Try to buy what you need only

This might be easier said than done! Especially when we see a sale - our automatic thought pattern is "I'm going to grab a bargain!”. But what we actually need is a shift in our mentality regarding our consumption patterns. The thought that we need to buy more things with cheaper prices at every chance we get, when actually half of the clothes we buy, we don’t really need.

I moved countries last year, and when I was packing I didn't bring all my clothes because I told myself I was going to fly home again in three months. What I didn't know is that covid-19 would happen and I wouldn't be able to go home for another year to get the rest of my clothes and personal things. This taught me a lesson, that I don't really need so many clothes to survive. It was a good exercise in detaching myself from my material belongings. I realised I was completely OK! You can live without them and they are not the most important source of joy in this life.

How to do it?

Before I go shopping, a great tip I've been using lately is to ask myself: "Am I in need of this piece of clothing?" 80% of the time the answer is "no". If the answer is "yes", then I wait at least two weeks until I make the purchase. By then, my adrenaline rush has passed!

This doesn't mean that I'm perfect or that I don't sometimes end up buying things that I don't need! But it does mean that I'm aware of my consumption and trying to be more conscious of my spending patterns.

Explore the world of second hand

From where I come from, a lot of people associate buying second hand clothes with being poor. This was also a cultural challenge I faced, until I realised how much waste the fashion industry creates. Did you know that the average life of a garment is 7 wears? And that every year we have 92 million tonnes of textile waste?* If we truly digest these facts, we need to consider alternative actions rather than just buying more clothes and participating in the fast fashion linear model. Do you believe that your actions would make a difference? Since there are already a lot of produced clothes, a great alternative is to wear pre-existing clothes rather than encouraging the production of more. Nowadays you can find many second hand shops or stock shops.

Where to shop second hand?

There are a a lot of websites that specialise in selling pre-loved clothes, eg Carou, or websites where you can sell your clothes that you no longer wear, as well as buy clothes from other people's closets, eg Vestiairecollective, Vinted. If you like Vintage, you can also check out Vinokilo. These online shops are doing a great job of making sure these clothes are in good shape before reselling them.

What's more interesting nowadays, is that there are even websites where you can rent and rent out clothes, eg Wedress Collective. This is a great idea if you have an event or a special occasion where you’d like to wear something that you know you’ll only wear once.

Quality over quantity

Long gone are the days where we want to parade in a new outfit every day. The future is eco-friendly, conscious and all about taking care of our planet. We do that by changing our consumption patterns. If you want to buy something new, try to pay attention to the quality of the clothes that you buy so that they last longer.

Try to also pay attention to what material these clothes are made of. For example, it might be a good idea to buy organic cotton instead of polyester, since cotton is a more eco-friendly and biodegradable material.

Where can I buy sustainable clothing?

If you are able to, check out sustainable fashion stores and fair fashion brands. It's true that these clothes might be more expensive than fast fashion brands, but think of it as an investment. If you consume less, you might be able to afford investing in high quality, fair fashion pieces. What's more, branded clothes are usually the same price as sustainable fair fashion clothes, even though they are usually poor quality.

The Greenfashion tours have set up a map with all the sustainable and fair fashion shops in Berlin. There is also one for Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

*Resource: Fashion Revolution