shopping is one of the things that I’m trying to get more and more used to. I’ve been trying to come up with different ways to wear an item or even recreate an item to look completely different. Pinterest is your friend after all.  Good luck!

How many of your clothes do you think you actually wear consistently? Do you have a few items hiding in the back of your closet? Let me know in the comments down below. 

As always,

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