How to shop #nowaste? Five steps to sustainable fashion

Hey girls, hands up if you’ve ever heard of the #nowaste slogan? Great,now let’s be honest: how many of you eventually change something in your life according to that philosophy? Hmm… it seems that there is still a journey ahead of us! Easy, we are not planning a revolution! We believe that huge changes start with small steps – and a decision is required to make the first step. That’s all you have to do today. What do you say? Are you up for challenging yourself by building new habits?

What does #nowaste really mean?

The literal meaning – “no trash” – is not far from what the concept represents. In comparison to everyday life though, it means a lifestyle that reduces the production of waste to the bare minimum. Sounds extreme? No worries, we’re far from orthodoxy! That is why, before I share our patents with you, I’d like to introduce two important rules that you should incorporate into your daily lifestyle while building your new habits:

1. Don’t beat yourself up because of a single failure – they will keep happening! It’s important not to get hung up about the fact that you’ve brought your groceries home in a plastic bag at times. It’s important that you make the effort to work on your good habits. They are meant to make you feel good about your decisions, not  make you feel frustrated with the occasional lapse.

2. Your health is the most important – so make sure not to neglect it! Even if it sometimes means buying a second pair of gloves because you forgot your pair at home and it’s freezing outside.

I hope it makes the challenge a little easier! Let’s do it!

Don’t tell me you have nothing to wear.

For several years already, the amount of clothes being produced has been growing disproportionately to the time that the clothes are worn. In other words, we are manufacturing more clothes and we are wearing them for less time, ignoring the impact that the fashion industry has on our planet. In order to produce a t-shirt, you need to use 2700 liters of water… that’s the amount an average person drinks in three years! So before you head off to another sale, give it a thought. Maybe you could...

...organize a swap party with your friends?

Instead of keeping unwanted clothes in the bottom of your closet, exchange them with your girlfriends! I’m sure that at least a few of them have a similar problem and would be happy to give away a couple of pairs of trousers or dresses. This is a great occasion to talk about our attitude to fashion, shopping and following trends. Get your girlfriends together and throw a swap party this weekend! Tip for mums: definitely include your baby’s clothing and toys!

… donate your clothes to the poor?

You bought it, wore it twice and now it’s just collecting dust. It’s not your style anymore. You changed to a different size. I bet there is quite a large pile of clothes that somehow ended up in your garderobe but you sure won’t be wearing them ever again. Are most of them still in good condition? You can easily free up some room in your closet and do a good deed, all in one. Find out where the closest NGO charity is located. Call the social care institution in your neighbourhood or browse for a local donation online. Wash and iron your clothes, pack them in boxes and go and make somebody’s day!

… think twice if you really need it?

When it comes to shopping for clothes, we tend to buy the stuff that we want, not necessarily what we actually need. How many times were you looking to buy shoes and you came home with a skirt and two cardigans? Hard question alert: did you really need any of these things? The shoes apparently weren’t that urgently needed either. Each new thing requires some space in your closet which means that if you don’t want to be forced to buy a new closet one day (and you won’t!), consider giving away one old thing every time you buy a new one.

It may seem extreme at first, but it’s actually very handy to create a closet inventory. Go ahead and laugh about it – I’m about to get to the point. Often, even despite having a really impressive closet, you face a problem with picking your outfit. I bet that most of us experience the same problem. Writing everything down on a piece of paper (or in an excel file) allows you to realize which piece of garderobe is missing before you create universal outfits. Maybe you have too many pairs of jeans but no shirts? Maybe you’re missing a good quality belt because you invested in a collection of twenty scarfs? Maybe the colors are the problem – you own too many clothes in aggressive tones that are too difficult to match. The list that you end up with will later do wonders for you when you shop. It may turn out that you only need two things to be able to mix and match most of your clothes and create dozens of new combinations.

… have a look at the label before you get to the counter?

