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The Wardrobe Audit
So here's a step-by-step look at my wardrobe audit and what clothing items have (or have not) already acquired ethically.
Step 1: The Clothing Mountain I started my audit by piling all my clothes on my bed in this giant mound. If you had any doubts that I'm a serious clothing shopping addict, let those doubts be erased! Never let it be said that any future success in shopping ethically was achieved because I don't like buying clothes that much.
Step 2: Method to the Madness The aim was to produce four piles - one for ethical purchases, one for used purchases, one for made-by-me and one for unethical clothing. Many of my shoes are still in Canada so I didn't include them (and I didn't include intimates for what I think are obvious reasons)
Step 3: The Overview Here is everything sorted. Going clockwise, top left is made-by me clothing, top right is used-clothing. bottom right is unethical purchases and bottom left is ethical purchases. As you can see, the unethical purchase pile is by far the largest. But I've laid each pile out to give you a better idea of what has fallen into each category.
Step 4: The Unethical mound 53%: We've got all your clothing categories here. I could put together many unethical outfits from this all. In my decision to shop ethically, I didn't get rid of any unethical items previously purchased. After all, getting rid of them wouldn't erase having bought them. The plan will be to replace items with more ethical options as I need to.
Sweaters - 6
Coats/Jackets - 6
Lounge and Workout gear - 8
Dresses 6
Skirts and Pants - 8
Handbags - 1
Tops - 16
Step 5: The Ethical Purchase Category 18%: Most of these ethical purchases are locally-made as opposed to fair-trade (we will get into this difference in another post). Most of them are from Canada like my yoga jeans and multiple items from Preloved. The wonderful grey handbag is fair-trade from a Nepal group (and is still available if you are coveting). I also have a couple of pieces made in Zambia, which I bought them directly from tailors.
Dresses - 5 (including 2 Zambian chitenge outfits)
Skirts and pants - 3
Tops - 8
Handbags - 2
Step 6: Used Clothing 14%: These items have come from friends and family, used and vintage shops and in the case of the great stripped dress, a used clothing market in Tanzania. They are some of the best pieces in my wardrobe too! My most used items in this category include the black coach handbag, and the grey jacket. The navy blouse with white roses is another real treasure, a classic 50's top with buttons up the back by Christine Dior, which works wonderfully with modern black trousers.
Jackets - 1
Skirts - 2
Tops - 4
Dress - 2
Handbag - 1
Scarves - 3
Step 7: Made By Me 14%: or by my mum, frequently a combination of the two. If you really love clothing, fabrics, cuts, designs, I really suggest you learn to sew. There are few things more satisfying than having someone compliment your outfit and being able to say 'Thanks I made it!' I make a lot of dresses and they are often an easy place to start. My mum also started knitting so now I have some great scarves and hats in my hand-made collection too!
Dresses - 5
Jackets - 3
Lounge Wear - 1
Skirt - 1
Scarves and Hats - 3
What my 'wardrobe audit' proved to me is that there isn't an item of clothing I can't choose to purchase ethical. The only thing that didn't show up in any of the ethical categories was sweaters and I can honestly say thats more do to price than to availability.
The audit is also a good reminder that I am not exactly in a position of needing to buy anything, which means saving my pennies to put into some great ethical pieces is very do-able for me. Hopefully with time and determination these piles can shift until the unethical one slowly disappears!
I would love to see the balance of other people's wardrobes. Post and tweet #wardrobeaudit
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