I recently read the book by Elizabeth Cline, “The Conscious Closet” and found myself completely inspired. I have always had a passion for fashion. In fact, my undergraduate degree is in Fashion Merchandising/Marketing. I have always combined my interest in fashion with my commitment to the environment by buying second hand clothes here and there. I love going to thrift stores and sifting through the items to find the true gems.
I knew that the fashion industry had serious environmental and social concerns but this book really opened my eyes to the hidden truth. Here are a few important facts I feel compelled to share:
The apparel industry employs hundreds of millions of people and is a 2.5 trillion dollar business. Elizabeth Cline shared that, “as much as 8% of carbon emissions are caused by fashion. A third of the micro plastic pollution junking up our oceans is coming from what we wear. A garbage truck’s worth of unwanted fashion is landfilled in the United States every two minutes.” She also shares that the majority of those working in fashion are not making a living wage.
Her book inspired me to make more of a commiment to building a consious wardrobe. As a result I have cleaned out my closet and dresser and folded all my clothes following Marie Kondo’s instructions in her books. More on that in another blog in the future. I then donated a few bags of items to my local Goodwill and sent off some to Thred Up for them to sell on my behalf. Next I decided to make the commitment to only buy second hand clothes for the rest of the year. As I stick to this commitment I will plan to share my journey here on this blog and on my instagram feed for @verde.chic
I hope you will follow up journey and even consider joining me to start creating your own Conscious Wardrobe.
Verde Chic 