HOW THE CAPSULE WARDROBE IS SAVING THE PLANET
So, you wake up in the morning, you have a few minutes to decide what to wear and you look at your closet, when BOOM! It hits you: you can’t find anything to wear.
You try on a few pieces and some of them do not fit well, you feel awful about yourself and think I need to lose weight, or I wish I had more money to buy expensive clothes and voilà problem solved.
What normally should take you a few minutes now becomes a daunting chore that will mostly make you frustrated and late for your 8 a.m. office meeting that could’ve been an email.
While you are on your lunch break you start browsing the internet because you think it’s time for new clothes even though your credit cards are full to the max from your last girls’ trip to Miami.
Well, there is a new minimalist trend that might be the solution: the capsule wardrobe.
What is a capsule wardrobe?
Maybe you have heard about this concept before or maybe you are wondering if this were something an astronaut would wear, and you are on the wrong website.
A capsule wardrobe is basically a collection of classic timeless pieces easily interchangeable whose main purpose is to maximize the number of outfits you can create with a small amount of clothes.
It is composed of around 15 to 30 pieces, the pieces are typically a couple of classic good quality t- shirts that go well with everything, a classic blazer, a little black dress that can be styled up or down, some knit wear, 2-3 pairs of staple jeans, a good waterproof puff jacket, a classic trench coat among others.
Benefits of a capsule wardrobe
- You will get ready faster
Having fewer options makes it easier to decide what to wear. Steve Jobs, Marc Zuckerberg, Bill Gates among other famous CEO have mastered the art of the capsule wardrobe. Some of them like Mark Zuckerberg are well-known even for owning several pairs of the same pieces and wear the same outfit every day to minimize decision fatigue.
- You will have more money
You will save money by investing once every 2-5 years in a few timeless pieces that will last longer, instead of buying clothes every single season sale. You will have more room in your budget to splurge occasionally in some good pair of sunglasses, handbag, or other statement pieces.
Maybe you don’t really care much about luxury or fashion, but still, you would enjoy travelling more or eat out more often. Saving money will always give you freedom to do more of the things that you love.
As a note you don’t have to buy expensive pieces to have a good quality capsule wardrobe, you can find really good quality pieces on a budget on these sites:
- You can help save the planet
Consumerism is one of the main contributors to the overfilling of landfills and pollution of the oceans. According to statistics you can find on the article 10 Concerning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics the average US consumer throws away 81.5 lbs. of clothes every year.
The number of times a garment is worn has declined by around 36% in 15 years; the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global wastewater. This means that the equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes ends in landfill sites.
When you buy less clothes, you are helping the environment by reducing overproduction, you are helping to stop child and or cheap labor, you are reducing waste, and chemicals disposed by textiles when they are dumped in our water and oceans.
How to build a capsule wardrobe
The most important step to create your own capsule wardrobe is to declutter. You can start by eliminating clothes that are stained; clothes whose colors make your skin look dull, or simply clothes that don’t fit you anymore and do not make you feel great, (yes, I am talking about that pair of jeans from college).
Give yourself time to get adjusted to your new wardrobe. If there are some pieces you do not feel ready to donate or sell, put them in a trash bag and wait 3 months, if you don’t want any of it you probably won’t use them nor miss them.
The next step is to organize everything in categories and invest, if necessary, in good quality pieces, that fit well, are good quality, and are classic and timeless. Make sure your closet and everything inside is clean and ironed or dry cleaned if necessary so you have everything ready to go. Remember that the main benefit of the capsule wardrobe is to make your life easier.
So, what can we do next? If you find the idea of trying a capsule wardrobe to simplistic and is not for you is totally fine. Maybe we can all adopt certain aspects of this minimalistic trend; at least we can try to reduce our consumption of fast fashion and adopt to more sustainable practices. Our planet will definitely thank us.
