The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good by Elizabeth L. Cline

I came across this book on a blog post about the best books to read about sustainability and I thought, “This is it! This is what I am all about!” I love fashion but I also strive everyday to do better as a conscious consumer. From the foods that I eat (or don’t eat re: meat) to how I shop for groceries (no plastic produce bags) to how I shop for my clothes (thrift stores & secondhand) this is the very idea behind the Corporate Crunchy blog.  So, I began reading The Conscious Closet and holy cow it read like my own personal manefesto!

The Price of Fast (Cheap) Fashion

Deep down I always knew that something was not quite right about being able to walk into a store like Forever 21 or H&M and buy a bunch of on-trend new clothes for next to nothing. But the fashionista in me didn’t want to acknowledge the dark side of so-called fast fashion. On the very first page of The Conscious Closet, I learned that.

• As much as 8 percent of carbon emissions are caused by fashion.
• A third of the microplastic pollution in the oceans comes from our clothes.
• A garbage truck worth of unwanted fashion goes into landfills every 2 minutes here in the US.

Being kind to the planet is about more than just what we drive or whether we use plastic bags at the grocery store. One of the most ubiquitous items in our home, our clothes, have a huge impact on the environment. 

Better Buying Choices

My training as a shopper started early. I come from a long line of shoppers on both sides of my family. One thing I learned early on was to never pay full price. Always look for the deal! Therefore, I would shop a lot at places like Marshalls or TJ Maxx where I figured I could get good quality for a low price. And that is still true….sometimes. By now we all know that those tags that show the “full retail price” are full of made up numbers. So it turns out that I may not be getting as great a bargain as I once thought. In The Conscious Closet, Cline spells out how to build a wardrobe full of quality pieces. You don’t have to have a large budget to do this either. There are so many options: thrift stores, resale sites/apps, renting clothes, etc.

Since I started thrifting and reselling, I rarely buy clothes for myself at a regular retail store. Instead, I tend to pick up most of my new items either from a thrift store or an app like Poshmark or Mercari. I get most of my family’s clothes this way too. But…..what I have noticed is that in my zeal to make profitable flips, I sell all the best stuff I find and I tend to keep all the cheap clothing for myself. Don’t I deserve to have nice things too? And, since I know how to source quality items, why don’t I choose any of them for myself? I have exactly zero designer clothes in my closet. So now I am thinking long and hard about keeping the Dolce & Gabanna blouse and Roberto Cavelli blazer that I scored for $2 each! They are classic styles and cuts that will last me forever should I choose to hang onto them. Hmmm…decisions, decisions!

Swapping & Renting

I had already heard about rental services like Rent The Runway but I didn’t realize that everyday clothes can be rented as well. The idea may seem strange at first, but think about it. If you pay full price for a top or a jacket that you wear less than a handful of times, why make the long term investment…only to have it sit in your closet for years to come? In The Concious Closet, Cline interviews a woman who rents her professional work wardrobe. Which actually makes a lot of sense, especially if you work in a high profile job and need to “look the part”. But for someone like me, who works at home and doesn’t need a fancy suit or dress for a board meeting, I think I will skip rentals for now. For a future special occasion like a wedding or gala…sure!

In the book, Cline also outlines how to host your own clothing swap. The challenge for me is that I don’t know a lot of people my size (I am very petite!) so I never considered swapping a real option for me. But, based on. her suggestions, I could host a clothing swap at my church, for example, and that would allow lots of folks to get what they need whether it is for their kids or themselves. To host your own clothing swap, The Conscious Closet lays out 5 steps:

1. Choose your space and gather supplies such as racks, tables, and mirrors.
2. Create acceptance policies for what you will allow for swaps and whether you’ll use a ticket or other system. 
3. Have a point person to tidy things up during the swap.
4. Decide what happens to leftover clothes. Donate or allow the donor to reclaim at the end of the swap.
5. Educate. Consider adding a take-home message such as, “For every t-shirt we swap, we save the planet 2168 gallons of water!”

Capsule Wardrobe

I’ve seen the “capsule wardrobe” posts on Pinterest and thought…no way! Yes, certainly there are classic pieces that I believe should be part of my wardrobe but the idea of a capsule wardrobe is very restrictive to me. I like to experiment a little with fashion sometimes….even at the ripe old age of 49! But, in The Conscious Closet, Cline lays out some options for a capsule wardrobe that doesn’t have to feel restrictive. 

• Have a core set of capsule items at the heart of your wardrobe that you can pair with most of the rest of your clothes. 
• Renting or thrifting and reselling is a great way to change things up but keeps your closet lean and mean. 
• Only build a capsule wardrobe for certain occasions such as a work capsule wardrobe or a travel capsule wardrobe. Just imagine how much time you’ll save by always having core pieces that you pack that all go with each other. I did something like this during my last summer vacation. Everything I packed was in the white, grey, blue, black, dark green color palette and everything went together. I still overpacked though!

Now What?

Truth be told, I haven’t finished the whole book yet!  I know, I know….but it is so meaty I just had to stop and share what I love about it so far. I’m looking forward to learning more about mending and sustainable clothing brands in the later part of the book!

As for what’s next? Continuing to audit my closet and only keeping the things that I truly love to wear. If I am unsure about something, I use my 6 Ways to Shop Your Closet tips and 5 Outfit Inspiration Ideas to make outfits out of what I already have.

In addition to The Conscious Closet, I’ve added some additional books to my “want to read” list including: Wear No Evil, Fashionopolis, Cradle to Cradle, Wardrobe Crisis, and Overdressed. 

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? What are some other ways we can enjoy sustainable style? Drop a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!