It takes a person 3 seconds to form an impression of you. So what we wear matters. Having a carefully curated wardrobe offers so many benefits, feeling empowered from the moment you wake up and get dressed is one of the most obvious, and one of the less relatable positive impacts of knowing your style is that it can help save the planet!
Fashion is thirsty business
Many of us don’t think about the resources required to make our clothes. It takes 2,700 litres of water to produce the cotton needed to make a single t-shirt. To put that into perspective one load of washing uses 40 gallons of water. By simply extending the use of our clothes by just nine months we could save £5 billion in resources used to supply, launder and dispose of clothing. I recently wrote a blog about how water intensive fashion is over on Ethical Brand Directory, you can read that later, by clicking here.
We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time
Despite the majority of women only wearing 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time, we continue to ‘shop’ for more things than we need. We spend on average £1042 per year on clothes according to the Great British Wardrobe Report (but I would argue it’s more). Right now it’s estimated that us Brits have over £5.4bn of unworn clothing hiding in our homes, most of which is likely to be the wrong shape, size or colour.
What’s the value of your wardrobe and the ROI?
One of my recent clients wardrobe audits revealed over £17,000 worth of clothes acquired over a 10-year period many items only worn a few times a year. Many items were acquired without thinking about the bigger picture – and that happens to a lot of us.
In situations like this you have to look at the cost per wear. Is something that costs £50 on the highstreet, really a good investment if you only wear it once or twice? Say you wear it twice at £25 per wear, I would suggest that the ROI on that item is really very poor.
My Burberry coat may have cost me over £600 – BUT I have worn it at least #100times each year since I purchased it. Already, in just 1-year the cost per wear is £6. Given it’s a classic it wont go out of style, so I can continue wearing for the rest of my life. Now that’s got a very high ROI, because the tailoring and overall craftsmanship was so good to start – it’s not going to fall apart.
I have had that jacket for over 5-years now.
Knowing your personal style is a long term investment with high ROI
Given the facts about fashion, and that knowing our style can bring about so many positives to our life and the planet, it certainly raises the stakes in making it a priority. Knowing your signature style will keep your wardrobe streamlined and help you stay focused on saving up for investment pieces that you can wear again and again (over #100wears).
Getting started with a new wardrobe full of purpose.
- Define your style
- Get clarity on what shapes are best for your body type
- Understand what colours are best for your complexion
If you have an questions or would like to enquire about working with me to create a new wardrobe and define your ‘signature style’ please feel free to email me at Roberta Style Lee
