I’ve just embarked on a temporary project of extreme
frugality, and one of the reasons I was ready to do that was because I finished
my two-year journey to create my “sustainable wardrobe”. The goals I was trying
to achieve with my wardrobe were as follows:
1. Minimize the number of wardrobe items I own
I was able to do this by focusing on only owning items that
I love, are of high quality, and are versatile. I think I still have a way to
go with this, but I’ve made some good improvements. One of my difficulties is that
I now live in a climate that has “all the weather”: cold, "blizzardy" winters;
hot, humid summers, windy days, and frequent rain storms. I have to be prepared
for everything!
2. Minimize the amount of synthetic fabric in my wardrobe
I don’t like the way synthetic fabric feels on my skin, and
there are environmental and health concerns with its use.
3. Support businesses that care about sustainability,
health, and fair trade or local manufacture
I know buying from thrift shops is a basic strategy for the zero-waste
lifestyle, but I decided that if I was going to reach my wardrobe goals easily,
I would have to buy new. I also believe that it’s important to support ethical
companies, because I’m a long-view person and shopping at thrift stores is not
sustainable in the long run, because we shouldn’t be creating so many low-quality consumer goods in the first place. I want the companies that care to be a success, so
that they continue to stay in business and create the new economy that I see
for our future. With that said, I do believe that the re-use and re-sale of
used goods is hugely important, now and in the future; I just hate to see the
dominance of buying and throwing away (donating) cheaply-made goods.
4. Own clothing and shoes that align with the natural
movement/barefoot lifestyle
My health has improved significantly since I transitioned to
“barefoot” shoes and taken up the natural movement lifestyle. This includes
wearing less restrictive and less supportive clothing. The concept of natural
movement/barefoot lifestyle is too expansive to address is this blog post, so I
can only direct you to a couple of the educators: Nutritious Movement and Alignment Monkey.
In Part II of this series, I will show my closet.
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