having a sustainable wardrobe no.1
Photo credit. Adrienne Leonard Unsplash
the how to guides
the dilemma
In the 21st century, there is an increasing awareness that we all need to be living our lives in a sustainable way. This is being touted as a new idea that will revolutionise our impact on the planet and create a better environment. While many of the new ideas are ground-breaking, or bizarre, or difficult, or no-brainers, we can often feel that anything we do towards the greater good will be at best piecemeal and at worst, irrelevant.
When it comes to your clothing and your image, the strange thing is that if you talk to your parents, or grandparents and ask them how they lived and how they dressed, the chances are that sustainability was at the core of everything they did. However, as this was the way most people lived, they would never have labelled their world as such. Previous generations just had less stuff, and most people didn’t have a collection of things that weren’t necessary or important for their everyday lives.
Our predecessors valued what they had and reused and repurposed their possessions in ways that we are now ‘discovering’ whilst calling them new and innovative. Clothes that were outgrown were donated to family members, or to friends and neighbours, many things had dual functions, you kept something for best, and anything damaged was repaired or reimagined. Ingenuity and creativity were at the heart of everything. Natural fibres were the main component of fabrics, shoes were well made and long lasting, and jewellery and accessories were cherished.
If you want to be someone who would like to see themselves as responsible and sustainable, this doesn’t mean going back decades to an era of black and white TV! There are lots of ways in which you might introduce some simplicity and create your own personal mission plan to do what you can to reduce your impact on the planet.
You might already have your own favourite ideas, and we are always learning. Wherever you are in your approach, here are some of my thoughts to help to get you started:
The best value for money is something you already have
Understand the concept of cost per wear
Clarity and simplicity are important so that you know what you need and what you’ve got
Develop a multi-use collection as the core of your wardrobe planning
Become savvier about fabrics, sourcing, and manufacturing
Value quality over quantity every time
Continued in No.2…
All rights reserved. Milly Churchill asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work.