While there’s still a few days left in August, I’m certain I’m done shopping for this month. I’m finally winding down my quest to obtain summer clothes. Here are the last few things I bought for this season.
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Wardrobe Buys
Pact Coastal Daily Short and matching tank top – I reviewed both in this recent post. I’ve been wearing this set as I work from home. (Unless I have a video call. Then I change out of the tank top into a more work-appropriate top.)
Pact Field Reversible Tank Top (It’s sold out, but I’m leaving this link here in case it pops back into stock) – I raved about this top when I first bought one in yellow earlier this year. At the time, I wanted to buy it in another color, but the neutral cream color I was after was sold out. Luckily for me, one popped up in my size when I was shopping for the shorts and tank top above.
Nisolo Go-To Flatform Sandal – This is my first purchase from this ethical brand. I’d been looking for a minimalist sandal that had some lift from the ground. The 1″ height is perfect. I went for the colorblocked colorway. Happily, it’s comfortable and goes with everything.
Nisolo Canvas Tote – At first I wasn’t sure I was going to keep this as I already own a good number of totes. (And I mean in terms of nicer ones I paid money for. I’m not even counting freebies.) But none of the canvas totes I owned were black. A strange wardrobe gap for someone who wears a lot of black! Well, this bag fixed that.
Wardrobe Subtractions
Kicked a skirt and shirt out of the wardrobe for fit. They’re both too small now. Plus the shirt was slim to begin with. I just don’t like to wear things so tight anymore. I’ve now removed as many items as I have brought in to my closet this year.
Welcome Objects 2022 Wardrobe Count To Date
Additions: 20 (I have now officially surpassed the number of items I bought in 2021)
Number of Additions That Are Secondhand: 4
Subtractions: 21
What I Read in Fashion, Sustainability, & Cleaning
A New York Times profile on Eileen Fisher – I respect this OG of sustainable fashion.
“In an industry in which, by some measures, a truckload of clothes is burned or buried in a landfill every second, she was an early pioneer of environmentalism as a core brand value. She’s a founder of a company who, in 2006, decided that rather than taking her business public, or getting acquired, she would transfer ownership to her employees instead.”
Are clothes made from recycled materials really more sustainable? – A friend was proudly telling me how she bought some shoes made out of recycled plastic bottles. I had to break it to her that recycled plastic clothing is not that green. It’s more like greenwashing. I only became educated on this myself in the past year or so. The Guardian story I linked to goes into detail, but basically PET bottles are part of a closed-loop recycling system where they can be recycled at least 10 times.
“The apparel industry is “taking from this closed-loop, and moving it into this linear system” because most of those clothes won’t be recycled, said Bédat. Converting plastic from bottles into clothes may actually accelerate its path to the landfill, especially for low-quality, fast-fashion garments which are often discarded after only a few uses.”
A writer recalls in The Cut how she ditched 40% of her wardrobe. – In rebuilding it, she’s looking to Amy Smilovic, the founder and creative director of Tibi for guidance. I started following Smilovic on Instagram recently-ish too, after Xin wrote about Smilovic’s approach to personal style.
Your towels are way dirtier than you think. – This is an old article, but I looked it up after some friends and I discussed how often you should wash towels. We thought once a week was good, but apparently you should be swapping out your towels every two days. Two days! That seems excessive to me. But the reason for two days is that a microbiologist found that “nearly 90% of bathroom towels were contaminated with coliform bacteria and about 14% carried E. coli.” Ewww. I don’t even have enough towels to swap them out that often, though. And it seems like a lot of water. How often do you change your towels?
Hi there! I have struggled to minimize my shopping, but have changed most of my shopping to secondhand, which has made my wardrobe more diverse. That is fascinating about the recycled PET clothing. I have a pair of Rothy’s flats I got as a gift a few years ago. I don’t know that I’d rush to get more (I prefer natural materials), but disrupting a closed loop isn’t ideal and will be a consideration going forward for, say, fleece or poly-fill coats.
We wash towels once a week, bedding every other week.
Shopping secondhand is great! I’m trying to increase my secondhand shopping while decreasing what I buy new.