November saw the completion of my 1 year no-new clothes ‘challenge’. I had a fantastic year having a go at this.
I wanted to write a mini review for my own memory and for anyone who may be interested in this.
Last year I came across the blog of Ms Wanda, who was going through her own ‘no-new clothes for a year’ and it spurred me to have a go too. Why? You ask… Well…
Over the years I have become more aware, more involved and more interested in the environment and social justice. My interest met a lot of frustration and guilt, yes guilt. I wanted to do ‘my bit’ and felt like a real hypocrite… driving a car, buying things regularly, working stupidly long hours with no time for volunteering or simply being more involved with my community.
I have also always felt guilty that I was born in a good family, in a democratic country, with a great prospect/future ahead of me. I never had/have to worry about whether I had food on my plate, a roof over my head, receive the right medical help when needed and so forth.
This recession brought it home even more, while I and the rest of the country (and western countries) moaned at job losses and pay cuts (rightly so, I don’t deny that)… people around me felt more compelled and justified at buying as much cheap stuff as possible. While we moaned about our pay cuts, even though still able to live a decent life, there seemed (still now) to be little questioning of the unfairness of other people in developing countries being abused and exploited for miserable pay, non-existent health and safety, no pension, no medical care etc… working in awful conditions to satisfy our greed for cheap stuff.
Yes, I felt like an hypocrite… realising this to be an unfair system and yet doing very little about it. Although I stopped owning a car years ago, choosing a more environmentally friendly transport as much as possible, clothes wise I was still clueless (apart from coming across fashion names such as People Tree, for example). When I ‘discovered’ (I know, wasn’t smart enough to come to it by own conclusions, what can I say) the idea of ‘no new clothes for a year’ I didn’t hesitate to give it a go!
So from Nov 2010 to Nov 2011, my only options to buy clothes would be: second hand from charity shops/vintage shops or from that famous auction site or learn to sew my own.
What did I find a year on? That I loved browsing in charity shops, finding hidden gems, but more importantly with time I realised how very little ‘new’ (both new-new and/or new-second-hand) stuff is needed to live a good life and rediscovered the things that leave you feeling good for much longer than a day or two (as high street purchases would have done in the past).
Having left my job, gone freelance and embarked on a MSc full time, I didn’t have the disposable income I had before, but (please excuse me profoundly if this sounds cheesy, but I promise you it’s the truth) learning (instead of being ‘forced to’) to buy less has improved my quality of life no end.
I also learnt not to be scared of sewing patterns and so sewn my first top! I have altered few things and actually made use of all the clothes I have in my wardrobe already. Gone are the days of “I’ll save that dress/skirt/top for a special day”, we need to live more carpediem I think, every day should be and could be special.
My first sewn top
My deconstructed dress mini-project
My mum's shirt from the 80s, my aunties' belt from the '70s
The more I try to learn, ask myself hard questions, look for answers, the more I realise how difficult it is to really live an ethical life. You take, what you think is, an ethical step forward and you automatically take two steps backwards because you have uncovered something else that you oversaw or were ignorant about. I don’t deny that often I felt “what’s the point” because finding clothes and shoes, especially, that you can truly believe are ethically made is so damn hard! Why I say this? Because as I now read Lucy Siegle’s brilliantly written and researched “To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?” I realise the plethora of so-thought ‘ethical trading’ which isn’t, because the audits are not carried out in the manner as they should have, because there are, often, so many ‘middle-men’ that trail of ethic manufacturing is lost and so on! Btw I cannot recommend this book enough!
But this year has taught me that it’s worth the extra work, less stuff makes you feel lighter! I am not just stating the obvious, honestly. Mentally you feel less heavy, less squashed by what you must wear, what lifestyle you must seem to have. Having less allows the real you to shine through.
I have kept a loose track of my second hand buys and in 12 months I spent approximately £50. But best of all I rediscovered the joy to mix and match and use creativity in creating new outfits with the things I already owned.
New outfit from existing wardrobe (jacket since 1996!)
I did fail miserably though under the shoes department. My attempts at buying second hand went pretty badly, shoes too large, too wide, oddly shaped by previous owners etc.
I got two new pair shoes, both as birthday presents. One pair of clogs from husband&wife Lotta From Stockholm which I came across thanks to Seeds and Stitches, and a pair of T-bar from Next. I thought that Next was one of the few high street shop you could ‘trust’ as part of ETI, but reading Siegle’s book now I am not so sure (Primark is part of ETI!), so until I can get some answers I will stay clear of that.
I have certainly changed my shopping habits, I learnt a lot! I learnt to appreciate buying very little, of proven origin and of high quality so to last many many years. I thought to create a page sharing my findings of shops (online or actual) either second hand/vintage or where new clothes can be found that have been not made by exploiting others.
If you fancy the idea of giving the ‘no new clothes for a year’ a go, I’d highly recommend it!
If you have any question that I can help answer, please let me know. As I said this is my personal experience. I didn’t have a lot of spare cash anyway so going out and buying an expensive pair of shoes or dress or coat was not an option, but in the past year I truly realised and learnt that those things are really superfluous. I feel a lot happier by owning less, I have given more stuff away this year than ever before (when I used to have a decent amount of spare income).
