Sustainability after 30 days

Keiara
Well, this is it. I still can’t believe I made it mostly undamaged.

After 30 days of trying to make the most out of six clothing items, I can finally put them to rest today. It’s awesome because I’m pretty sure if I wear this cardigan one more day, it will begin to disintegrate off my shoulders.

It’s been real, though. I will miss the indifferent nods of people when I explain what I’m doing, or the eventual cringe when they think I wasn’t allowed to change my underwear.  

I will miss choosing black over black ... over black. I will miss wondering if shirts are really necessary or if anyone thought I had a mild stroke the day I decided to wear my cardigan backwards or as a skirt. Or my skirt as a top, for that matter.

Through it all, I have to say what I will miss most is laughing about it all with Jake. I have to say that if you’re up for this, make sure you find a partner that is equally crazy enough to try it. That will make the difference on those days when sweatpants are calling your name.

It’s been a fun and incredible learning experience. I have learned that cutting back on the clothes you buy doesn’t mean you’re limiting your options, it just means you have more opportunity to be creative.

I have also learned to appreciate what I already have instead of always turning to the mall.  

Believe me, after this month, I am so ready to walk in my closet, look around and smile.

Or cry. Replacing ice cream with shopping may have made my clothes shrink.

Jake
It’s finally Dec. 1, which means I have spent the last 30 days trying to keep up sustainable fashion. But now that the Six Items or Less challenge is officially done, I can’t believe November went by so fast.

I remember the first few days of the challenge. December seemed so far away, and I didn’t know how the month would transpire.

Starting out, my biggest concern was trying to keep my clothes original day after day. I really thought people would comment more on the fact that my clothes were being repeated.

But it’s good no one noticed. At least because they didn’t know I was doing the challenge.

It took the pressure off when I put together outfits, and it became more about trying new things than trying to make everyday different.

I think that speaks for how I feel about this challenge, too.

I have never done anything in which I was dedicated to something this specific for this much time. And I am very proud of myself for actually committing an entire month to this challenge and for sticking with it.

This also became about trying a new lifestyle in which I didn’t focus on clothes as much. I used to put a lot of thought into what I was going to wear, and for about the first two weeks of the challenge, I did.

But toward the end I just started throwing on whatever I hadn’t worn in a couple days, which is why I think the entire challenge was actually pretty easy. I could pretty much grab whatever and be happy. There really wasn’t much to do past staying committed to the six items.

Yes, there were a couple of times when I just wanted to wear sweats or not wear the only shirt that was clean, but I easily moved past it. The goal of the experiment was more important to me than sweatpants (although, if you read through my blogs, I did talk a lot about how much I missed sweatpants).

Now that it’s through, I think about my life post-challenge. It’s going to be hard to decide what to wear now that I will be able to choose from more than six items.
Hopefully I won’t go back to my old ways of spending half my morning making that decision.

When I started this challenge, I did not expect that a few of the six items would not make it back into my full wardrobe.

I never noticed just how much wear our clothes go through.

My jeans have developed a rather large hole in crotch, which has made me have to watch that I’m not flashing any thigh. My sweater has a hole in the armpit, but it isn’t huge, so I might keep it until the end of the winter season. My purple V-neck has been stained and the color is starting to fade in places, but the blue V-neck, cardigan and button-up plaid have come out pretty much unscathed.

So, at least the jeans and purple shirt will be out, but to carry on sustainability I won’t be throwing them away. Goodwill recycles clothes that are unable to be sold in the store.

The recycled fibers feed into other industries, like furniture and cars.
In all, the experiment was fun, and I am really glad I did it, but it will be hard to keep my apparel lifestyle completely sustainable.

This experience has shown me that I can do it, and hopefully I can make little adjustments to keep it up.