My Journey to a Sustainable Closet
- Ryan Martins-Clark
- Dec 30, 2022
- 3 min read
How giving up chasing fashion trends and embracing a thrifting lifestyle introduced me to a community of like-minded individuals, whose passion for sustainable fashion has encouraged me to embrace the real me.
By Ryan Martins-Clark
Growing up I was as girly as it gets. I loved shopping, I loved fashion trends, and I loved having new pieces of clothing to wear and show off to the friends I hung out with. Thrifting as a pre-teen and teenager wasn’t deemed cool so as a young girl who just wanted to fit in, I did my best to follow suit. Financially, I had a hard time keeping up with all the expensive brands that all the other teens were wearing. So, at 15 years old I got a job. I worked so I could live my life the way I was told it should be lived. I was always chasing the trends and spending more money than I would ever like to admit. No matter what I bought or how much money I spent, there was never enough satisfaction in what I owned. During this period my fashion choices always felt safe, and I never felt comfortable in the clothing I wore. My closet never really felt like “me” even though it was full of everything I ever wanted. Every pay cheque was dedicated to living a lifestyle that never really felt like me.
At 21, I moved to a new city and made friends with an amazing group of people. They were the type of people who lived life authentically, even if that meant not always fitting in the mould society claims we are supposed live.
I was inspired, and it made such a positive impact on my life. It challenged me to think in different ways and that’s when I decided to start living authentically to who I was.
It was almost an instant change and my love for thrifting began. Thrifting became a fun way to challenge myself to find the brands I loved, for a fraction of the price it would normally be.
Thrifting gave me an adrenaline rush, the same feeling as you would get at the mall when your favorite store is having a big sale.
Only I was saving way more money and the clothing I was purchasing was potentially being saved from landfill. I was hooked.
Thrifting gave me the ability to stray from fashion trends and find timeless pieces of clothing that I would actually wear. It opened a whole new door of possibilities when it came to styling and allowed me to pick things I really liked. Gone were the days I chose items because they were on trend at that moment.
Gradually, I started to see a change in my fashion choices but I also noticed that I was starting to actually feel confident in the clothing I was wearing. Thrifting opened the gateway to a more sustainable lifestyle. I faced the problems we encounter in society due to mass consumption, horrible fast fashion brands, and the shocking amount of garbage fast fashion brands generate as well as creating a throwaway society.
In 2020 amid the pandemic, I was quite literally stuck at home with my 7-month-old baby due lockdown. I was living in a small prairie town confined to our house and the empty streets around me. I wasn’t able to thrift at all. I also had an amazing closet full of so many items I was itching to wear. One day while I was scrolling Instagram , I found an account of a woman who was documenting her thrift finds and a light bulb went off. I decided I would start my own page about my personal style, being a mom, and the thrifted treasure’s I had found along the way. I was hooked again; not only did these like-minded people share their thrifted/sustainable/eco-friendly lifestyles with me, but it was a positive place for me to escape from the world of chaos created by the pandemic.
I was immersed in an amazing like-minded community that truly cared about this world.
I’ve learnt, and continue to learn, about a vast number of topics relating to sustainability. All these little moments are what have really changed me into someone who just truly cares about our planet.
A sustainable closet may look different to each of us, it may be purchasing items from slow fashion brands, it may be sewing or knitting your own clothing, heck it could be strictly thrifting your entire closet. A sustainable closet is among many of the ways we can reduce our carbon footprint and start thinking about the future of our planet. I hope my story inspires you to look inward and ask yourself important questions about your own closet, your life, and the sustainable changes you can make to help benefit this incredible planet we inhabit.
