How to Build a Sustainable Wardrobe

“Ever since I was little, I’ve preferred to buy one quality piece over five cheaply made pieces,” says Audrey. “I like figuring out how to switch up that one piece in my wardrobe. But more importantly, I would much rather have something that I know was made in a good, eco-friendly way and will last.”

Audrey’s quality-over-quantity approach to fashion is apparent in the way she runs M.M.’s production team today. “Sustainability is really built into the way we design clothes at M.M.,” she explains. “These are quality items, not fast fashion; our pieces are not meant to be thrown away. We come at this from two angles: First, we prioritize high-quality production partners and fabrics, so these items should last you a long time. And second, we’re not designing high-trend items, and our new pieces are meant to work with your old M.M. We want to help you use those pieces over and over, and maybe change up one element to get a fresh look for the next year.”

For Liz’s part, she uses her platform to lift up brands that are making strides in the right direction. “I’ve been posting about sustainability since I started blogging in 2011, but in January of 2021, I vowed only to work with brands that were on the road to being more sustainable,” she says. “And to this day, I will turn down partnerships with brands that are not doing anything [for sustainability]. Whether it’s implementing more sustainable fabrics or facilitating resale, every little bit counts. I tell this to all my clients: We as consumers make a huge difference in how the industry will run and whether sustainable brands will succeed. If we continue to demand sustainable fashion, one day, it will be more cost-effective, because it’s going to be the new normal.”

M.M. released its first recycled fabric, Recycled WonderTex, in 2020—and we’re not planning to stop anytime soon. “After our co-founder Miyako had her daughter in 2018, she had this revelation that was like, ‘Oh man, I need to protect this Earth for the next generation,’” explains Audrey. “Miyako realized that if we were going to have an impact, we needed to start by looking at our core fabrics and converting them to preferred materials.” Since then, we’ve also introduced fabrics like Eco Soft Wave and organic cotton.

But of course, creating responsible fabrics won’t have an impact if they don’t look and feel as good as less sustainable options. Even if you want to make your wardrobe more sustainable, sacrificing on comfort is never a good option. “I communicate with our customers often and hear all their feedback, positive and negative,” says Shelby. “When we were developing Recycled WonderTex, we were really concerned about getting the hand feel just right. The fact that our customers now love this material has been really encouraging, and it feels so good knowing that people like the direction we’re going with recycled fabrics.”

To truly shop responsibly, we need to look beyond the clothes themselves, and Audrey explains that there’s an urgent need to expand the conversation around sustainability to include human rights. “The things that people talk about the most [when it comes to sustainable fashion] are textiles and waste,” she says. “And while these environmental impacts are incredibly important, we don’t talk enough about the human rights impacts of our industry. 75% of the fashion industry is women, and of that 75%, only 2% are earning a living wage. Caring for the people on our planet is an equally important part of sustainability as caring for the planet itself, and several of our company goals center around promoting gender equality throughout our supply chain.”

“Your wallet is your vote, and where you choose to spend your money makes an impact,” says Audrey. “If you research the brands you’re shopping with and support the ones that are trying to make a shift for the better, it creates a domino effect where we’re able to push our suppliers to do things like create new materials and pay their workers higher wages.”

Buying and selling pre-loved clothing is one of the best ways to reduce its carbon footprint—which is why we have our very own resale site—but secondhand shopping can be hard to navigate. Luckily, Liz is a seasoned pro. “When you’re shopping secondhand, you should always go in with something in mind,” she advises. “And don’t be disappointed if you can’t find the exact thing you were looking for—because you might end up finding something even more exciting.”

Equally tricky is figuring out when it’s time to let go of pieces in your wardrobe. Liz has a simple and effective approach: “A lot of clients will say, ‘I haven’t worn this in X amount of time,’ and I don’t go by that. To me, it’s about how you feel in the clothing. If you put it on and you don’t feel amazing in it, or it doesn’t fit you, you either have to move on or tailor it.”

While we’d love to believe that everything we throw into those big blue bins actually gets recycled, it’s sadly not the case, and many donated and recycled items ultimately end up in landfills. Luckily, there are companies like thredUP that will either resell clothes or ensure that they’re properly recycled. “I personally love thredUP, because I constantly struggle with how to responsibly get rid of my unwanted clothes,” says Shelby. “Reselling to thrift stores can be a lot of work, and you hear these horror stories about tons of donated items going straight to landfills.”