The perfect number of clothes to make the wardrobe a ‘capsule wardrobe’, a wardrobe made up of a few essential and versatile dresses would, according to the experts, be from 12 to 37; I challenge you to find a woman who only has 12/15 dresses in the closet, I, myself, must admit that I well exceed the figure, even if lately I am trying to resize myself.
And yet it seems that the new trend is to reduce the space in the wardrobe, in the name of quality, reuse and sustainability. Stop therefore the cheap clothes bought compulsively, yes to the concept of “little but good” and re-use to stop the continuous production of waste, because we know what happens to unsold goods.
According to the book ‘Overdressed: the shockingly high cost of cheap fashion’ it is estimated that every hour in America about 20 kg of clothes are thrown, a quantity sufficient to fill three Olympic swimming pools: a waste, we know well, fueled above all by the fast fashion chains, which produces collections at incessant rates (you will have noticed, in this type of shop you will hardly find the same clothes of the week before).
On the contrary, choosing a ‘slow’ fashion, which favors the rational purchase of quality garments produced in a sustainable way, not only saves money in the long term, but helps to combat waste and enhance artisanal productions or products made with materials of which we know the origin and composition.
And then, a well-made dress probably has more chance of lasting over time, so it can be reused on several occasions; the prêt-à-reporter is a phenomenon that has also affected the famous people, just think of Kate Middleton who on more than 70 occasions chose mise already worn before.
And what are the rules for having a wardrobe in full prêt-à-reporter style? As reported by the Washington Post, you have to make thoughtful purchases, always try every garment and choose only those garments that make you feel at ease. Attentions that will allow to have a “capsule wardrobe”, made of a few pieces that can be worn on any occasion with the addition of some complement.
The philosophy of the prêt-à-reporter is also that of second-hand clothing stores, with the difference that here we buy and wear clothes that belonged to others; Micolet.it, for example, was born in 2015 due to the need of the girlfriend of one of the founders to find clothing that no longer used an alternative to the landfill. The online platform receives more than 30,000 items of clothing a month, which would otherwise be lost and thus feed a circular economy strategy that restarts the life cycle of the products from scratch, rather than simply ending it after their use.
An ever greener future therefore awaits fashion as long as this type of approach starts from the bottom up, is shared and aims to raise the level of culture and information to make customers more critical on the types of consumption and more aware of the many ways to avoid waste.
