I have started this journey in January this year and today is the 31st of December!!!. I’m so proud of my self that I have completed my pledge of No shopping for fashion items for a whole year without a fail!!!
Every year around this time, we make new year’s resolution. Some of us succeed and others fail miserably before the end of January. I must confess I have been the later ones so many times and didn’t follow through my resolutions.
But this year was different and it was my first ever new year’s resolution that I have completed with a great success.(padding myself on the back)
Nevertheless, this journey was full of doubts and constant struggles against temptations.I wanted to share with you how my journey went? What were the challenges that I have faced and how I over came them? What lessons I took from this challenge?
When I first told my family and close friends that I was doing this pledge, they all thought I lost my mind!!. Despite their initial shock, they trusted my stubborn mind and believed that I will be able to get through this challenge.
You must be thinking “How can any woman survive without shopping for an entire week let alone a whole year?!!. Well I did it and I am still alive to tell the story!
NO FAHION SHOPPING FOR 365 DAYS
THE EMOTIONAL STRUGGLES
So the first 3 weeks of the pledge was very hard, specially when we went to stores to shop for kids . Walking in stores and seeing all the SALE signs and new collections was difficult. But whenever I felt weak and wanted to just give up on the pledge, I reminded my self why I started this challenge. Another policy I followed was that , the moment i found a garment that I liked , I would remind myself do I really needed or just want to have it.
After the three weeks period, I could walk in and out of stores without feeling the temptation and the urge to shop. I think this was my detoxing period where I was cleansing from my attachments to shopping.
I really had all the intention to vlog and document details of my trips to shops and how I felt but it was really hard with two young small children. But here is a summary of my whole journey, the challenges, the lessons and tips how to become a sustainable supporter.
THE TEMPTATIONS & CHALLENGES
You see before this challenge, I wasn’t a big shopper anyway but still I would buy something if i went to shops even if I really didn’t need it. My greatest temptations of this challenge came mainly from my family and friends and not myself. My husband tried several times to talk me out of this crazy challenge. He thought I was depriving myself from buying nice stuff. Specially when he and kids got to shop and I couldn’t buy anything. I’m going to be honest its much harder to convince others that this was something i really wanted to do and I wasn’t forcing myself.
On of the hardest thing I had to over come was, when people say something like “ just get this one item, it won’t cause any harm”. I’m not going to lie, I had moments when I thought to myself “Oh I really want to buy this shirt or that dress”, but I would quickly snap out of that mindset.
We celebrated this year our 10th wedding anniversary and I must admit a little bit of me really wanted to buy a nice garment fit for the occasion. But I had stick to my pledge and not fail and that was my proudest moment. Not being able to shop at special occasions, such as birthdays, wedding anniversary, Eid.....etc was very difficult but doable.
Since I was allowed to receive gifts, my sister has designed and made me several outfits for EID. My condition to accept these gifts was that she can only use fabrics that she already had in stock and not purchase new ones.
BUNO DESIGN Reversible Kimono Jacket and WIde leg Trousers costume made for me by my sister Amnna for EID celebrations.
BUNO DESIGN Reversible Kimono jacket and jumpsuit costume made gift from my sister Amnna for EID.
This costume made dress by BUNO GOWNS was gifted to me by my sister Sara, to attend a wedding. I always love getting my sister's clothes.
LESSONS THAT I LEARNED
Often it is self doubt that is preventing us from pursuing our dreams and goals. This challenges has taught me few important lessons that i wanted to share with you .
I learned the importance of self discipline and how apply it on my daily habits. I also learned to trust my capabilities in setting goals and achieving them no matter how hard these goals may seem. It was a journey of self discovery, where I learned my strengths and weaknesses. It really gave me confidence to push any boundaries without the fear of failures. I learned to distinguish my wants Vs my needs. This was an eye opening experience to wider aspects of our lives. We take the little things like having clothes, food and roof over our head for granted. I chose to this pledge but what about those who actually can not buy clothes that they need. Do we think about those people, or the ones who make our clothes and can never afford to buy it!.
I remember one day we were in a big shopping mall in Toronto, and as we were walking I stopped and just scanned all the stores around us. I froze, because I was overwhelmed for the first time of my life by all these clothes in each shop. I asked my husband do you know how much clothes are in this mall? multiply by all the malls in the city !!! How much of all these clothes will end up in landfill??. It is crazy that I never paused and thought about this before. We keep moving ,buying, consuming and throwing away clothes without a single thought of it all.
