Hello, I blog!

Read an article about how our seemingly incessant consumption of clothing has led to potential environmental destruction, with unwanted clothes piling up in landfills.

Fast fashion, and clothing made with polyester and other manmade fibers (because it’s cheaper) seem to be the largest culprits. The former because their low costs had led people to buy more and in turn, throw away more. The latter, because it’s not biodegradable.

I looked up at my overflowing wardrobe and thought, oops.

Recently, I made the switch to preferring pure cotton for my clothing items, but only because it’s more comfortable given the heat in Singapore. Looks like I have an additional reason to add to that list.

So this year, I’ve decided to be more discerning about what I buy. It’s easy to get tempted especially with Instagram style pictures and online stores being just a tap away, but this is well worth a try.

The rod in my wardrobe broke from the sheer amount of clothing I owned back in 2015. That’s how bad it was. This will save me loads from what I don’t buy, as well as unnecessary repair costs.

To some extent, I’m already picky about the brands I choose to support (mainly because of their consistently good quality), so I guess I have some advantage there.

Now it’s more of to buy or not to buy?

That’s where it gets helpful for me to list down what do I exactly look out for in a piece of clothing that is expected to be timeless and last me for several years.

So, here’s the checklist I shall refer to from now on.

1. Must have pockets.

2. Must be easy to match.

3. Must be lightweight yet durable.
This is a struggle, because it’s impossible to gauge this when buying online. So I pay attention to the material type, and purchase only certain tried and tested brands online.

4. Must be able to cover the knees.
I wear knee guards because of regular joint pain from my illness. Anything that does not cover them ends up having very little mileage.

5. Must be something I will definitely wear.
If there’s even the slightest doubt about “is this something that I will wear?”, don’t buy it.

Let’s see how this pans out. On top of my consistent clearing of stuff that had very little mileage (read: rarely wear) on Carousell, this is a large step towards less clutter.