How to mindfully refresh your wardrobe

A still from ‘Clueless’

New year, new me. We’ve heard it a million times. The allure of pressing the reset button, overhauling our 2021 selves and coming into 2022 feeling ready for a fresh start can be real. When this happens, it can spark a big clean out of our spaces, especially our wardrobes.

A wardrobe clear out can feel very therapeutic, and there’s a certain thrill to discovering old gems that you’d forgotten about. However, we have to be careful about how we approach this. We can’t just make a ‘to keep’ and ‘to not keep’ pile, and it’s then not as simple as leaving a bag of old clothes outside an op-shop. There are actually far more options that will not only help keep clothing from being discarded or going to landfill, but that will shine a new light on how we can style our clothes and come to re-love our wardrobes.

Mending and altering

Do you ever look at a singlet and think, ‘if only it was a little more cropped’? Or maybe a shirt, ‘I could wear this out if the button wasn’t missing’? When clothing isn’t in perfect condition anymore, or when something isn’t quite right, we usually stop wearing it, or may even buy something new to replace it. But truth be told, small tweaks to our clothes can make a huge difference and allow us to keep on wearing them for longer.

This could mean sewing up a small rip or hole or maybe (carefully) cutting a top to your desired length, and hemming that fabric securely back. This mending mindset also means that we take better care of our clothes because you’re going to be the one to fix it (or pay someone else to!) rather than chuck it to the side and never think of it again.

To learn more about mindful mending, take a look at this article written by Lily Fulop, the author of Wear, Repair, Repurpose: A Maker's Guide to Mending and Upcycling Clothes, who also runs the @mindful_mending Instagram account.

Upcycling

Sometimes clothing feels as if it needs to be completely revamped. This is when you can get really creative and upcycle. Think of upcycling as a game of mix and match or Tetris; you have a handful of clothes that no longer work on their own but combine them in the right way, with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and voila! You’ll find yourself with a brand-new garment (minus using any new precious resources or money). Alternatively, maybe you have a dress that just doesn’t fit right, but that could be made into the perfect skirt and top set – you get the idea.

You don't always have to turn old clothes into new clothes, sometimes it’s better off turning it into something completely different. Never wear that dress anymore but love the pattern on it? You could use the fabric to make a tote bag and some scrunchies! Check out some tips to get you started at Pebble Mag.

Selling

One of the best ways to give your clothes a new home and make a bit of money at the same time is to sell them. By now you’ve probably heard of Depop, and that’s because it’s one of the best places to do so. The platform has everything set up for you to start easily listing items. Plus, it’s nice to know that someone genuinely wants to buy it, rather than donating and wondering what became of it (hint, it often will end up in landfill, or being sorted by exploited people in poorer countries).

Once you start looking to sell, you’ll find there are a variety of other outlets to explore too, see which ones are the best for you locally!

Gifting

Don’t feel like becoming a fashion re-seller? Sometimes the simplest (and kindest) thing to do is to check in with those around you and see if they’d like some of the clothes you don’t wear anymore. If you think of all your friends and family, or even everyone you could reach on social media, there’s a high chance someone will want it!

While it shouldn’t be expected, the nice thing about gifting your clothes to someone is that you might just receive something back – even if from someone else – later down the track. Now that’s circular fashion.

Swapping

This leads us to clothes swaps, which are another super fun way to switch up your wardrobe without anything new being produced or purchased. Have you ever loved something that your friend owns, that perhaps you borrow regularly? Maybe ask if there’s something of yours they would like and do an exchange!

If you want to swap with your broader, local community, why not look into setting up a swapping event, or find one near you!

Donating

Donating to charities and op-shops can be tricky as nowhere near all of it makes it to the racks. Where does it go? Unfortunately, landfill, sometimes on the other side of the world.

Luckily Upparel and other recycling programs exist, because these are a perfect solution to this donation problem. Items given to Upparel are manually sorted and either re-used, recycled or given to their charity partners if the items are suitable to be re-sold.

Being the innovative geniuses that they are, Upparel recycles any leftover textiles that can’t be used and upcycles them, with the latest project being kids’ flip out sofas. Side note: it can be difficult to know what is acceptable to donate but they have your back with a comprehensive list of what they can and can’t take.

Re-considering and re-styling

Considering that 80% of the time we only wear 20% of our wardrobes, it’s clear that a lot of us own more clothes than we need. It’s not surprising then that we forget about certain pieces which got tossed to the side after a few wears or lost in in the bottom of a drawer. When doing a clean out it’s important to revisit these pieces and see how you could re-introduce them. Sometimes all you need is to pair it with a top or bottom of a different length, add some accessories or a belt, and suddenly you’ll be seeing brand new ways to utilise and style the clothes in your wardrobe.