Find two easy ways that anyone, no matter what their budget, can create a more sustainable wardrobe for themselves and their family. Plus a bonus way for those who are willing to get stuck in.

For the past few years the focus on sustainable fashion has increased tremendously. Fast fashion is out, slow fashion is in. Knowing that is one step but how to actually implement that knowledge in your daily life to create a sustainable wardrobe?
Todays guest is one of my friends I usually go to when I have questions about sustainable (baby) products.
She is the reusable nappy queen, a fanatic reader, and a great seamstress. Her carefully sewn creations impress me every time.
We don’t all have the budget to buy our clothes from sustainable brands. Kate is here to show you that you don’t need to splash your cash to clothe yourself and your family more sustainably.
She mentions two easy and cheap ways that you can implement right now and one more involved way for those who are willing to get stuck in. Keep reading to get inspired and to find some very useful resources.
A SUSTAINABLE WARDROBE
The environmental damage caused by the global clothing trade is becoming increasingly publicised, with the tremendous damage it causes to both planet and people cropping up in news stories and documentaries.
Just a few minutes’ Googling will reveal shocking statistics and horrifying photographs of the industry’s impact – check out one of the most famous examples, the Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, if you are not already familiar with it.
Yet the fast fashion industry continues to thrive.

Like many, I love clothes but find their environmental impact troubling. So, over the last few years I have become quite passionate about discovering environmentally sound ways to clothe our bodies in this aesthetically-conscious, image-driven world.
There are a growing number of companies creating beautiful, ethically produced attire, but this is not really what I am going to focus on.
Instead, I am going to consider two easy ways that anyone, no matter what their budget, can clothe themselves and their family more sustainably, and a third way that those who are particularly interested in fashion might consider.
SHOP SECOND HAND
Most of us will be familiar with second-hand shopping as being one of the most sustainable ways to acquire clothing and, thankfully, thrifting is becoming more mainstream. It is an excellent approach because it gives new life to otherwise unwanted garments and reduces the need for the production of new garments.
Charity shops are the traditional way of shopping second-hand, but the abundance of pre-loved clothing shops online is a real goldmine.

Some of my favourites are those for children, as little people get through so many clothes as they grow:
- https://growthspurtz.co.uk/ is a very budget-friendly resource with a huge selection of items, and is particularly great for sourcing cute Christmas clothes.
- https://www.bundlz.co.uk/ has a smaller stock but sells clothing in co-ordinating bundles, which is convenient and good value.
- https://www.worninwardrobe.com/ has brilliant, high-quality clothing that often comes as good as new.
For adults, eBay and Depop are probably the most obvious options, though Depop has been controversial for inadvertently encouraging the culture of wearing clothes only once before discarding them.
Personally, I like https://www.haru.co.uk/ which has a beautiful range including designer and vintage brands.
KNOW WHAT YOU LIKE
The concept of ‘personal style’ is an old one, and you might wonder how it is pertinent to sustainability.
Consider: how many of us have piles of garments that we rarely wear? Or have bought something because it was on sale, but then don’t feel right wearing it?
How many of us buy things because we like the way a trend looks on someone else? Or because they’re a ‘wardrobe staple’ even if they’re not something we actually enjoy wearing?
The solution is to learn what you actually, genuinely, like – which clothes make you feel most like yourself, most comfortable in your skin.

For me, this has been life-changing: the motivation to shop is no longer there because I love all the garment choices available to me at home. I am far more critical of items in shops or online, so impulse purchases are a thing of the past.
I also have the space now to store my clothes neatly, which means they are better cared-for and last longer. Thus, I consume far less.
There are three resources I have found particularly useful:
- Marie Kondo’s books ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ and ‘Spark Joy’. Following her method for going through your clothes and keeping only what you love opened my eyes to my tastes – I donated well over half my clothes.
- The e-book ‘Dressed’ from pattern company Deer and Doe. While predominantly being a dressmaking manual, the introductory chapters contain excellent resources to help the reader determine what they like, what they need, and what suits them. This helped me refine what I discovered when tidying my clothes. For a similar but free resource, check out ‘Episode 108 – Create Your Dream Wardrobe’ of the Love To Sew podcast.
- Pinterest. Adapting an idea from ‘Dressed’, I made three collections of pins: outfits I liked for warm weather, mild weather and cold weather. I restricted myself to fifty pins for each and was very selective. This was the most useful exercise for becoming more critical when considering a new garment purchase.
Taking some time to understand which clothes make you feel fantastic is at the heart of a sustainable wardrobe: it is the antithesis to the fast fashion movement which relies upon disposability, instead encouraging people to curate wardrobes that they truly love, add to sparingly and care for carefully.
CONSIDER MAKING YOUR OWN
The ultimate slow fashion choice is to make your own clothes. Of course, this is a time-consuming hobby and can be expensive.

But, particularly if you are someone who really loves fashion, it has a number of points in its favour when it comes to supporting a more sustainable wardrobe.
- Sewing clothing takes time: if you choose to make your own, your acquisition rate will necessarily be slow.
- The more slowly and carefully you create a garment, the better its quality and detail, thus producing a beautiful and enduring piece that will last for years and years.
- Making your own is the very best way to curate a wardrobe that contains only items you really love (and that fit you impeccably).
- A self-made garment is a treasure: there is so much more motivation to care for it carefully and make it last.
- Sewing also provides the skills to mend clothing properly, which increases its longevity. This is enhanced when you have made the item in question and understand its construction.
- Because the shipping of fabric to garment factory, and factory to shop, is cut out, your clothes’ carbon footprint will be vastly reduced.
- You also have far more control over fabric choice and can support sustainable textile production.
- There are no garment factories involved, cutting the support for sweat shops and slavery that dominate the global fashion trade.
I believe that the key to an environmentally sound wardrobe is not so much what you buy and where you buy it, but what your attitude to clothing is. Invest time, energy and love in your wardrobe and it will, by default, become more sustainable.
For more on dressmaking and sustainability, look out for another blog post from me later this year!
Follow Kate on Instagram to see her sewing creations. If you are keen to (further) develop your sewing skills, check out the following websites that Kate recommends: Modern Sewing Co., Tilly and the Buttons, Ready to Sew, and Matchy Matchy Sewing Club.