Creating a more sustainable wardrobe in 2024? Here's five things you should do.

Making changes to how we produce, buy, use and discard our clothing is fundamental to our global battle to reduce emissions and protect the environment.  According to Greenpeace " Global emissions from textile production annually are more than the carbon footprint of international flights and shipping combined." (2019).  As individuals, we can collectively make change happen by adopting new habits, sharing our ideas and using our decisions to effect change on a bigger scale.

1.  Wear more of what I already own.

As a personal stylist and having seen inside so many wardrobes, I can say that most of us wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time, and so 80% of our clothes do not get used very often.  By exploring what that 20% is, we can start to understand more about what we love and wear a lot, and figure out why we don't wear the rest.  Start by measuring your wears, either by turning around the hanger once you've worn something, or by hanging a piece of ribbon on your rail and using that as a marker between what you've worn and what you haven't.  Over time you can start to get a sense of your most loved items, and then play around with what you don't wear.  In our online course Sustainable Style Studio, we set challenges to create new outfits from our not worn section to see if we can incorporate it into our outfit choices more often.

Often we don't wear something because a button has come off, or it needs the hem tacking back up, or it just needs some minor alteration to make it a better shape or fit.  Getting good at these repairs will help keep your clothes wearable for longer.  If you're not skilled with a needle and thread, you can find lots of helpful tutorial videos on YouTube or on Love Your Clothes.

When we wear clothes that we feel good in, that really reflect who we are and how we want to express ourselves, then we are much more likely to wear those clothes more often.  In my dress agency I am often given clothes to sell that have never been worn either because they were a mistaken sale purchase (where the buying decision was more about price than about likeability) or it was a gift from someone else and it's has never felt quite right for the recipient.  

If you're cutting down your spending on new clothing, it's a good idea to start with a list of what you actually need.  As part of our wardrobe revival weeks, we always create a list of what is needed for the coming season.

If you answer no to any of the above then it's not likely to make the cut as a coveted piece in your wardrobe and so might be better left in the shop.

Secondhand shopping is (in my humble opinion) the ultimate win-win shopping experience.  We're keeping clothes in the use cycle for longer, clearing clutter from one persons wardrobe, and delivering a much loved bargain addition to someone else's.  We all still need a new sense of our identity as we grow and evolve through life, but that only has to be new to us.  Secondhand clothes can be found in excellent quality, at great prices, and come with less of a fashion dictation meaning more freedom for you the buyer to pick colours and styles you love.  And when you're buying pieces across different brands and decades, you are more likely to create an interesting and individual wardrobe for yourself, whilst helping various charities, individuals and recycling companies along the way!  

If you've never done it before, check out a local dress agency or start by typing your favourite brands and your size into the search bar on eBay.  There's lots of places to shop for preloved treasure online, or head down to your local charity shop.  My book In the Jumble explores lots of different places to find amazing secondhand clothes.