Time to get sustainable
While trying to make your fashion choices more sustainable can seem daunting, there are really so many ways that you can make a difference. From vintage and charity shopping, using the expertise of a personal shopper or exchanging your own preloved clothes in certain stores for discounts, you can get creative when it comes to the decisions you make in regards to what you wear.
More and more people are turning to vintage and charity shops when creating their looks and it’s easy to see why, when it means you’re able to create an individual style for yourself while also a lot of the time saving yourself some money and you’re using clothing that has stood the test of time and does not deserve to end up in a landfill.
We are lucky to have a great selection of vintage stores in Cork, from bricks and mortar shops like Miss Daisy Blue where you can find yourself some absolute gems, to the likes of Kahlo & Apfel who you can find dealing in beautiful and unusual pieces on their Facebook store.
I also really like Kerry-based vintage dealer Hazel’s Nuts About Vintage who puts up a lot of her stock on Instagram. All of these stores have great price points and will ensure you have a look that is truly unique to you.
I’m also a big fan of a rummage in a charity shop and with a bit of patience and the ability to see that certain items can be changed easily with the help of a seamstress or if you’re handy with a needle and thread yourself, you can find almost new pieces for a fraction of their original price.
Some retailers are also seeing the benefit of getting involved in sustainability and one such retailer is 53 Degrees North in the Cornmarket Centre who, in association with Columbia in aid of Focus Ireland, are making sustainability simple, so you can get out there and get back to nature.
Exchange your preloved clothing in 53 Degrees North for a 20 per cent discount on new season Columbia. Your old clothes are recycled at Focus Ireland Beloved Boutiques and are prevented from ending up in landfill. Circular economy in action. Everyone wins!
Reusing clothing can directly affect the amount of clothing being produced and reduce the drain on our planet’s natural resources; reducing carbon emissions, water usage and waste, so really it’s a no brainer.
Another way that helps to keep your wardrobe more sustainable is through using the styling expertise of a personal shopper. Now I might be biased since I am a personal shopper but really using a stylist’s service means you end up buying items that are specifically suited to you, ensuring you have a wardrobe full of pieces that work well together. It cuts out those impulse buys that never get worn or are only worn once and are a complete waste of money.
Personal styling doesn’t mean you buy loads of new things - it’s actually about buying less but buying more informed pieces that you can get a number of different looks from and eventually, as the seasons change, you may only need to replace a few things to freshen it up.
It’s also worth thinking about having someone come to your house and do a wardrobe assessment for you and they can help you to weed out items that you no longer wear, identify gaps and also show you how you can style up your existing clothes in different ways, so that you get even more wear out of them. With so many options, there really is no excuse for not making the effort to get more sustainable!