5 achievable ways to become a more sustainable and mindful consumer

Sustainability comes in many shapes and sizes and while in the ideal world we would all be shopping Australian made, ethically sourced garments, not many can actually afford it as it can often come with a hefty price tag. However, there are many other ways you can be a more mindful and sustainable shopper, whatever your budget is.  

• Take good care of your garments, so they will serve you for longer, eliminating the need to constantly buy new pieces. Check out our blog posts on how to take care of your knits, coats and stylist must haves including inexpensive products like electric fabric shaves and lint rollers that will prolong and improve the appearance of your pieces.  

• Before buying a new item, make sure you can come up with at least three ways of how you are going to style it with your existing pieces. We can often get carried away when we see something new and exciting, or a big discount and make that impulse purchase that we have no idea how and when we are going to wear and it ends up sitting in our closet unworn.  

• Go through your wardrobe and come up with new and unexpected ways you can style something. Use websites like Pinterest for inspiration, where you can get quite specific. For example, if you have a red knit you are not sure how to style and your lifestyle is mostly casual, search ‘casual red knit outfits’ and you will be served with hundreds of outfit examples you can replicate or take inspiration from. Create a board on Pinterest or take screenshots of the outfits you like and shop your own wardrobe! When you have a collection of outfits you like, set aside 30 minutes, put on your favourite music and have a go at re-creating the outfits with your own pieces. Make sure you take photos of the outfits that you like, so you will have a library of your own outfit inspirations you can refer to later.  

• Have a go at repairing something – so many things get thrown away simply because of a minor issue such as a button is missing or there is a loose seam which can easily be fixed with a needle and thread, which you probably already own. If you are not sure, how to do something you can look it up online, or support a small local business and take it to a tailor or a repairs shop.  

• Focus on good quality staple pieces. Our clients often have trouble creating outfits because they invest too heavily into trends, but do not have staple pieces that help bring outfits together. As a rule of thumb your wardrobe should be 80% staples and 20% fun, trend pieces – this should make dressing much easier and you won’t be wasting your money and buying things unnecessarily because you feel like you have nothing to wear.  If you are not sure where to start, get your Threadicated stylist to assist you at identifying and filling the gaps in your wardrobe with a curated parcel that will be personalised and specific to your lifestyle, body shape and budget.