Conscious Closet Challenge | What YOU learned

In case you haven’t read through the comments on the Conscious Closet Challenge posts (or left your own – it’s the last day to do it an be entered to win one of 8 made-in-the-US goodies!!) I wanted to share some of my favorite comments/quotes here from you guys about what you learned doing the challenge.

I’ll be selecting winners for the prizes over the weekend and will notify each winner via email by Sunday. Read the full rules for participating in the challenge HERE and then leave your comment HERE.

And since this was so fun and enlightening, I just might make this a monthly project; pose a a different themed Conscious Closet Challenge each month. Are you up for it??

On to your comments – I was honestly floored and humbled by how seriously you guys took this challenge. If only one person did it and learned something meaningful about their closet and how to be more conscious about what they chose to add to it, I would have been happy. But LOTS of you did it. And you’ll probably influence many more people to just take a little more time to be aware of what/why we buy. I’m so thankful and honored to have been a part of this.

Jessica from Beautify my Life posted about her experience purging and the new items she chose to buy, supporting companies she believes in.

Christina designs jewelry and noted on Facebook the things she does to be more sustainable, including packaging and sourcing.

Buying multiples & on sale

Alana mentions two things that are very hard to get a handle on, buying multiples and on sale:

I have found that I tend to buy the same thing over and over again – how many black a-line skirts does a girl need!? I do like a second hand bargain and although I’m am quite pleased at some of the gems I have unearthed, I have a tendency to get blinded by labels and buy an ill fitting or ugly piece because it’s “designer”

Courtney goes more in depth on her blog post about the challenge, but her mention of trying to fill a need with 4-5 similar, but cheaper items really resonated with me (and with Jen!) – I’ve done this more often than I care to admit…

(1) I learned that clearance racks are not my friend, (2) I’m better off buying what I love rather than trying to fill that need/desire with 4 or 5 similar, cheaper items,

Feeling guilty

May says:

I have been going through my “stuff” for the last couple of weeks and I am disgusted! I have way more than I could ever wear, and some things I haven’t even worn yet anyway. I think of all that money that could have benefited someone else. It’s been keeping me from shopping lately.

I will refer to my Minimal Closet article about sunk costs also, but it’s bad enough we “waste” so much money on clothes we never wear, we shouldn’t make it worse by beating ourselves up about it. I’ve done it. I still do it when I make a mistake.

Take it as a lesson and move on, making sure you understand why you bought those things and why you didn’t wear them. It’s been a VERY hard lesson for me to learn, but it makes letting go so much easier, and I promise you, if you learn from it, you won’t repeat the same mistake many more times. Maybe once though 😉

Less is More. Or not.

Ang discovered that

in dealing with wardrobe pruning and currently owning only 2 (identical!) pairs of jeans that fit, I’ve learned that I am very much not content with 1-2 options. I try to temper this need for variety with secondhand purchasing and opting for ethically produced items where I can afford them.

And Carissa found that Ariana’s very minimal wardrobe (which I linked to at Paris-to-Go)

inspired me to challenge why I think I need as much as I have…

Wendy shared:

What I’ve learned through this challenge is how little I actually need and wear. I’m really a one hit wonder, once I find a few combinations that work for me I just wear them over and over again

Christina on buying less:

I’ve learned that being frugal (buying what is less expensive) may benefit me, but may have collateral damage that affects people I don’t see or know, animals, water, earth. I’ve learned that sometimes it is going to cost me (time, money) to do less harm. I can offset that by cutting down my quantity.

Mending instead of replacing

Carissa:

it’s ironic that I read your post and then her site the day after I got a shipment from Uniqlo – I bought ‘selvedge jeans’ from the Ines De La Fressange label. They were on sale, and I like them and have worn them two times, and had them on WHILE I was reading your but the fabric around the buttonhole is coming apart. I’ve decided to keep and mend that myself, instead of what I would have done before – exchanged for a perfect pair.

Cola has been living in Rome and noted that

I love the boots I have and even in the land of amazing shoes I resoled my boots twice (the cobblestones are killer here) instead of buying new.

Discovering your style

Nailing down your style is hard, but being brutally honest with yourself about what you wear and why is crucial to stopping over-consumption and negative shopping habits. As Caroline noted:

I learned that I really do have a distinct “look” and no matter how hard I try or how much money I spend on new clothes, I still tend to only wear black jeans and black sweaters and tops, with pops of something different every now and then. Really knowing myself and my style will definitely help me pare down in the future, and eliminate a lot of the superfluous items in my wardrobe.

Facing Reality

I’ve (Sharon) accepted I continue to shop for a life I don’t have! I had several LBD’s from Phase Eight (uklabel). They all feature a spanx like slip & as I’m a housewife who lives in black stretchy yoga clothes that were all washed out looking, I bravely cut out the slips & now have several comfortable tunics to wear with leggings.

