10 New Things
My version of the Five Things pledge, the six new things I've bought this year, and the Substackers inspiring low and no buy fashion consumption
When I first heard about the Five Things pledge I immediately thought there is no way that I can do that. Then I read Lauren Indvik’s Financial Times article on her Five Things pledge and thought maybe. Because nothing piques my interest like someone in fashion talking about going vegan and leather-free in the same breath as a low buy challenge.
If you aren’t familiar with the Five Things pledge, it originates from the Hot or Cool Institute’s Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable report which examines the actions needed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 °C by the end of this century, put in place by the 2015 Paris Agreement to avoid severe climate change. The Hot or Cool report recommends that consumers in G20 countries restrict their new clothing purchases to an average of five items a year to help meet this target.
All of this made me curious about my own purchase history, so I went through the steps of tracking my shopping over the last five years (10/10 do not recommend this strategy and wish 2019 me was wise enough to start tracking my purchases in 2019).
The good news: three years of Rent The Runway and ten of The RealReal helped keep my clothing purchases well under the US average of 53 new items a year. 2021 was my highest year at 17 new things (I blame post-2020 stress) and 2019 was my lowest at three (the height of my Rent The Runway productivity, although it’s entirely possible that I missed some pieces).
The not-so-good news: I knew five new items wasn’t realistic for me, but I could do 10 since as a latecomer to this pledge in 2023 I ended the year at nine new items.
Enclothed Cognition Made Me Do It
I’ve always had an eclectic wardrobe full of prints and patterns, but this spring I lost interest in even my most special pieces. Instead of feeling confident when I put them on, I spent the whole day feeling blah and uncomfortable. You know when you don’t like your outfit and it sets the wrong tone for your entire day? I recently learned in my consumer behavior class that there’s a term for this called enclothed cognition where what you’re wearing impacts your psychological state. A lightbulb moment for me since I had experienced enclothed cognition almost every time I put on a print or pattern in the last six months, which make up a casual 75% of my wardrobe.
Around the same time I was watching my favorite OG fashion creator Karen Blanchard’s YouTube on summer outfitting and she talked about how she’s moving away from prints to solids since her prints were starting to feel dated and like she’d outgrown them. Another lightbulb as I realized I was feeling the same way. Side note: I follow close to a thousand fashion creators on social media and for 10+ years Karen has been my top follow - she’s so amazing.
But this change goes back even further - it started two years ago when I was doing research on the rise of quiet luxury fashion for work and my social feeds quickly became saturated with minimalist influencers. The more I saw this aesthetic, the more I liked it. Good or bad, there’s something to the repetition of social media that eventually adjusts your eye, even an entrenched one like mine. The trend forecasting agency where I worked had noted that this form of timeless dressing is an indicator of a deeper cultural shift towards sustainable wardrobes. Clearly, both of these ideas resonated with me to the point of inspiring a complete overhaul of my wardrobe (albeit not so sustainable in the short term).
So, what does all of this have to do with the Five Things pledge? I now feel like I have big gaps in a closet that’s made up of highly specific prints and patterns and I’m fighting the urge to start from scratch. The guardrails of limiting new clothing purchases will keep my consumption low and hopefully inspire me to move to five things before I work my way up (down?) to the unicorn that is No Buy 365.
My Ten Things Pledge
I’m following the spirit, but not the exact rules of the Five Things pledge (there’s a reason that this Substack is called Semi-Sustainable instead of Perfectly Sustainable). You can read more about the parameters of the original pledge here, here, and here.
I’m more of a clothing person vs. a shoes and bags person, so I focused my pledge on apparel. The original pledge asks you to limit secondhand shopping, but I’m opting out of this since I have a methodical circular approach that keeps my preloved buys low: I have an item on my wishlist for 1-3 years, find it on The RealReal, wait for the price to drop to something reasonable, click into my favorites and see that it’s been sold, rinse and repeat.
