Exploring Alternatives
This piece was originally written for TFB Magazine in 2024 and set out to create a guide for starting a sustainable fashion journey and explore other options within Amsterdam and beyond.
Breaking away from hyper fast fashion and the highs of consumption is tough and breaking this dopamine addiction is no easy feat when the industry has poured millions into making you believe certain things and feel certain ways. Our generation in particular has a lightning speed trend cycle that drives us to crave newness and instilled a desire within us to live in a constant state of reinvention through our personal style – which in turn has lead to mass overconsumption and loss of true and unique personal style.
We set out to provide you with some accessible and practical alternatives to help alleviate your ‘withdrawals’ from the fast fashion addiction and can help you develop new ways of expressing yourself through your style.
Emily Cooper Photographed by Taylor Bennett for TFB Magazine
STRIP IT DOWN
We recommend stripping down your wardrobe to the ‘bare bones’ to truly understand what you love, what you need and what you want. Think about those items you truly couldn't live without – if your wardrobe spontaneously combusted right now, what 10 items would you immediately need to replace? We challenge you to think ‘why these items?’ Do you wear them almost everyday, is it saying something honest about your personal style, is there an emotional connection, or maybe it is just really practical? What is most important for you within your wardrobe determines how you interact with your items and understanding that factor is integral to crafting something sustainable for your future relationship with clothing.
For some resources to help better understand this we recommend
Delve into the Allison Bornstein ‘3 word method’ on Youtube. Allison Bornstein is a celebrated celebrity stylist who developed a methodology of style that centers around understanding your 3 words and who approaches fashion as a tool for wellness.
Investing in a personal styling session or wardrobe curation service can help you focus on your long term goals and requirements for your wardrobe to actually service your lifestyle needs.
Research into a capsule wardrobe method to challenge yourself to see what's possible to create with limited options what is important to you.
Download substack, a newsletter app, and subscribe to the newsletters of stylists who inspire you and make you ask questions about your own style — we recommend PIGPEN from Heather Hurst @pigmamiii, Becky Malinsky, Inside Fashion, Anna Cascarina's The Fashion Journal, Fashion Talk, Fashion Letters by Vivek, Fashion Futures, Alec Leach, It’s not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke, Are you Wearing that.
Favourite substack fashion writers (L-R: Alec Leach, Becky Malinsky, Subrina Heyink, Heather Hurst, Anna Cascarina, Tiffanie Darke and Vivek Pujari)
EDUCATE TO ELEVATE
Elevating your personal style stems from truly knowing yourself and that requires you to know what you stand for. By doing some simple googling before deciding to purchase from a brand you can quickly educate yourself on that particular brand's practices and decide whether they align with your own values. Knowing how they treat and pay workers, source materials, assist the community and protect the environment is deeply important because your purchase directly funds the continuation of those practices, good or bad, because money matters! To easily identify fast fashion brands and some surface level analyses we recommend checking Good on You and reading up on some of their Brand Ratings. These Brand Ratings investigate the real practices and actions of fashion brands and see if they are truly living up to their promises.
NEW WAYS
Buying is not always the answer to fulfilling a fashion need – many of us are aware of alternative services and options but here is a little refresh of some new ways to approach your wardrobe and style development.
Rental is rapidly becoming a new norm in the fashion landscape as it fulfils our desire for newness without breaking the bank and with the added benefits of being a part of a community who shares pieces, style inspiration and a sustainable mindset.
Repair and Tailoring! We can’t emphasise enough how fulfilling it can be to make repairs to your items that need it; these repairs can often be much more cost effective instead of buying new! Tailoring is also an incredible way to make the pieces you own that much more unique to you and to curate your items to ones that fit your body and fit what you need from your closet.
Of course buying vintage and second hand is the most popular and accessible way to explore new styles and pieces, with so many platforms, stores and apps that allow us to access these pieces there is no excuse to not search for your next purchase second hand! In Amsterdam we love Gimme Glitter, De Ruilhoek, Episode, Rataplan and the many Kringloops across the city!
YOUR NEW BFF (BEST FASHION FRIENDS)
We urge you to get out there and discover new small brands, with big missions. Ask your friends and networks of the brands they love, go to small businesses events and fairs and explore online platforms for brands that align with your values. We love Local Amsterdam sustainable and eco friendly brands that value educating their clientele such as
New Optimist
MUD Jeans
Gimme Glitter
Mochi
Reconsider Studio
Zazi Boutique
Kings of indigo
Idori Designs
Open Never Empty
De Manera Suave
Oval Seas
Pink orange
Nott
With these tips, tricks and insights behind you we hope you’re able to navigate a new path towards your own personal style, with garments that represent you in your truest sense. Only when we are surrounded, both physically and mentally, by the values we align ourselves with can we truly embody our best selves and step into the world with purpose.