It’s important to support local manufacturing and buy clothes from national brands (or at least ones that are produced in Europe). In practise it means cutting down on shopping in chain stores. However, more and more corporations are looking for more sustainable alternatives than cheap labour in Asia, so there is a chance for a quick improvement. If you’re not sure where your favourite clothes are being produced, look for the information on the brand website, it’s often there. If you can’t find it, don’t hesitate to ask your brand openly on social media: who made my clothes?

… not take a bag from every store?

Got it, it’s also my dream to parade through the city like Carrie Bradshaw during summer sale but if all your shopping fits in two bags, isn’t it silly to use eight? You’re going to throw them all away right after you get home so what difference does it really make? It makes a huge one for the planet.

Examination of conscience

It’s easy to give away pieces of advice, but it’s much harder to look in the mirror and honestly evaluate yourself. Nethertheless, we’re up for the challenge! We believe that transparency is one of the most important assets of a brand!

Let me give you an overview of our approach to production. When we work on a new design for Second You, we make sure it can last for a number of seasons. We focus on making it timeless and lasting. That’s why we always release a lot of models in black, we often introduce sets with the same patterns and clothes that can easily mix and match. We also take care to ensure the durability of the clothes – it’s important that they look terrific after dozens of trainings and wash-ups.

In sports clothes production, it is difficult to stick to natural fabrics. Second You clothes are manufactured with sports, “breathing” knit, including elastane and polyester. Admittedly, these are synthetic fabrics but are designed with sports fashion in mind, they absorb moisture and are gentle for the skin. We select only the “safe for the environment” fabric, which is our main priority.

We’re taking further steps towards more sustainable production – our upcoming spring collection will be fully produced with recycled textiles. On the New Year’s resolution lists for 2019 there will be our first experiments with organic cotton.

Second You clothes are available online only, so another challenge that we face is shipping. We managed to quit using bubble wrap and have replaced plastic packages with paper protection. Unfortunately, we still use plastic bags in order to protect our packages from the moisture and other poundings typical for long-distance shipping. As you might have noticed, we also stopped including paper confirmations of the purchase and other documents. A full set of docs can be found on the website, after you log into your account.

Second You announce #nowaste action!

There’s no point for the pieces from our older collection to be buried in the stock room. We definitely prefer them to make you happy – lighten up the mood on a cloudy day, and motivate you during training sessions and excite your imagination. That’s why we have initiated the #nowaste sale – a new tab in our store where you can find all the clothes from previous collections (often single pieces!) at very attractive prices!

That’s not all! We’re setting up another promo code for all the items from the #nowaste sale tab. In order to receive the special code, make sure to join our mailing list and check your inbox in a few days. Help us fight for sustainable fashion!

Unsatisfied? #nowaste is not just for fashion

A sustainable lifestyle means deliberate decisions on every ground – groceries, personal care or free time. Checking your fridge before weekly food shopping or planning a menu for upcoming days can help you to cut down on the amount of food that’s being wasted. I strongly encourage you to ask your mum and grandma for their tips on preserving food. Preserves are back in fashion, and home-made soup can really save your evening after a hard day at work. Too much leftover food? Look around for a social fridge or join a facebook group that shares the food with your neighbours.

Self-care #nowaste style is a very personal thing – some of us need to use special medication only available in plastic packages, and there is no reason to feel bad about it.

It’s important to make sustainable choices when it comes to the situations where we can have impact. For instance, replace shower gels and shampoos for cosmetics in bars (I can honestly recommend it – it works wonders if you often travel with hand luggage). You can cut down on the number of cotton pads you use by switching to spray bottles (this form of tonic application is much better for the skin as well). I also recommend that you replace every second sheet mask with a home-made one, using what you can find in the fridge. Yumm!

Girls, if you manage to make it till the end I owe you a high five. I’m delighted that you are up for a challenge and that you will do your best to implement sustainable habits into your lifestyle. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Ola