The reason I started this pledge was to understand the challenges that faces the average person against fast fashion and consumerism culture . I know my journey was to the extreme level and not every one would be able to get through it. But my aim is to educate others that we are all able to cut fashion waste by making small or big changes into our shopping habits.
HOW TO CUT DOWN ON FASHION WASTE?
1. SORT OUT CLOTHES
In order to cut down fashion waste , first we need to sort out our wardrobe and figure out what to keep. In order do do that you will need to sort your clothes into three sections;
To keep.
To donate
To Recycle and Re-purpose
Sort out clothes into piles of the same type, e.g knitwear, shirts, skirts, tops.......etc
DIY Jewelry Display Board for all my necklaces and hanged all my tops and jackets. Stored all my trousers and knitwear on the top shelf.
I have small space and I had to clear out all the clothes that I didn't need. Not only it was visually easier to see everything I owned, but it saved me tremendous time when getting ready. It was so easy to put an outfit together effortlessly . Once I was done with the clothes, I made myself a DIY board and hanged all my Necklaces( As yo can see I have a deep love for Necklaces). YES!! It felt amazing and so light to have less clothes and clutter free.
2. CREATE
Here are some great posts by to inspire you how to build a capsule wardrobe.
3. DONATE
If you haven’t used an item for more than 12 months , then donate it to Shelters or local charities that gives back directly to the needy.
4. RECYCLE AND UP-CYCLE OLD ITEMS
This pledge has allowed me to work on my unfinished recycling projects which I will share with you in the next blog post. It was also a great opportunity to get inspired by other fellow DIY and recycling lovers. Here are some of my favourite pinterest websites to inspire you for recycling and up-cycling clothes.
This is a simple and easy DIY project where an old Jersey T Shirt is turned into Pencil Skirt .
5. HOST SWAP PARTY
Host swap party with family and friends to clean out your closet and make some money!!!
Host swap party
6.TAKE A GOOD CARE OF YOUR CLOTHES
To make clothes last longer, you need to take care of them when doing the laundry. A good laundry practice will give clothes longer life span, thus decreasing fashion waste and saving you money in the long run.
WHAT ABOUT FOOTWEAR, BAGS AND JEWELRY ?
FOOTWEAR
The footwear industry has a massive carbon footprint and many chemicals used to produce shoes are released into our environment. It takes more than 50 years
“... with conservative estimates suggesting that the average pair takes more than 50 years to fully decompose”. according to Business Green.
So what can we do to reduce footwear wastage ? This is a tough one, because of the nature of the product , but here are some steps we can all take to do our part to reduce footwear wastage in the landfills;
Buy high quality footwear that lasts longer and can be passed down.
Donate and swap old shoes.
Recycle and up-cycle, yes! you can recycle shoes ( Pinterest has some amazing ideas how to up-cycle shoes).
Shop consciously and support sustainable footwear brands. Many brands are taking initiatives towards recycling and reusability of footwear products. Here are 16 Ethical & Fair Trade Shoe Brands For Every Occasion.
Oliberté, Known as the world’s only Fair Trade Certified footwear manufacturing factory.Based In | Addis Adaba, Ethiopia
JEWELRY
Jewelry is another tricky one when it comes to reducing fashion waste but there are few things we can do to cut its wastage;
Repair broken jewelry and do not throw it away.
Avoid cheaply made jewelry which is prone to get ruined easily.
Gold, sliver and platinum have high value in the market and can be recycled.
Recycle Jewelry and Re-purpose them ( Read here ;How To Recycle Jewelry)
Buy high quality handmade jewelry from small business.
Donate old jewelry to charities or give them to family or friends.
Beads from broken necklaces and bracelets could be useful for local craft projects.
Repair broken jewellery instead of throwing them away
HAND BAGS & PURSES
I find hand bags and purses to be the most difficult items to be recycled because of the materials that they are made off . So what can we do to reduce fashion wastage from bags and purses?
Sophia Bennet has written an extensive blog post dedicated to how to recycle bags and purses and keep them out of landfills. Read here:
I Hope these ideas and tips were insightful and helpful for your own journey of becoming a sustainable fashionista. If you have any other topics related to sustainable fashion, please do send me an email at info@bunodesign.com and I will try my best to write about it.
As it is the New Year, wishing you all the best for 2018. Let's rock this year.....Join the movement and support local and handmade brands. Until next adventure and challenge adios ...............................