Recently, as I’ve tried to move towards making my life more sustainable, I’ve become increasingly interested in sustainable fashion. This past weekend I went to a vintage ‘by the kilo’ clothing sale, which was really fun! Although it was not the cheapest, at 40 euros per kilo, I did come home with a couple fun finds.

Thrift shopping challenges

Though I love the idea of buying all of my clothes second-hand, in reality I still encounter a number of challenges when trying to create a sustainable wardrobe. These include:

  • Finding professional looking second-hand pieces that I can wear to work
    • While I love loose, hippie thrifted style for my weekend looks, office wear generally has to be well fitting and shouldn’t look too old…
  • Finding pants that actually fit
    • Related to point one, it’s easier to do loose, mom-jean or tomboyish styles, but finding pants that actually fit well is hard, especially at flea markets where you often can’t try them on
  • Basics like tank tops and underwear, and (usually) shoes
    • As far as I can tell these are things that you always have to buy new… But hopefully from sustainable / conscious brands if you can afford it
    • Although I did get one pair of black high heeled boots secondhand that I love and still wear

Sustainability wins

  • I am pretty good at taking care of the clothes that I do have and wearing them for a long time (Except for that one merino wool sweater that I shrunk in the washing machine… Oops! RIP)
  • I have to admit, I used to be a total fiend for fast fashion, but now I try to avoid or minimise my fast fashion purchases as much as possible
  • I have drastically cut back my shopping in general. When I was younger, I liked to buy a new top at least every month, so that I always had something new to wear, since I was going out all the time. When I went on an extended backpacking trip, I started to develop more minimalist ways, and when I became a masters student my budget certainly didn’t allow me to go shopping. This meant for a couple years, I hardly bought any new clothes, except for what I really, really needed. I preferred to spend my money (and time!) on other activities
  • Now that I’m back to working full time, I do like to look nice when I’m at the office, but I’m also much more conscious about what I buy and what I wear, and the impact that it has. I’m no longer ignorant about the huge impact that the (fast) fashion industry has, and I want to minimise my contribution to that

Moving forward, I hope to be even better about being a minimalist, investing in fewer, higher quality pieces (ideally secondhand!) and being really conscious about everything that I buy.

Have you considered the impact your fashion choices have on the environment?

Looking for more inspiration on sustainable fashion? Check out myethicaledit.com , about living an ethical and sustainable lifestyle, written by a fellow Canadian blogger here in Munich!