In today’s consumerist society, it’s important to make sure our clothes shopping ventures are more sustainable both for us and the environment. It’s also really important because it also happens, at times, that a lot of the clothes we buy aren’t worn as long as we expected. This creates a lot more damage on the long run. To avoid that, here are a few ways to make your clothes shopping more sustainable.
1. See if your clothes can be altered or fixed before buying new ones
Ideally, you should do this before you consider buying a new piece of clothing. When shopping, look for designs that can be altered, so if they don’t fit completely you (or your trusted tailor) can make the necessary readjustments. If your clothes rip, don’t make that excuse to buy new ones: see if you can fix them. For this purpose, you may want to consider learning sewing.
Do you want another reason to consider it? Probably you didn’t know this, but it’s also a way that celebrities use to make their clothes look so good on them. When you buy that same piece it doesn’t look like that on you for one main reason: they’ve had it altered to fit their figure better. The rest are factors like your body shape. Besides this, you might also feel a bit more expensive after wearing an altered piece, and that can be so satisfying…
2. Make a list of what you need
This is one of many ways to make your clothes shopping more sustainable. I know this might seem old fashioned, but if you’re someone who’s prone to impulse-buying you should do this. One of the ways to make a list you need is to see if you have three pieces of clothing you could pair with that piece of clothing you need, then write it in. If you still remember after quite some time that you did this step and you are still wanting to buy that piece, then you may go forward with your purchase.
3. Invest in timeless pieces appropriate with your lifestyle
I’m not here to judge people who like to follow trends. I’m here to say that they just come and go so quickly that it can be overwhelming for your wardrobe and for your wallet. It definitely is overwhelming for the environment. It’s also really likely that once the trend goes you’ll chuck it out of your wardrobe, creating even more waste. Then it might also happen that if you try a certain trend and you don’t like how it suits you.
It’s better if you shop for timeless designs in fabrics and colours that you can wear all year long. Cotton is a good choice, and good quality linen can actually be worn in both warm and cool weather. Also, consider that your clothes should be of the kind you can wear everywhere, so if you are really into the trends, then do keep this in mind. You can’t really have many summer pieces if you spend the most of your time up in cold and snowy mountains… you see what I mean. It’s very probable you’ll go to the office, meet friends, go shopping… you need to be able to make outfits that you can wear for all these occasions with the pieces you buy.
4. Are you going to wear this at least 30 times?
No, seriously. You need to ask yourself this question. If that isn’t the case, then rent that piece of clothing. It will save you tons of money in the long run. Make a splurge only if you know you’ll wear that piece of clothing often. Otherwise, there is really no point in buying a piece of clothing that you’ll wear only once or twice and that takes up so much space in your wardrobe.
5. Consider the cost-per-wear
This is, put simply, the cost of the piece you are going to buy divided by the number of times you have worn that piece. To make an example, you’ve bought a pair of sneakers that costs 70 euros and you’ve worn it 90 times. The cost-per-wear is around 78 cents.
Buying a good quality piece that’s more expensive will allow you to have a lower cost-per-wear. The piece will be more expensive, but since it’s good quality, you’ll wear it a lot more often. This means that with each wear the cost will actually be lower, and still that piece could last you a lifetime! Obviously, get the highest quality you can afford, and wherever you buy from, take good care of your clothes according to the instructions on the tag.
6. Look at the colours, at the fabrics, and at your body shape
Let’s admit it, we all have a bit of plastic in our wardrobe. Just read the tags on your clothes and do some research. Still, you want a piece that has the least amount of plastic-derived fabrics. Also, consider that vegan doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable: yes, animals won’t be killed, but that could mean that your clothes are made up of plastic. You don’t want that!
Also, buy your clothes in colours that work for you. If you know that wearing certain colours makes you look (and feel) like crap, don’t buy those colours next time. Sometimes it’s the colour that makes the difference. The sustainable bit here lies in the fact that if it’s a colour you like, you’ll enjoy wearing it more. If you enjoy wearing it more, you’ll be able to make it stay more in your closet.
This might seem a bit strange, but this will actually help you relieve the decision fatigue when it comes to what you are going to buy next. This way, you can actually cut the clutter in your wardrobe, buy less unnecessary items in your next shopping venture, spend less time in the shops and make the most out of what you buy and wear. It’s important you know these, so you know what colours and styles work better for you. I’ve tried and tested this for myself, and I can definitely say it works!
7. Keep those receipts
This way you can keep track of when and how often you go and do your clothes shopping. In case you do your shopping online, take a screenshot of the checkout page . This will also let you figure out how much you have paid for what, and leave some room for you to figure out how to cut the expenses. In the end, even going shopping is costly: consider any bus rides, petrol/diesel/gas prices, taxi rides…
Keeping those receipts is also helpful in case you might want to have an exchange, return or refund of a piece of clothing you’re buying. See, in case you feel what you bought isn’t right, keeping the receipts will allow you to get the money back, get rid of that piece you didn’t like and get one that you like instead, without too much of a fuss. It will make sure that your piece doesn’t go to waste, and might become someone else’s treasure instead.
8. Don’t look for the sale tag
OK. If you don’t have a lot of money at hand, then it’s understandable for you to wait until sale season. Here lies a trap though: the discount will make you buy lots of things that thinking about them later, you won’t need. If you go clothes shopping during sale season, plan ahead and make yourself a clear idea of what you want to pick up from there. Then, stay loyal to it. Write everything down if needed.
9. Buy preloved (pre-owned)
This is most obviously one of the ways to make your clothes shopping more sustainable. No energy will be used in the making of that piece of clothing, because it’s already been made. Also, you may find something that you might enjoy wearing, and for a lower price too. That’s what I like to call a sustainable bargain!