It’s the last week of the fashion month here on Your Green City and today I want to present some alternative ideas, concepts and ways to buying new clothes. I especially say new clothes as those have the greatest environmental impact. If you buy something vintage you can at least divide it’s environmental impact by two. Of course not all the clothes have the same environmental impact but sustainably produced fashion is still a new concept.
Kleiderei-Rent your wardrobe
Have you ever considered sharing your clothes? Honestly I am glad I never had to. As an only-child I had the privileged life of not sharing, ever. I never switched clothes during my teens or student life and it never crossed my mind to rent out clothing or accept clothing from others (vintage shopping excluded). Thinking about the environmental impact of the fashion industry the idea of sharing clothing appears, even though still unfamiliar, as a good alternative to shopping for the latest trends and a more affordable way to get pieces I love at least for a short time. Today I want to introduce a cool business from Germany (they only do business in Germany but it is inspirational) that rents out clothing.
Kleiderei works with a subscription of 34 Euro per month, sending you four items of clothing you are renting and if you don’t like them anymore you can send them back after a month and exchange them for some different pieces. You define your own style and can choose the clothes from their website.
Mud Jeans – Lease your Denims
Mud Jeans is a denim brand that aspires to creating a circular economy fashion business. Fashion is a wasteful business, using up valuable resources to create fashion that is faster than most of us can shop. While other brands like H&M are collecting used clothing to be less wasteful (why sell low-quality garments in the first place?) Mud Jeans offers a contract to it’s customers. Lease your jeans for 5.95 Euros a month (+20 Euros deposit) for a year and choose afterwards if you want to keep them. If not they will take them back and you can choose to lease another pair. If you want the jeans you pay another few months and get to keep them. Mud Jeans are made in Italy from certified organic cotton and “denim waste”. The lease contract also includes repairs (!). Interested to know more? Go to their the website of this Dutch company to get a deeper look at the future of Denim.
Check out this article on Mud Jeans by Treehugger for more information.
Vintage and 2nd Hand Clothing
I used to get most of my clothes from Ebay back in the days and I still have many of those items in my wardrobe. The most difficult part of vintage, in my opinion, is to find pieces of good quality and also versatile items. This 80’s costume or 50’s dress might look good in the shop but it’s not about wearing them in front of your mirror at home, right? Finding good basic items vintage is really hard but worth the time, I think.
What I don’t like about vintage is the picture of environmental friendliness that is painted all the time. Yes, buying second hand is more eco-friendly than buying the same items new but it is not more than reusing something someone doesn’t want anymore. It’s waste management. The items do have to be produced and their production needs water, resources and work forces. Shopping vintage and second hand doesn’t mean that we are shopping less new clothing. Buying something second hand from a sustainable brand doesn’t mean you are supporting the brand. Nevertheless, I do admire people who manage to buy most of their clothing second hand and look stylish.
DIY: knitting and sewing
I don’t knit and I don’t sew. Nevertheless, creating your own clothing and wearing unique items nobody else has sounds very alluring to me. I get knitted clothing from my mother and I know how difficult it is to convince yourself that you are not looking like grandma, at least in the beginning. Knitting and sewing needs passion and time but at the end you know “Who made your clothes”, right? Besides, Agatha Christie already let us know via Miss Marple that knitting is an excellent exercise for the brain.
Swapping Clothes at ClothSwap Events near you
Check out my article on that and start swapping!
Raid your mothers/older sisters/fathers/brothers wardrobe… fashion repeats itself, or go for the relaxed look sharing clothes with your boyfriend (asking first may be a good idea)
Do you still wear this? No? Then I can take it for sure, right? Yes, I am guilty of raiding my mothers wardrobe. Luckily her style was always modern (and still is, but not always my taste) and she bought quality items (still does but too many of them) that I could take over some of them when she stopped fitting into them. At least 10% of my wardrobe are clothes taken from my mother.
My boyfriend is another case. If I don’t choose his clothes I hardly ever have much interest in them and up till know I only wore one of his sweaters. I do prefer to buy my own boyfriend jeans (haha, future generations will think we have gone mad with the name for these jeans).
Sharing wardrobes within a family or among friends and lovers is definitely an alternative even though I would ask permission first.
image via Mud Jeans
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