This post will cover two topics that go hand in hand:
Wardrobe clearout
This is something I'm looking forward every season, especially when spring comes! Putting away all the chunky, heavy winter wear and bringing out lighter clothing pieces gives me joy, as weird as it might sound. Here is one part of my closet that holds items that are currently in season and, as you can see, it started to look a little bit messy.
There's few steps I like to follow every time I do this and you can use them too:
1. Take everything out - each and every piece of clothes, from every corner/storage/closet of the house (in my case it's just my room).
2. Dump everything into one spot - bed always works fine but you can put it on the (clean) floor as well, depending how many space you have/need.
3. Sort everything into categories - you can do this as you take everything out, but I love to see everything in one pile first as it can be quite shocking and eye-opening. For categories I do outerwear, sleeveless tops, crop tops, short sleeve tops, long sleeve tops, shorts, skirts, long bottoms, rompers and dresses..
4. Go through every piece and make different piles - hold each piece and decide if you want to keep it or not. Ask yourself: Do I love this? If I was in the store and saw this item right now, would I buy it again? When was the last time I wore this? Does it fit me? Does it make me feel good/confident? Based on these questions, you can decide if you want to keep an item, donate it, sell it or get rid of it (preferably recycle it). This is my discard pile with 8 pieces.
Just for fun and to have an idea of the numbers, I counted how many clothing pieces I own:
Before declutter: 123
- 63 tops - crop top, sleeveless, short sleeve, long sleeve tops, sweaters, cardigans
- 31 bottoms - long, shorts, skirts
- 18 one piece - dresses and rompers
- 11 outerwear - jackets and vests
After declutter: 115
I still think I have too much clothes, but I really want to make sure I'm making the right decisions since I don't really go shopping that much at all. Living in a 4 season climate makes this a little bit challenging for me, since I always feel I need to cover any weather situation, lol. But every 3 months or so, when I do this, I get rid of few items and hopefully, I'll create the wardrobe I will absolutely, 100% love.
Fast fashion and history of my clothes
This is something I became aware of recently - a lot of the clothing from big companies such as H&M or Forever 21, for example, comes from poor countries where people work for hours in factories, in hard conditions for very little money. Majority of these people are women but a lot of times children as well. Another big problem with mass producing clothes and clothing industry in general, in enormous pollution - second largest polluter in the entire world. Huge waste of water, using fibers and materials that are hardly biodegradable and irresponsible recycling can also be added to the list.
Where my clothes comes from?
Last 2-3 years I managed to stay away from shopping quite a bit. The main reason for that is the fact I got clothes in a few different ways and I also wanted to spend money on more important things. I do really like H&M but I try to stay away from it. I brought a few bags of old clothing for recycling that was in such a bad condition, it wasn't worth donating. I got 15% coupon cards for each bag I gave to H&M that I used for buying gifts for my friends, nieces or nephews and even though it wasn't for me, I still gave my money to this company and in a way, "support it" but being aware of it, I will hopefully improve. By the way, recycling system in Serbia in general is so terrible, almost non-existing.
Here are some ways I got my clothes in the past couple of years:
I have 3 pairs of denim shorts that were once jeans. One denim skirt that got an upgrade. One dress that ended up as a crop top and one short sleeve button up from my mom's closet that was too big for me but now fits me nicely. - all this was done by my mom with help of her old Singer sawing machine. Two floral dresses I also found in my mom's closet and they were too big for me but because of their material, me and my mom thought that it would be better if I take them to be tailored.
I used to receive some new clothing pieces as gifts from cousins or family friends but recently I got a lot of clothes from my friends that mostly doesn't fit them. I also gave away some clothes to my friends and I have some set aside for my younger cousins that I will hopefully visit this summer.
These are the items I found that didn't need any touch ups so I could just wear them as they are. If you have a change to dive into someone's closet and find some gems that are not used, I highly recommend it - it's like shopping but without spending money and vintage clothes can be pretty cool.
To end this post I just quickly want to say that clothes and fashion can be fun, it can also be a way to express ouuselves and our lifestyle but I think we can all do it in a more sustainable, eco-friendly, human-friendly way. I hope this post at least made you think about it, if you were not aware of this before. I'm not saying that all of my future purchases will be perfect and yours doesn't have to be too, but small changes in our spending/shopping behaviour can add up and make a big impact in this world. Spread the word and be aware!
Some of my previous posts:
