Cleaning Out Your Closet: THE Do’s & Don'ts
With the beautiful, warm weather, the green trees, and the closing school year, summer is almost here. If you’re anything like me, this means it’s time to take a look into your closet. What should I keep? What will not be on the roster for this summer? What do I need? Where should I get my clothes? If you are looking for answers to these questions, you have come to the right place!
Cleaning Out Your Closet Do’s:
Do start by sorting through your clothes and determining what you will/won’t keep. This can be a tough process, and it can be difficult to decide whether or not to discard some clothing items. To help with this predicament, it is important to understand the Pareto Principle. According to Forbes, “women wear only 20% of their wardrobes 80% of the time.” As a result, a lot of clothes that get purchased do not get worn. This contributes to a lot of fashion waste. It is important to consider how often you wear each piece of clothing, and if you are likely to wear it again. Keeping clothes in your closet that will grow dust the whole summer is not productive. It can make you less excited about your closet and more inclined to press the purchase button for clothes you don’t actually need.
Do think about where your clothes will go. Have clothes that you aren’t wearing this summer? What can you do with them to reduce fashion waste? Here are a few ideas:
Repurpose into clothes that you will wear! If you have an old piece of clothing that you don’t like anymore, or it doesn’t fit right, you can alter it into a new piece of clothing that you will wear. For example, you can take an old shirt and make a miniskirt out of it. This prevents your clothes from piling up in a landfill, and reduces your consumption of fast fashion. Not a seamstress? No problem. You can easily turn an old T-Shirt into a tote-bag, towel, or beach blanket. DIY-ing your summer clothes is a fun way to help save the environment while still feeling fashionable.
Donate to a friend. If your clothes are too small or not your style anymore, you can give them to a friend or family member who will appreciate those clothes. One of the best parts of the spring in my early years was getting a box of hand-me-downs from my older sister. I looked up to her in many ways, including her style. I loved receiving her clothes and making them my own. The takeaway is that donating your clothes can make others feel special, and it reduces both production and consumption of fashion waste.
Donate to a second-hand store. If you don’t know anyone who would appreciate your clothes, you can donate them to a store like Goodwill. Similar to the last point, donating to second-hand stores prevents your clothes from polluting the Earth and promotes recirculation of old clothes. Not only that, but doing this can also make you feel really good. We are lucky to have the means to purchase the clothes we want to wear. However, this is not the case for everyone. By donating your old clothes to a second-hand store, you create the opportunity for someone to find a piece of clothing they will love for a price that is comfortable for them.
Do think about where you are buying your clothes. Although it is tempting to go right to your favorite stores for new clothes, this is not the most environmentally-friendly way to approach summer shopping. Instead, go thrifting! Thrifting can be a fun outing with friends or family. Thrifting is practical. It is cost-effective because the clothes are priced lower. You can also find a variety of styles, brands, materials, and sizes at thrift stores, making them a great place for everyone to find clothes. And, of course, thrift stores upcycle old clothes for reuse by new owners. This helps the environment by giving the clothes a new owner before they meet their fate: the landfill.
Cleaning Out Your Closet Don’ts:
Don’t simply throw away clothes without thinking. It can be tempting to want a full closet redo and throw away all your clothes to start fresh. Don’t do this; it adds fashion waste to an environment that needs the opposite. Instead, think back to the Pareto Principle, and consider whether or not your clothes will fit in your 20%. If so, keep it! If you really think you will not wear your clothes, then you can throw them out.
Don’t let your clothes end up in the trash. On the cover page of this website, it provides the following statistic: 92-million tons of clothing waste are discarded in landfills each year. As a Green-stitch blogger, it is my duty to tell you that we have to fight this statistic. Thus, it is imperative that you find a way to get rid of your clothes without sending them to the trash. When clothes end up in the trash, money gets wasted and the environmental crisis becomes worse. Yes, you do make a difference. It is easy to think that you are just one person, and your actions won’t have a big effect. Wrong, they will; even a tiny effort to better the environment will have a significant effect.
Happy summer!
