After taking a look at my clothing shopping stats for last year, I made one goal for this year: to make half of my acquisitions secondhand. Usually, I try to limit the number of items I’m buying. But I feel that I’ve gotten decently good at that. (Even if last year was an aberration in that I bought more than usual). Instead, I decided my main goal should be to buy more secondhand when I do shop.

But, another goal has emerged in these first winter months of the year: to add more fun to my wardrobe. These last couple of years I’ve concentrated on building up my personal wardrobe staples. These are the items that make the foundation of many of my outfits: high-rise jeans, tapered straight-leg jeans, boxy cashmere sweaters, tank tops and shorts. Now I’m craving prints and color. Some of my recent purchases reflect that.

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Wardrobe Buys

Everlane Cashmere Cardigan – I’ve mentioned more than once on here how I’ve been on the hunt for a cropped black cardigan. After trying this cardigan on in store, I looked for it secondhand. One popped up on Poshmark. (New with tags too!) BTW, I sized down to XXS, since the cut is pretty wide. (Usually I wear an XS in Everlane.)

Prabral Gurung for Target First Date T-shirt Dress – Throwback to this Target collab from 2013! This is a buy-something-I-already-own-in-the-next-size-up situation. Also found it on Poshmark, though you can pretty much find it on any resale site. There’s no shortage of them. I plan to get it hemmed into a T-shirt, which is what I did with the size I already had. This is when I wish I had decent sewing skills so I could DIY instead of paying someone to do it.

J. Crew Factory Zebra Sweatshirt – Feeling animal-printy lately. Saw my friend wearing this, and I copied her. (We are totally fine twinning.) 100% cotton. Another Poshmark find.

Amour Vert Mariah Skirt in Lily, plus a matching top – OK, I admit browsing the Amour Vert sale section in a moment of retail therapy. While I was there, I fell for this floral print. I bought the skirt and a top to make a matching set. (This print comes in a dress too, but I wasn’t feeling the sweetheart neckline for myself.) I like the versatility of wearing the pieces separately or as a faux dress. Excited to wear these out when the weather warms.

Quince Mongolian Cashmere Ribbed Beanie – I wanted a hat in another color now that I spend more time in winter. Got the oatmeal, a neutral that works well with my wardrobe. If you buy three, you get $30 back in store credit, which is very tempting. (Kind of like getting one for free since they’re $29.90 each.) Maybe I should have done that in the first place to get a beanie for the Mister too, though I wanted to see how it fit first. (But then we’d have an extra that we don’t really need.)

Wardrobe Subtractions

Deleted two large shoulder bags that I never carry. The details of them were not quite right and I gravitate towards other bags. Also, a pair of sneakers after realizing that a similar pair with more cushioning are comfier. And I said goodbye to a shirt because I own it in two similar colors and prefer the other color.

Welcome Objects 2023 Wardrobe Count To Date
Additions: 5  (Not counting the hat as I usually don’t tally accessories.)
Number of Additions That Are Secondhand: 3
Subtractions: 4

What I Read in Shopping & Sustainability

The age of free online returns is ending. “Returns are wasteful from both financial and environmental perspectives, and worsen the inventory glut that has been plaguing retailers for months.” I love free shipping and returns as much as the next person, but I get why this is happening and I am OK with it. Retailers mask the cost of shipping. Maybe consumers will think harder about what they’re buying if they know they’re responsible for return shipping.

Then again, sometimes it’s just hard to know what something is like until you have it in your hands. I recently bought and returned some T-shirts and earrings from Target. The T-shirts were just OK on me. If I had paid more attention in the first place, I might have clued in on some details that indicated they wouldn’t work for me. (Neck line a little higher than I like, body too long for a petite.) I loved the design of the earrings, but when they arrived, I realized they jangled like mini wind chimes — a dealbreaker. I would have noticed this in person, but didn’t even think of that potential problem while adding them to my virtual cart.

Ralph Lauren is underwriting a new recycling program for cashmere as it ramps up its sustainability efforts. Will consumers use it? “Consumers in the United States, Britain, and the European Union can request a printable, paid postage label from the Ralph Lauren website to send unwanted, 100 percent cashmere items from any brand to be recycled. Those clothes will go to Re-Verso in Tuscany, Italy, a facility that produces regenerated yarns and fabrics used by fashion companies, including Stella McCartney, Eileen Fisher, and Patagonia.”

The reporter notes that while some fast fashion brands offer textile recycling (H&M comes to mind) questions persist over where, exactly, these clothes are going. And few luxury fashion companies have embraced recycling efforts. Claire Bergkamp, chief executive of Textile Exchange, an industry group, comments that the focus on a single material and a known recycler makes this initiative more legit: “This means that there is a much higher likelihood that the cashmere here will actually be recycled into something of a high quality and value and given a new life.”

A reporter tries to live for a day without plastic. Well, you can guess how this goes. Of course it’s impossible. And we do need plastic. (Um, I would not be able to type this without my glasses.) The reporter, A.J. Jacobs, felt defeated after one day of trying to live plastic-free and asks, “What plastic-free items really made a difference, and what is mere green-washing?” Gabby Salazar, a social scientist, gives this advice, “Remember, it’s not about plastic being the enemy. It’s about single-use as the enemy. It’s the culture of using something once and throwing it away.”

I have to say this has been hard with food delivery and takeout, more so in NYC than in San Francisco. Staff will put my to-go meal in a plastic box and then wrap the box in plastic cling wrap! And then that goes into a paper bag, which gets stapled, which goes into a plastic bag. Most of the time when I request no utensils, I still get them.

San Francisco has more rules about what kind of packaging food restaurants can use (though not all businesses follow the rules) and there’s commercial composting. People are likely more aware because of that. I wish that the default with all delivery and takeout was no utensils. I, a person actively trying to avoid single-use utensils, have gathered two gallon-sized zipper bags of them after a little over a year of living in NYC.

An ex-employee of ThredUp spills the dirt on Reddit. I know ThredUp isn’t a B-corp or anything, but this was still disappointing to read. Pushing dirty clothes (even with bodily fluids on them!) through the system, losing garments, a company culture that doesn’t actually care about the environment. (The Redditor says supervisors would tell them to just toss clothes into the dumpster. “Nothing was ever recycled. Nor was our food composted.”)

Early in ThredUp’s days I sent some bags of clothing in to sell and had a decent experience. But I recently sent a box in December and now I’m wondering how long it will take to get processed. I’ve only ever bought one thing from them (last year) and it had a hole in it, so it went back. I think I’ll stick with Poshmark.