At the dawn of 2019 my new years resolution was: “don’t buy any new clothes for one year.” Having grown up in a highly consumerist western society this shocked my friends, my family, and even made me wonder whether I could actually do it. Somehow resisting the temptation of buying useless clothes whilst having a closet filled with perfectly suitable attire seemed almost impossible.
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To be completely honest with you I did purchase the following items of clothing: 3 pairs of thermal underwear, 2 linen overalls, and 1 pair of yoga pants (they were all sourced from reliably sustainable brands). But despite my slight hiccups, I am quite proud of my anti-consumerist 2019. It taught me valuable lessons on how easily we succumb to dirty advertising and how we overuse the word “need.”
So at the beginning of 2020 here’s what I learnt and why I urge you to do the same:
- We live in a society where advertising is the only constant, avoiding it is almost impossible
- We are brainwashed into believing we need things we really do not need
- I now think about objects like I never did before: their carbon footprint, their supply chain, their life-cycle
- I tend to wear the same five outfits I like, I don’t need much else
- I started to appreciate clothes I own but never really wore
- It is really easy to repair old clothes
I hope this will inspire many to #boycottfashion and take it on as their 2020 new years resolution!