Here are my pledge guidelines:
Up to 10 new clothing items are allowed
No cap on secondhand buys
Gifts and workout gear count
Shoes, bags, jewelry, accessories, socks, and undergarments don’t count
Rentals don’t count
Repair of something I own doesn’t count
Where I’m At For 2024
I’m at six new items this year, but this comes with the caveat that only 33% of my purchases are from a responsible brand. Being vegan pushes me down the path of synthetics to avoid animal products like leather and wool, my constant environmental and ethical quandary when it comes to sweaters, outerwear, suiting, handbags, and footwear since there isn’t much space between animal products and synthetics yet.
#1 and #2
I got off to a poor start in 2024 by buying a synthetic skirt set from Zara before I went to visit my family in sub-zero temperatures. I had been looking at this set for close to a month and visiting it in person and online, but didn’t pull the trigger until a couple of days before my trip as a panic buy. Not only was my outfit too lightweight for the weather, but I was second-guessing the skirt after the first wear and frustrated with myself for buying from a brand rated “not good enough” by Good On You. Over the years I’ve always been a little disappointed in my Zara buys and this one pushed me over the edge to finally commit to stop buying from Zara.
#3 and #4
I did a little better with my next purchase, a Girlfriend Collective gray bra and legging set that I bought during my foray into responsible and secondhand activewear. My new set inspires me to go to the gym and if my prior workout collection is any indication, I’ll wear this into the ground. I feel good about this purchase.
#5 and #6
My most recent purchase isn’t perfect: I bought the Pixie Market Dani Cropped Blazer and Martin Slouchy Pants when it went on sale at Shopbop. This suit had been sitting on my wishlist for months as I looked longingly at other people wearing it on my socials (the cropped jacket! the barrel leg pants!). Rated by Good on You as “it’s a start”, Pixie Market has only taken small steps into sustainability, but after lots of window shopping, I couldn’t find anything like it that wasn’t animal-based.
I truly love my new suit - in the last month I’ve worn it together and pulled apart so many times that my friends are probably wondering if I have any other clothes (I do and they’re mostly prints).
No Buy and Low Buy Inspiration
If you’re looking to pull back on your clothing consumption there are so many great fashion sustainability educators and low consumption creators to learn from on Substack. I wanted to share who I’ve found inspirational as I’m trying to scale back my consumption. Let me know in the comments who’s motivating you to reduce your fashion footprint. I’d love to add more people to my reading list.
The creator of the Rule of Five pledge, former Sunday Times Style editor and Harrod’s Editor in Chief, Tiffanie writes The Rule of Five and It’s Not Sustainable With Tiffanie Darke. If you want to learn about reducing your fashion footprint with incredible low buy inspiration directly from the source, start here.
Founder of The Sustainable Fashion Forum and Green Behavior podcast and Substack, Brittany digs deep into the psychology of fashion and how it influences our purchasing decisions - it’s absolutely fascinating. Learning from Brittany has been a great motivator to shop less and avoid fast fashion. I highly recommend this pod episode that explores what drives us to buy fast fashion.
The author of Harry Styles, Harriet chronicles her No Buy 365 Challenge. Harriet’s styling is so creative with visually engaging how-to guides and a clear-cut wardrobe philosophy. She makes me think I could possibly commit to a year without buying.
Liz writes My Relationship With Clothes which documents her low buy year, part of a larger project that examines our collective connection with clothes. Liz has created a consumption contract for anyone who’s looking to reduce their footprint and a supportive chat and offline community.
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading. I’d love to know if you’re doing a no buy or low buy pledge so I can follow along. See you next Wednesday!
When I think about no or low buy, I think I naturally fall into that category? Aside from undergarments (underwear is always the limiting factor for laundry!!), I have only bought maybe 5 new clothing items this year. So while your blog is about fashion, I think there's room in my own goal setting for sustainability / reducing waste in other areas of my life. Namely, food purchases. Always bring my own tupperware for takeout - avoid packaged food as often as possible - bring my mug to the coffee shop (plus I usually get a discount!) - compost - etc. Food and food packaging is the largest waste producer in my life, most definitely.
I love this challenge. I’m going to try it!