Circular Wardrobe (Part 1/3): Sustainable Shopping
Until now most of our closets are mostly one thing: overfilled! Dresses are being bought, in the best case worn once to then wander deeper and deeper into the back edges of our wardrobes until they have to make space for new ones. Taking care of them or even do some fixing? Not worth it, when the costs for a shirt are not higher than 5€. This is the kind of consumer behavior that does nowadays have remarkable consequences for people and nature. Even though everyone should be clear about this until now, it is often not easy to develop one’s own opinion on what sustainability means – because when starting to think about it, there is often no end to it.
Welcome to part one of our blogpost series! In this we want to show some ideas, that can help you and your closet to flee the abundance. Even though it can sometimes be hard to, it is possible and better for your conscience to dress sustainable and at the same time modern. Some come and join us on our journey towards a fair and ecological sustainable “Circular Wardrobe”!
(Illustration by Sarah Lazarovic via thenonconsumeradvocate.com)
A conscious and sustainable handling with clothes is close to our hearts. To us it is not only important how dresses are being produced but also how to take care of them. Consuming fashion in a sustainable manner firstly means to buy as little as possible and to take care of what you have already (more on this in part two of the blogpost series). The first step towards a fair and ecological sustainable consumption should be asking the question: What do I really need?
After you thought about what you need, there is (at least in our opinion) no better way then the next secondhand store, flea market, swop party or the online platform Kleiderkreiselto get new clothes. Secondhand fashion is a good choice in every way because buying second hand means that nothing was newly produced but an old piece receives new appreciation. When buying less new dresses you can keep demand lower whereby less is being produced. As the consumer, you have much more in your hands than is many people are aware of.
We also try to contribute our part in the fight against overproduction! For this reason we work with the principle: “First ask, then sew” (more on this topic in out blogpost „Wie geht Mode ohne Müll?“)
On Saturday, September 01 we organize our own small flea market in our shop office. Stop by if you can!
Another possibility to buy less is to borrow. Fairnica for example shows how it is possible to combine different outfits with only a little amount of fair fashion pieces. In the new pilot project, some of our dresses will also take part.
Also at the Kleiderei you can borrow clothes to now and then change your look without having to buy new things. Borrowing clothes is especially interesting when it comes to baby and toddlers, what is for example possible with Kilenda.
If you after all decided that you would still like to buy something new for you, try the find a fair fashion brand suiting your style and that you would like to support with your purchase. When searching you will possibly come across the question what fair and environmentally friendly means in this context and what different labels mean.
You have probably already come across the concept of „Slow Fashion“. This concept is about fair and ecological sustainable consumption on all levels starting from the cultivation of the raw materials until you buy something in a shop. The “Slow Fashion” concept can be seen as the countermovement towards the conventional “Fast Fashion” movement. With the trend towards “Slow Fashion” and the thus corresponding concept concerning the whole supply chain and the consumption of the final product, the workers labor rights and transparency throughout the whole production circle can be improved and made possible.
Nowadays there are more and more small and bigger fair fashion labels working with transparent supply chains and values suiting the concept of “Slow Fashion”. You probably know the brands Armedangels, Hessnatur or Lanius. Another good tip to also find and get to know smaller fair fashion labels is the Avocadostore, a Online-Platform for fair and ecological sustainable produced products. More fair fashion brands can also be found in this list.
The products made by a fair fashion brand is mostly more expensive than conventional fashion but what stands behind those prices? Under which circumstances have dresses been produced? What materials are being used? When starting to question the conventional fashion market one need to be prepared for the, mostly ugly answers, after which it will soon become clear why fair fashion labels are mostly more expensive than others.
In the end, it is nice to know that no one had to suffer when producing the clothes bought but that they had a positive impact on at least one person’s life, even if it was just really small.