Brava Sharon!!

Personal challenges

I LOVED Shinzuka’s challenge to herself

to wear (or use in the case of bags) one thing everyday that I hadn’t worn in a while. And some of the things I hadn’t thought of wearing were actually great. My discovery is that what I wear on an everyday basis isn’t always based on what’s “really me” or “fits my lifestyle,” but often a kind of whatever’s easiest rut. SO instead of shopping after I simplify, which was the original plan, I’m going to shop in my closet and mix things up a little.

And Lain is focused on cost-per-wear:

my goal through the summer is to wear the items I’ve already bought by decreasing the cost/wear by 30%.

And Jessie made a wonderful point in her comment:

I’ve challenged myself to only buy leather goods when I know where the leather is coming from, or to recycle leather pieces from eBay, Crossroads, etc.

I’ve not talked much about shoes & bags, because I feel like the bulk of our shopping “mistakes” are clothes, because they tend to be cheaper. And it’s tough to find ethical alternatives for leather products. Not impossible, but harder (I did it for the Madewell transport tote).

So, now I’m also challenging myself to learn more about leather tanning, where the leather comes from, if the leather can be used from the same animals used for food, etc. Obviously, the most ethical/sustainable way to consume leather is to buy second hand, as “new” leather isn’t very environmentally friendly at all, but there are ways to decrease leather’s impact on the environment by using different tanning methods. Stay tuned for more on this over time…

Where our clothing is made

This comment from April resonated with me so much, because I have done the SAME thing

I have learned that I have used “Made in the USA” as an excuse to keep buying and spending, even though I certainly don’t NEED most of these items. While I truly believe all of us should be aware of the back story of our clothing (a background post on Vince was very revealing to me!), it should not give ME the excuse to continue in my materialistic ways

Shopping

It’s tough to shop and not buy, I’m still getting the hang of it…and I love Juli’s point:

I love shopping! However I have determined that it is not the actual new purchase I enjoy but the process. I love walking the mall {esp. in July when it’s 110 degrees outside}. I love being able to relax with a cup of coffee and read a magazine in the bookstore. I love trying on new styles and silhouettes that different designers offer. I get joy from trying on something unexpected and it looks good. I get intrigued about how sizes vary in the different stores and analyze how that affects my perception of myself.

Does this mean I need to make a purchase? I have finally evolved so that the answer is no! I can receive joy from the steps and process and not the act of purchasing!

Such a wonderful lesson…

and Mandy mentions

…that shopping consciously takes a lot of thought and effort! It has also made me very aware of what items in my closet were not ethically manufactured. It is so easy to mindlessly grab things that seem like a great bargain just for the sake of getting a bargain (which I have been guilty of doing in the past). I am slowly learning how to think about what went into the manufacture of the item and how it will fit into my life. Between this challenge and John Oliver’s segment about fast fashion this week, I have pledged to cut fast fashion out of my life completely. It’s really been an enlightening week.

GS made some wonderful points about using shopping and clothing as armor, the quest for perfection & more:

Most of all though, I’ve become aware of how much I really do consume, almost as a matter of course. Lately I’ve become aware of how perfectionism seems to tie into this: the perfect crossbody bag, the one I’m convinced will solve all my travel needs, goes on sale at Bloomingdale’s and click–in the cart, on its way to me. I find the perfect boots, not on sale but they’re incredible and I’m worried that they will sell out because it’s a popular high end brand so click–into the cart it goes. And so on, and so on. There’s an element of fear in this too–fear of not being perfect, fear of missing out.

Val is doing the difficult work (yay Val!) – the kind that leads to lasting change. I can’t wait to see your finished closet!

Shopping has been something I do to fill a need, and I know that it doesn’t work that way! I want to shop in a “healthy way,” if that makes sense. I’ve taken some really solid steps to ensure that in the future, I will shop for the needs in my wardrobe. That doesn’t mean they have to be boring or utilitarian items, but rather that the things I buy will be the BEST that I can afford, will bring me JOY, and will WORK with other clothing in my closet. I have also decided that I do much better when I shop at local boutiques instead of shopping online. I found way too many pairs of pants with the tags still on, and that was because I didn’t try them on.

Plus-size & cusp-size sustainable clothing

This is something I will absolutely post more about, because I’ve not addressed it adequately enough. Lee brings up the point that it’s very difficult to find affordable, sustainable clothing for plus-sizes, besides Eileen Fisher. Does anyone have any other suggestions for her?

I would love to buy more sustainably made clothing items but I wear a size 18. Most of the brands you suggest consider a size 12 an XL. The only brand I’ve found that I can wear is Eileen Fisher, whose XL is a 16/18. They also have a plus size line. Sadly, EF is fairly expensive. It is hard to build a wardrobe from only highly reduced selections.