With colder temperatures right around the corner, everyone is refreshing their wardrobe. Whether that be switching out sandals for boots, or tank tops to sweaters, shopping sustainably is important, as it saves you money and keeps lots of winter clothes out of the landfill. Here are some tips on how to shop more sustainably for the winter season ahead!
- Figure out your fall/winter style
The first thing you should do before purchasing new clothes is to figure out your fall and winter style. Are you going to be wearing more skirts with tights? Baggy jeans with flannels? Dresses and leather jackets? These are important questions to ask yourself before you buy a whole new wardrobe worth of clothes. This also helps you narrow down what you don’t want to wear or what you wouldn’t mind wearing on a cold day.
- Always check thrift stores and charity shops before buying something new
I love Pinterest because I always find super cute clothing inspiration on there. However, sometimes people immediately see something and purchase it off a cheap website such as Shein or Temu. If you see something that you really like, try looking for it in thrift stores or charity shops before you buy something new off a fast fashion website. There are so many cute sweaters, jackets, and shirts in the thrift store waiting to be bought. Sometimes, you’ll even find something super cute that you didn’t even see on Pinterest. Sometimes thrift stores are harboring very cute clothes.
- Don’t fall for microtrends
Do not fall for microtrends. In fact, don’t fall for trends at all. They end up fading out very fast, and causing our landfills to be full of clothes that no one will ever wear again. Ask yourself, will I still like this when the trend fades out? When cheetah print exploded as a microtrend this year, everyone was buying this print, which caused our landfills to be full of cheetah print items. I ended up buying a lot of cheetah print clothes, but ended up loving them even when they faded out. I still wear them to this day and love each piece I own. So, make sure you really love a trend and see yourself wearing it when that trend fades out.
- Buy things that you know you’ll wear more than once
Make sure you are buying things that you will be wearing more than once. If you only see yourself wearing an item once, don’t buy it. It will end up back in thrift stores and potentially in the landfill once more. Leave that item for other people who may enjoy it enough to wear it more than once. Make conscious choices and don’t just buy something that you’ll only wear once for an Instagram photo.
- Check material & quality before buying
The last thing to do before buying an article of clothing is to check the quality and material before buying. Many products that end up in thrift stores are either from Shein or Temu, which are made with synthetic materials like Polyester, which is cheaply made and is considered poor quality. Always check the tags of items to find the material of the item, and stick to fabrics such as cotton or wool, which will last longer in the long run.
Let’s all do our part and shop more sustainably this fall and winter. If we can all manage to shop at thrift stores and be conscious about what we are buying, we will eliminate more and more clothes from the landfill. Not to mention, shopping sustainably is much cheaper and will save you lots of money in the long run. Let’s take our fashion to the next level by shopping sustainably.
