The fashion industry is currently in a race to the bottom. And every time we buy cheap new clothing, we’re telling them their increased lack of care and quality is OK.

Still. You can still have fun with your style. Remix what you already have, buy used…from us, from anyone, we don’t care…and only buy new when it’s absolutely necessary.

For a great free way to add to your wardrobe while cleaning out the old stuff, throw clothing swaps with your friends. Invite a bunch of people to bring their gently used, no longer wanted clothing. Make a collaborative playlist, separate everything into piles by type of garment and let everyone have at it for a couple of hours. If it’s smaller and more intimate, holding up each item for everyone to see helps. Make sure there are a couple mirrors and places to change. Take turns taking the leftovers to a charity shop at the end.
When thrifting, prioritize charity shops local to you - avoid the big chain ones! Two reasons. One, you will typically get better deals at the small guys. Two, you know you’re supporting a good cause, while the big chains are notorious for exploiting their workers with richly paid CEOs. If they are your only option to shop at, proceed, but…at least try not to give them any more free product and donate your clothing elsewhere.

Add embellishments to rescue or revive something in your closet. Narrow an Etsy search to what’s close(ish) to you to reduce shipping costs and weed out drop shippers.
- Use tiny embroidery patches to hide permanent stains or small tears you can’t otherwise fix.
- Swap buttons on an old item for something more interesting.
- Sew new straps into a tank top or dress, use interesting things like ribbon or lace.
Do you have a couple of things that could use a dye? Maybe they’re stained but a dark dye would save them, or there’s something you love that’s just not the right color, but you don’t want to go through the trouble of heating all the water for just a few things? Throw a community dye party! Seriously, everyone you know probably has a couple of garments like that. Agree on a color and make use of all that heat and water.

Wash all of your clothing on cold. Hang dry as much as possible, especially anything that sheds microplastic (polyester, nylon, acrylic, polypropylene, spandex, lycra, elastane, fleece, velvet)
For stains on sensitive fabrics like silk, cashmere, and wool, Eucalan is a great option. A little goes a long way and it doesn’t need to be rinsed. Lightly massage a tiny bit into the stain, or put a drop into a large bowl of water, and soak for ~10 mins. To dry, place the garment in a towel, roll and gently squeeze, then lay flat to finish drying.
Treat your leather bags, jackets and shoes occasionally to keep them from drying out and cracking. Leather is skin and needs moisturizing. Saddle Soap lightly cleans and moisturizes, but avoid rubbing too hard especially on bright colors.
For your designer bags, check for repair services for the specific brand. Many of them, such as Coach, offer services to fix issues, even if you bought the bag secondhand.
Befriend your local cobbler! They are becoming more and more rare, but are essential in the fight to extend the life of your favorite shoes and bags.

Natural fibers like hemp, cotton, abaca, bamboo, lyocell (aka TENCEL), ramie, jute, and linen are compostable.
Cotton, wool, polyester, nylon and burlap can be recycled. Make sure to remove tags, buttons and embellishments.
When your t-shirts and other soft knits reach rag status, cut them into pieces to use to polish your leather.
If you’re extra crafty, you can turn old clothing into rugs, dog toys, quilts, bags, or anything else you can dream up. Use torn up clothing as stuffing for pet beds so your pets can smell you all the time :)

70% of new clothing is plastic and that number is expected to grow. That includes anything labeled polyester, nylon, acrylic, polypropylene, spandex, lycra, elastane, fleece, or velvet. These types of clothing are constantly shedding plastic, especially when you use hot water and a dryer, and releasing microplastics into…well, everything.
Only 15% of textiles are collected for reuse. The other 85% end up in a landfill or burned. Considering how much of those textiles are plastic, that means a lot of clothing is outliving us by centuries in a giant trash pile, or being spewed out microscopic bits in plumes of smoke.
The average garment is only worn seven times. Usage has decreased by approximately 36% over the past 15 years.
The US alone discards 2,150 textile pieces per second, or 81.5 pounds of textile waste per person per year.
The fast fashion industry alone is responsible for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of waste water.