Sustainability guide - tips for New Year's clothes shopping

How can you truly enhance the cost-effectiveness, ethics, and climate sustainability of your wardrobe? Let IVALO.COM help.

We have updated this blog in January 2024.

1. Rethink your purchases

From an ecological point of view, a new garment is always a worse choice than an old one. 

Remember, you can also shop from your own wardrobe. You can mix and match your clothes in new ways, or recycle items that you are not using.

Topical accessories in trendy colors are also a clever way to revive an outfit and freshen up old ones.

New items of clothing should be considered and purchased with sustainability and longevity in mind.

2. Recycle

One man's trash is another man's treasure!

Take care of your clothes to sell and turn them into cash. When a garment, bag or pair of shoes has served you well enough, it could find a new life in someone else's possession.

Take advantage of second-hand markets and groups on social media to get your old clothes on the move. If you're busy or lazy, some second-hand online shops also offer a turnkey sale service for your old wardrobe. 

Recycling your clothes is made easier by buying them sustainably and with good quality. This will give them a higher resale value.

3. Rent and borrow

Feel free to drop by your friend's wardrobe. Maybe you could borrow your mother's or sister's party dress?

Especially when you need a rarer piece of clothing, it pays to share. If you ski once a year and go to a wedding once every two years, could you borrow the outfit you need from a friend's closet in the same size and style? Maybe even a change of style can be refreshing at times.

Also, take advantage of clothing rental services. Renting clothes instead of buying them is more ecological as one piece of clothing gets more wears.

4. Prolong the life cycle

Don't wash, maintain! 

Washing your clothes a lot wears them out, so it's a good idea to try some basic maintenance techniques. Air your clothes generously, store them loosely - and try to remove stains locally.

A good quality clothes brush is a good way to remove lint, loose particles such as hair and dirt. Steaming freshens up textile fibres. For those who need a more powerful weapon, a lint cutter is the best option.

Then when you wash, wash properly. Use low temperatures and get separate detergents for at least 1) delicate fabrics like wool and silk, 2) sportswear and technical fabrics, and 3) cotton.

5. Forget disposable clothes and cheap fashion

Teach yourself to get rid of cheap shopping. Organize your wardrobe so you know what you have. 

Following the ideology of a capsule wardrobe, make sure all your clothes are necessary and in regular use.

Cheap fashion and mass fashion chains' sales tempt you to make impulse purchases, which often have a short life in use. You can save by not buying cheap clothes and it will help you invest in better quality and more sustainable clothing in the long run.

6. Choose a holistically sustainable garment

Take a critical view of greenwashing. If a fashion chain's campaign states itself as organic or recycled, that doesn't mean much.

Try to ensure that you buy your clothes from a holistically sustainable organization/brand that doesn't just build sustainability on a single recycled material, for example.

For truly sustainable brands that sustainability applies across the board: from the raw materials of the garment, the ethics and transparency of production, the company's operations to marketing and communication.

7. Emphasize sustainability that is important to you

Get a garment that reflects your values, making it even more important to you.

If you want to support development aid to third countries, emphasize women's issues, environmental impact or vegan clothing - choose accordingly.

Sustainable fashion is not a black and white issue, with only perfect or imperfect brands in the world. Most brands have their own focus areas that can reflect your values and what matters to you.

Research and buy consciously. Clothes that reflect your values are the most comfortable to wear and care for with pride.

Click on the links to discover our selection of sustainable womenswear, menswear and kidswear and find your long-lasting ethically made favorites.