As a college student, moving back and forth between home and my various dorms / apartments each year is always accompanied by some form of purging.
Where I go to school up in the Virginia mountains, thrifting culture is HUGE. Because of this, clothing is usually the first to go. With as many Goodwills as there are Baptist churches around here, donation drop-off is greatly accessible.
This past winter break move-back revealed a new conviction for me. I have SO. MANY. CLOTHES.
If you’re even remotely into fashion, you’ve probably noticed the pieces in your closet that look sad and abandoned. They hide behind your newest cutout shirt (which takes a lifetime to find the head-hole) and horseshoe jeans.
Combing my entire closet before going back to school revealed these types of clothing items that 1) I regret buying because the trend came and went so fast, 2) were such a high price for cheap material, or 3) I missed dearly and wondered why I ever shoved them in the corner where my cat curls up for her introvert naps.
This awareness of excess prompted me to research sustainable fashion, which is a hole deeper than feminine archetypes (yes, I ended up taking the hour-long quiz only to realize it was a repackaged Buzzfeed personality test).
“Sustainable fashion brands” yields endless hits on Google, most of which are (you guessed it) products to sell. They are obscenely expensive, too. This inaccessibility made me pause to ask questions. Isn’t the whole point of sustainable living to shift focus from overconsumption to long-term lifestyle changes?
You buy cheap, you get cheap, right? That’s not necessarily true. One store may have super trendy cost-effective clothes and make zero claims of sustainability, while another may have clothing just as trendy with expensive clothes using the exact same materials as the former. The only quantitative difference between the cheap store and the expensive store is a type of marketing called greenwashing. This is when companies make claims about their products that are misleading in order to obtain the eco-conscious customer, yet the materials used are no different than any fast fashion brand.
Conducting your own research is liberating when it comes to sustainable fashion. The key to marrying quality and price point is materials. Environmentally friendly, long-lasting materials are as follows:
Organic cotton
Linen (the Mesopotamians BEEN known about this one)
Wool (sheep need to be shorn for their health!)
Bamboo
Tencel
Modal
Hemp
Lyocell
Silk
Econyl
Recycled polyester
Recycled nylon
If you’re somewhat familiar with sustainable fabrics, you may be wondering why I included polyester and nylon, which are generally conceived as the worst fabrics for the environment. Any fabric with “recycled” in front of it is a step up. It can also be cheaper. Familiar brands like Patagonia, the North Face, and Levi’s cost less than any exclusively sustainable fashion label, and they use recycled materials!
Now, the big picture: sustainability is contentedness. This extends to media consumption, food consumption, product consumption, and, unsurprisingly, clothing consumption.
NECESSARY CAVEAT!!! I recognize that the United States is extremely wealthy compared to most of the world. I recognize the privilege it is to even have the option of consuming more or less. Many communities don’t have a choice. Comparison and shame isn’t what will help the overconsumption issue in our country, however.
Living lesser is not only a positive change for anyone’s mental health, it can also be Biblical. As a Christian culture cultivator, my heart explodes whenever I discover Biblical links to current issues that aren’t overtly Christian.
The endeavor to live lesser is subjective, however, and should be analyzed on a spectrum. I am in agreement with Ben Franklin’s ardent emphasis on moderation, and it should be applied to those seeking a more sustainable, lesser-living lifestyle.
I am not advocating for extreme measures, such as throwing out clothing items that you actually need. I am nudging you to gently consider what you really need in your closet, your app store, your bookshelf, your pantry.
Relieve yourself of the pressure to dress like a celebrity, to “network” by owning 10 social media apps, to watch all the tv and movies in a short amount of time, to read more books than your favorite BookTok influencer, to have a more aesthetic and stuffed pantry than the gut health content creators. You do not need these things in excess. Consuming food, film, and fashion slowly is more rewarding.
The reward for slow consumption is attentiveness and contentedness. These are admirable characteristics for anyone. So don’t feel intimidated by the $300 organic cotton dress that will singlehandedly solve the overconsumption crisis. Here’s what you can do today.
- Donate what you don’t need
- Treat what you keep with gentleness and respect
These two steps alone will have you on track to sustainability and lesser waste living. Consume slowly, live content.
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