Introduction
Sustainable fashion has become more popular over the years as fast fashion companies are being exposed for their bad practices. A lot of consumers want clothes that are made from sustainable materials and made in a factory with fair labor. With this, a lot more people are switching to minimalist closets and lifestyles.
Minimalism can be applied to every form of life, with fewer clothes, appliances, products, furniture, accessories, etc. A lot of people prefer having less stuff and they feel more organized. Being a minimalist is all about cutting back and only keeping necessary items. For fashion, it usually entails going through your closet and only keeping basic and neutral pieces that can be worn for a long time.
A lot of companies are starting to realize this new trend and are releasing clothing that is more neutral and wearable for everyday outfits. For example, H&M’s Conscious line is all basic clothing that is more sustainable than their other products. All of these items can be paired together and are timeless pieces.
Here are seven reasons why minimalism is a great sustainable option:
- Avoids fast fashion
- Keeps timeless fashion staples
- More affordable
- The clothes go with everything
- Clothes are recyclable
- Tips to be successful in minimalism
1. Avoids fast fashion
Fast fashion continues to be popular because it is cheaper and these brands usually have very current trends. Some of the most popular brands are Forever 21, Shein, and even Zara. These companies can have trendy clothes extremely fast, and they always have new styles added. They are also usually inexpensive, but at the cost of poor treatment of factory workers and cheap materials being used.
Minimalist fashion is having sustainable pieces that are going to last a long time. If your fashion company is thinking of creating a minimalist line, the items should be neutral colors, easily styled, and have a classic style. The whole point is to avoid getting rid of an item after one wear, or the item going out of style quickly after being bought.
Creating a minimalist line will allow people to wear the pieces for a long time, and not have to buy from a fast-fashion brand to stay on-trend. One or two statement pieces are not going to be harmful, but they will most likely be thrown away or given away after a few years or even months, so having staple pieces will be more sustainable.
2. Keeps timeless fashion staples
Trendy clothes may be good when you first buy them, but some trends go by so fast that the item could be out of style a month later. It is sometimes hard to see how long something is going to be trendy, so instead of focusing on always being on-trend, you can focus on wearing staple pieces that you love.
This usually involves clothes with neutral or muted colors and fabrics that can be worn any time of the year with different layers. A lot of people opt for black, white, grey, and light colored shirts that can be paired with any pair of jeans or shorts.
Classic styles are also becoming more popular with this wave of minimalism. Customers want styles that could have been worn a few years ago and can still be worn a few years from now.
3. More affordable
Fast fashion may seem more affordable, but these trends end so fast that the customers need to buy more clothes a few months later to stay trendy. By investing in a few staple pieces, customers will end up saving money. For your business, you can focus more on sourcing good materials and charging slightly more for a quality item.
People are willing to spend more money on a timeless piece of clothing that they can wear over and over again. For example, a pair of blue jeans. Jeans can be worn almost anywhere, dressed up or down, and they go with everything. Including a few pairs of simple jeans made from sustainable materials would be the perfect addition to a minimalist line.
4. The clothes go with everything
This goes along with the staple pieces section, but minimalism usually includes choosing pieces that are going to match stuff they already own. For example, customers might buy a simple muted mauve-colored t-shirt, and they can pair that with their jeans, their shorts, leggings, sweatpants, or any solid-colored flowy pants.
The same reasoning could be used for different fashion brands. The pieces in a collection should be paired with other items in the collection, and also be able to be paired with items already in the customer’s closet. This connects to the affordable section as well because customers do not have to buy another matching piece just to wear the item.
5. Clothes are recyclable
The great thing about people minimizing their closets is that the clothes do not have to be thrown out. When people want to downsize their wardrobe, they can go through their clothes and pick the ones they know they will wear a lot. The rest of the clothes can be donated or sold to gain some money.
A great form of incentive for a company is to provide a recycling program where customers can return or send in their used clothes for a discount on other items. The clothes can be donated, or repurposed into new items. The customer can then go onto your website or go to your store and buy new items with the discount code. H&M has a program like this where customers can return any unwanted and used clothing to their stores and receive a discount. They use to clothes as recycled materials.
6. Tips to be successful in minimalism
One of the most important aspects of minimalism is having basic pieces that can be worn in all seasons and many different scenarios. This means including versatile clothing items, being able to dress the item up or down, and having different layers depending on the temperature.
When creating a more minimalistic collection, you can think about the fabrics, styles, and colors being used to optimize the wearability of the product so that customers can wear the pieces more often, and thus needing less clothing.
One great thing to keep in mind is incorporating basic styles with neutral colors. Starting with basic tees and tanks that are great for layering, some jeans and basic pants that can be casual or dressy, and some simple jackets that can be thrown over any outfit.
Conclusion
Minimalism is becoming more popular all around the world. Some people are doing it for organizational purposes, cutting back on how much stuff they have. Others, are trying to be more sustainable with their fashion. They will buy less clothing and get rid of the stuff they do not want. Instead of throwing the clothes out, they usually donate or sell them.
The great thing about clothes is that they are recyclable. They can be donated to people in need, sold to different websites to make money, dropped off at a thrift store, or reused for their materials in a new item. This is another great reason why minimalistic fashion is a great sustainable option.
Overall, having a minimalist closet is better for some people, and fashion brands are starting to release more wearable products that are easy to add in to everyone’s current collection.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to deepen your understanding and knowledge of the practices of sustainable fashion, don’t hesitate to take a look at our course “The Sustainable Fashion Industry“. Our short and to-the-point, online class covers a wide range of topics spanning from sustainable business models to strategies to lower your carbon footprint. Here’s a link to the course, if you use the discount code BLOG20 at checkout you can access a 20% discount. Enjoy!
