Green Your Closet In 2008: Step 1
Jenn Breckenridge here, pinch hitting for Aysia.
For years now I’ve found myself, a diehard environmentalist, fascinated by fashion. At first I shoved this frivolous fascination to the archives of my mind, thinking of it as a superfluous pursuit that would distract me from all the “important” work that needs to be done in this ailing world. Now and again, I’d sheepishly ponder my profound interest in online eco-fashion hubs like Eco-Chick and Treehugger.com’s Fashion and Beauty pages, and finally realized why fashion really matters. Fashion is our second skin. It is our most intimate possession. Let’s face it, not even our closest romantic partner has (most likely) spent twelve hours straight attached to our pelvis the way a pair of undies does. A favorite warm sweater can be our greatest comfort on a grey, frigid day. And, unlike the bodies we’re born into, clothing gives us the opportunity to choose our hue, texture, and even our shape to some extent; all these choice directly affect how our fellow humans interact with us on a daily basis.
So how can a self-proclaimed diehard environment like myself still have a closet with so few sustainably-made pieces in it? Is it money or not trying hard enough? I’m on the Greenloop team, I work with Aysia Wright, The Eco Fashionista herself, and my closet is barely chartreuse. Well, I’ve decided 2008 is the year to Green My Closet and I’m going to take the readers of The Tastemaker Diaries with me- for the good of the planet! (And it might give us clothes hounds some new ideas for how to get more stuff to wear. Let’s be real.) Ergo, the first in a series of tips on how we can all integrate some eco-conscious behavior into our shopping lives. More clothes, less guilt. Are you with me, ladies? Good. Let’s get started with the fun things first…
Step #1 Beg, Barter or Bargain
Do you ever covet your most fashionable friends’ wardrobes? Make those fantastic threads your very own without spending a single dollar: host a clothing swap at your house! Gather your stylish compadres with similar body types together to trade clothes in good condition that you’ve all grown tired of…make it a cocktail party and you may find bartering for the premium picks a real breeze. It’s for the environment, right? No harm, no foul I always say.
Do your friends have completely different shapes or tastes from you? Join in a community clothing swap like Swap-o-rama-rama where you turn in a bag of clothes at the door and you get to grab as many clothes inside as you desire. As if that isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread already, Swap-o-rama-ramas have sewing and screenprinting stations to reinvent your latest acquisitions and turn your secondhand pieces into one-of-a-kind couture…and it’s all free!!! No Swap-o-rama-rama coming soon to a town near you? No problem- start a Swap-O-Rama-Rama or watch this feature of Clothing Swap Inc. on the Today Show and head to ClothingSwap.com for their uberfun events in 2008.
Comments (5)
5 Comments
Those swap-o-ramas are a really good idea!
i love the idea of a clothes swap. but…i’ll have to learn to not be such a pack rat in order to make it work!
I know the feeling
Time to recycle those old threads and pass them on to someone who will actually wear them, or remake them into something fun and unique. You should check out Barbra Horowitz’s new book called Closet Control. She is all about letting go of those sentimental “sweaters in our heads”.
[…] to bring eco-consciousness to my wardrobe and take readers of The Tastemaker Diaries with me. Our January installment of Green Your Closet introduced the Clothing Swap, a party combining the noble task of reusing your […]
I’ve been into sustainability years (35) before it was popular. Accustomed to being the weirdo in the crowd, I find myself ill at ease at finding my viewpoints “hip”. Likewise, until recently, I felt my values were incongruous with my profession (”fashion”). I simply needed to realign my perceptions. Accordingly, my mission has become one of nurturing emerging talent in the interests of providing good jobs (domestically) as well as responsible manufacturing practices (no waste, producing to order).
Sustainable fabrics are but one tiny facet of sustainable manufacturing, there’s energy costs up and down the supply chain (for one). Being that the higher cost of goods for eco-fabrics is but a pass through cost for manufacturers, I struggle to understand how a producer is truly sacrificing anything. As such, with everyone jumping on the bandwagon, I’ve decided to sort the wheat from the chaff by asking how many of those make difficult decisions in their *personal lives*. Buying eco doesn’t impress me. You can’t spend your way into sustainability; it’s the opposite. To whit, how many are vegetarians? That’s the only sustainable solution. So maybe I’m cynical but then I must hear from 100 new eco designer wanna-bees every week. If they start getting a little heavy handed with the rhetoric, asking if they’re a vegetarian usually ends the debate quickly. I prefer they spare me the gloss :).