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How to Make Our Wardrobes More Sustainable
Brooke Bowlin wants to help people see the benefits and rewards of more sustainable choices.
Brooke Bowlin is a sustainable fashion advocate living in Kansas City, Missouri. She has been in the industry since 2018 when she started a secondhand clothing store. For the last four years, she has educated around better fashion industry and climate practices for consumers and brands. She does this via social media, her newsletter and website Nuance Required which aim to discuss the issues of sustainability in fashion and beyond in ways that honor their complexity.
You first got into sustainable style through your own secondhand business. How did you get into selling secondhand and how did it affect your view on the fashion industry?
I opened my secondhand clothing business to address the friction in the clothing disposal process, one that often requires a lot of work for the consumer to get rid of their clothes with little personal return. While my initial intent of the business was to make it easier to get rid of clothing, I quickly shifted to a more sustainable mission. In confronting the excess of fashion consumption firsthand through my store, it was clear that our cultural mindset around fashion was problematic as well as the industry practices that churned out masses of cheap clothing. I realized the importance of education in creating a cultural shift in fashion and in addressing the climate crisis, inspiring a lot of what I do today. I’ve been working in sustainable media and beyond.
What does sustainable style mean to you?
Sustainable style is about wearing clothing in ways that reflect the values of honoring the people that have crafted the clothing and the planetary resources that went into making them. This means acknowledging that garment making is a skilled craft that deserves to be valued financially and in our mindset around clothing. This translates to doing everything we can to care for, repair, and extend the life of our clothing. It means sourcing clothing secondhand as not to extract more resources from the planet when suitable options already exist. Finally, it means buying new garments from places that treat their workers well and carefully designing their pieces with circular practices that reduce waste and harm to the environment.
How have you personally made your wardrobe more sustainable?
First and foremost, I’ve held onto a lot of clothing for years. I didn’t start over with my closet when I learned about the need for a more sustainable wardrobe; I simply worked to make the most of what I had and then thrifted clothing when I had needs. My favorite avenue for sourcing sustainable clothing is vintage fashion, so I’ve slowly amassed a mostly vintage closet over the years, picking out pieces that reflect my style that I know I’ll love for years to come.
What are some ways to make your wardrobe more sustainable?
One of the best things you can do to protect the environment with your fashion choices is to wear your existing clothing for longer. Therefore, it’s helpful to evaluate your current fashion habits and explore how you can tap into the potential of the clothes you already own. Wearing our clothes for as long as possible requires us to engage in clothing care practices (proper storage and laundry habits) as well as repair.
Learn how to do basic mends yourself or take your pieces to your local sewist. You can also upcycle and repurpose items that don’t work for you anymore in their current form.
Another part of making the most out of your wardrobe is fostering your creativity with the clothes you already have. Reorganize your closet and remind yourself of all the abundance already available to you. Take and save outfit pictures so you have a digital library of looks you love. Challenge yourself to wear old pieces in new ways. Try the unlikely outfit combination. There are so many ways to approach your wardrobe sustainably and creatively that don’t have to involve shopping at all. How to keep enjoying fashion and clothes while being more sustainable?
I actually think fashion gets more enjoyable when we pursue it sustainably. A sustainable mindset means disconnecting ourselves and our shopping habits from consumerist trend cycles. Instead of being bound to what’s “in” or what the market currently deems stylish, we can embrace a wardrobe that’s open to drawing inspiration from any era of fashion. We can be more imaginative and expansive about fashion— what it looks like to us, where we get it from, how to keep items in use, and how we can do it in ways that stick to our values. We get to lean into clothing we truly enjoy wearing and discover personal style that is in more alignment with how we want to use clothing to express ourselves. This is way more enjoyable, creative, and rewarding than just buying what’s on trend off the rack.
What do you think are the biggest challenges of making our wardrobes more sustainable?
We live in a culture that has normalized overconsumption and is sending all sorts of messages that encourage us to shop all the time. Gen Z grew up in a world where fast fashion has been the norm, and fast fashion has really warped our views of how much clothing should cost, the level of quality (or lack thereof) we can expect of our clothes, and how often we can and should shop.
To become more sustainable as individuals and as a culture, we have to rethink everything that has been sold to us as normal. The reality is that there’s nothing natural about complex garments that travel the world to be made only being worth $10 or the making, buying, and tossing clothing in the span of weeks when the item will exist for centuries on this planet. The biggest challenge is to unlearn a consumerist, disposable mindset around fashion that has been so ingrained in us. We have to actively choose to disengage and not participate, which is really hard when our society does everything it can to make it attractive and easy to buy our way through life.
What are the benefits of having a sustainable style and wardrobe?
Pursuing a more sustainable wardrobe and lifestyle has so many personal benefits. Here are 2 bigs ones that I hear the most from people who have adopted sustainable fashion practices:
1. Saving money. While many assume that sustainability is expensive, it saves us money. This is primarily because we break up with our overconsumption habits and shop less overall.
Additionally, a core element of sustainable fashion is prioritizing using what exists. This means borrowing, swapping, and seeking secondhand sources before buying new. This is inherently a cost-saver.
2. Better personal style. When we disconnect from the rapid trend cycles of modern consumption, we aren’t so swayed by what marketing wants us to like and buy. This allows us the opportunity to tune into our personal style rather than the fleeting looks pushed by social media and brands. We have the space to explore how clothing can support our unique personal expression, identity, and lifestyle.
How about the bigger picture: how sustainable life and lifestyle can improve your life?
Again, so many benefits!
1. A sense of freedom. Not only can a sustainable living mindset give us a better sense of personal style and self, it also frees up our head space. We don’t waste as much mental energy chasing trends. We can resist marketing pressures more easily. We also don’t spend as much time shopping. The time and cost savings frees us up to pursue avenues that better support the lives we really want to live.
2. Less clutter. When we slow down consumption and prioritize using what exists, we collect less physical goods. We aren’t surrounded by the clutter of regrettable impulse buys and purchases that go unused. We can embrace simplicity and creativity.
3. Living in alignment with our values. Our capitalist, individualist, consumer culture can push us to act at odds with our own values. Living sustainability provides the opportunity to live in better alignment with our personal values that seek to care for the planet and the people who live on it. This comes with mental health and community benefits!
Follow Brooke on Instagram
@nuance.required @secondhand.sustainability
60s white wicker bag