The circle of life [in fashion] is pretty flat

Hi there! 

A new month offers a clean slate – a time to start a new habit or refresh on an old one. I’ve been thinking a lot about habits while reading Atomic Habits (highly recommend), especially habits that relate to clothes.

The quote below got me thinking about fashion (stay with me here…) because we are socialized to *get bored* with things in our lives – especially our clothes. And it is boredom that leads to thinking we need new clothes – that those new clothes will fix our other feelings.

“The greatest threat to success is not failure, but boredom. We get bored with habits because they stop delighting us.” 

Swap the word ‘habit’ for ‘clothes’ above and you have solved consumer psychology! But what if we didn’t get bored with our clothes? What if we didn’t walk the flat path of want > buy > wear a few times > discard / donate > landfill? What if our clothes traveled a circular route? 

Circularity in fashion became a HUGE topic during the early days of the pandemic when production lines screamed to a halt. Suddenly the industry started asking questions and there was a collective conversation about the detrimental impact of fashion on the planet, people and animals.

Today there are organizations leading the discussion around the major changes that are needed to shift the industry to a circular one. One that creates better products, prioritizes the rights of people and is regenerative [for the planet] – deep dive into the definition of circular fashion here.

In short, circular fashion is the idea that quality products are designed to be “used more, made to be made again, and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs.” (source: www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org)

More to come on this topic in the weeks ahead – in the meantime, ponder what might happen if we lived in a way that supported and created the circle of life as it relates to our clothing. 

Yours in [circular] style,

Kevin xo