20 Day Sustainable Fashion Challenge

Who loves a challenge? I do! I’m always trying to better myself on many levels. The 20 Day Sustainable Fashion Challenge really changed how I view fashion.

Back in 2014, when I had my very first blog, I took the 20-Day Sustainable Challenge from Tortoise and Lady Grey. I’m reposting my original work below. It was fun to rediscover this post. I see how this 20-Day Challenge has really impacted how I think about clothing now.

Please take this challenge, I highly recommend it. Almost 5 years later, I see its lasting impacts on my choices.

Original 20 Day Sustainable Fashion Challenge Post circa December 2014…

Hi everyone, I hope you have a great week. Here is a summary of my first week taking the 20 Day Sustainable Fashion Challenge.

What’s my knowledge of sustainable fashion?

How much do I know about sustainable fashion? If I were to rate myself between 1-5, where 1 means I know only a little, and 5 means I am confident that I know a lot, I probably sit around 1 or 2.

Evaluating my relationship with fashion

I don’t think fashion plays a huge role in my life, however, at different times in my life it has played different roles. When I worked in the environmental field, jeans and T-shirts were typically what I wore to work since my clothes were likely to be ruined on any given day.

Also, I often wore steeled toed boots as a requirement for work so I didn’t really want to invest in many shoes and not have many opportunities to wear them.

However, with my change in career in the last few years, I’ve had to do a complete overhaul of my wardrobe.  I now dress in typical office attire (minus skirts and dresses since I work in IT and I never know when I’ll be under someone’s desk de-tangling cables).

After having my baby, I struggled with my weight for the first time in my life. I didn’t fit in my regular clothes and most of the clothes that did fit left me feeling frumpy. I was very dissatisfied with myself and tended to buy cheap clothes that would fit.

Having to overhauled my wardrobe completely in the last few years has had me shopping sales (or at least what I thought were bargains).

I admit to being an emotional buyer and often end up buying on impulse rather than then need. Because I know this about myself, and I have made strides with that.

I keep a mental list of what I need and try to stick with it.  Also, I do not often look at what type of material the items are made of or where or how they were made.

What are my wardrobe habits?

I don’t think that I have a huge wardrobe, but I have a good enough variety that I feel I can find something to wear every day. My outfits don’t repeat too often.

There are a few key pieces that I tend to wear more often than others. Those items tend to be neutrals (black, beige, white or grey) and I pair them with something with more interest. I don’t have many accessories or shoes, which would probably help add more interest to my outfits.

Wardrobe Audit

One of the tasks of the challenge was to pull items from my closet that I haven’t worn in a year. By analyzing my unworn pile, I see many impulse-buys that were cheaply made and ill-fitting.

I really need to stop this habit. All of my unworn clothes fell into the give-away pile or the sentimental pile (my wedding dress and my many bridesmaid dresses) which I will not part with any time soon. I will donate the give-away pile to charity next week.

Re-Style an Old Favorite

The last challenge for this week was to re-style some of my old favourites. I have to admit that I had a difficult time with this task.  After going through several magazines, I couldn’t find anything that I could use as inspiration that would match the pieces in my wardrobe.

Pinterest was my inspiration solution. I found some styles that I like and thought I could make new combinations with my existing clothes. Here is what I came up with.

 My ReStyle No.1

Click the link to see the Pinterest inspiration for my Re-Style No1.

My restyled look…

 My ReStyle No. 2

Click the link to see the Pinterest inspiration for my Re-Style No2.

My restyled look…

Are you the type of person who takes pride in finding cheap bargains? Are you easily swayed by sales? I am learning to rethink how I shop and make a plan ahead of time of what I really need. I also need to start looking for quality rather than quantity.

If you are interested in this 20 Day Sustainable Fashion Challenge, please visit tortoiseandladygrey.com and educate yourself on sustainable fashion.

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