Why I'm Not Doing A Low Buy in 2025
What I learned over the last two years and what I'm changing for 2025
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I’ve done a low buy challenge for the last two years, but have been slowly reducing my fashion consumption since 2018 after going to a panel hosted by the Mara Hoffman brand. I’d jumped at the chance to attend a fashion anything since these are super rare in my tech-dominant city (one might say like gold dust), although I wasn’t deeply into the panel’s talking point about transforming Mara Hoffman’s supply chain to be more sustainable. At the time I was a buyer and site merchant and mostly looked at fashion from a trend and sales perspective. The team’s talk startled me into understanding how fashion negatively impacts the environment and planted the seeds to rethink my own consumption.
A few years later I worked at a trend forecasting agency where I did a huge amount of research into circularity and next-gen fabrics, another big eye-opener. I worked alongside talented people who were passionate about making fashion more sustainable and this pushed me even further to become more intentional in my purchasing decisions.
A Brief History of My Low Buys
2023: My first low buy pledge was last minute and totally unplanned: I ended up backing into it fall 2023 after reading Lauren Indvik’s Five Things Pledge article. I counted up the new items that I’d bought so far that year (nine) and felt that was a good number to kick things off. The pledge held me back from buying clothes that I didn’t need in the holiday sales, so I counted this as a win.
2024: I wanted to keep going with a more intentional low buy pledge, creating set parameters to follow for the entire year. I changed the original Five Things Pledge to 10 New Things, as in 10 new items of apparel for 2024, because I know myself and buying only five fashion things and limiting my secondhand purchases wasn’t going to work. I’ve linked my experience below if you want more context behind where the initial challenge originated and the guidelines I set for my version of the pledge.
Why I’m Not Going For a Third Year
You might have read a couple of months back that I’m an ethical vegan and don’t eat or wear animal products. Cue linking to my favorite vegan meme because the accuracy. (Please stay with me, I promise this isn’t a vegan rant.)
I’d been a vegetarian for most of my life, but going vegan was a whole other level of food awareness. I remember spending an hour in the grocery store on my first “vegan” shopping trip since I had to read every label to filter out food with animal ingredients, both obvious and obscure. Being vegan required new restrictions that shaped what and where I ate, and what I felt comfortable buying and wearing. After going to omnivore restaurants and being served food with dairy and meat on multiple occasions, I started go down the path of only wanting to go to vegan restaurants. Then I was nervous to travel to certain places because I didn’t think I would be able to eat anything for the duration of the trip, etc etc.
A low buy pledge fit in with my vegan lifestyle since it wasn’t hard to add in another challenge. It didn’t impact me in 2023 because I started so late in the year, but over the last few months of 2024 I’ve become aware of how boxed in I’ve felt and wanted to make some changes, revisiting a low buy pledge being one of them.
My Changes for 2025
A couple of fashion changes, a couple of lifestyle changes. I’m excited to head into the new year with a slightly different outlook.
Skipping buying pledges: Not because I want to go bananas buying whatever I want, but to have one less restriction in my life. Maybe I’ll keep it to 10 new things or go as high as 20, but I feel good about purchasing mindfully, especially after finding inspiration in a newly minimalist wardrobe that’s easier to style than my former maximalist closet.
Breaking up with vegan leather: The more I learned about microplastics harming the environment, animals, and humans, the less I wanted to contribute by buying more plastic-based synthetics. I’m shifting to secondhand leather and wool until next-gen plastic-free plant-based leather becomes mainstream.
Reducing my Goodreads challenge: This took some thought since I’ve always been a big reader. I started the Goodreads challenge 10 years ago and for the last five years I’ve happily read 200 or more books a year. But 2024 felt different - instead of reading for enjoyment I felt like I was grinding through books just to reach my goal. I don’t want to lose one of my biggest joys and I know that life is going to be busy in 2025, so I’m setting this year’s goal at a more restful 100 books to recapture what I love about reading.
Going to omnivore restaurants: Over the last couple of months I’ve broken out of my vegan bubble and have found some amazing omnivore restaurants with plant-based options. They’ve had better energy than the vegan restaurants I’ve been frequenting and I haven’t been served accidental dairy or meat yet, so this is a success that I’m carrying into 2025.
My Fashion Takeaways for 2025
Things to work on: The brands that I’m buying for my new fashion purchases since I made not-so-sustainable purchases, like Zara and Pixie Market, in 2024, although these were balanced out by semi-sustainable purchases, like Girlfriend Collective*. I need to prioritize supporting brands with clear-cut responsibility goals this year.
Things on my secondhand wishlist: Replacing items like my disintegrating vegan leather and synthetic wool pieces. Maybe even a wool coat. A vintage pair of classic denim, an ankle-length trench (an ongoing quest since I’m tall), chic going out tops, silver hoop earrings, and potentially a preloved leather boot or bag since even my nicer vegan leather pieces are showing signs of their inevitable downward spiral.
Things on my new wishlist: Solid color t-shirts, upgrading my 2014-era gym shoes, basics like undergarments and socks, and a few tbd minimalist items.
Things on my repair/alterations list: My beloved Stella McCartney wallet (broken zipper) and mini bag (broken strap). Altering or selling my Frankie Shop Stu cargo pants and Agolde Criss Cross jeans that are a tad more oversized than I hoped.
*Semi-sustainable since buying new clothing isn’t sustainable, even from responsible brands like Girlfriend Collective that use recycled fabrics and have a clothing recycling program and peer-to-peer resale marketplace. That being said, they’re making key moves to become more sustainable and are miles ahead of the majority of fashion brands.
The 10 New Things I Bought in 2024
I bought mostly workout clothes to replace old activewear that started to fall apart in the most embarrassing way, along with a suit and skirt set. I’m happy to report that everything was minimalist in design and neutral in color to build a timeless wardrobe that I’ll wear for years to come.
My most worn and least worn items were a Zara sweater and matching skirt. Both are shamefully 100% synthetic and both sport pills that are starting to resist my fabric shaver. The sweater silhouette is ultra-versatile and I’m on the lookout for a preloved wool version in 2025. I need to find new ways to style the matching skirt so it’s not just taking up space in my closet.
My new activewear is all from Girlfriend Collective and I’m genuinely excited to wear everything because it makes going to the gym that much more chic. My best purchase was the Becca X Neck Bra and matching Compressive Pocket Legging in Café, followed closely by the Connie Curved Bra and matching Compressive Pocket Legging in Moon. I also got the Bianca One-Shoulder Bra in Ivory to mix and match with any color legging and the Topanga Halter Bra in Midnight that’s serendipitously the same shade as a pair of preloved GC leggings I found on ThredUp this summer.
My most versatile set was the Pixie Market Dani Cropped Blazer and Martin Slouchy Pants that I’ve mixed and matched so many times. I keep coming back to the blazer when I want to look polished, like grabbing coffee or brunch with friends, and the full suit for networking events and big presentations.
Are You Doing a No/Low Buy Pledge?
Congratulations! Being thoughtful about what you buy is a big step forward. It’s good to flex your pledge to work with your lifestyle so it feels like an accessible goal instead of an unattainable one. It could mean pulsing a pledge for a month, a gradual decrease in what you purchase, or a hard number for the entire year. Whatever you decide, don’t feel bad if life happens and you don’t meet your exact goal. The real achievement is in reducing your consumption to build long-term sustainable habits.
That’s it for this week! Happy New Year and thanks for reading. If you’re participating in a low or no buy pledge, I’d love to hear more in the comments.
I'm going to continue to be low buy as I'm pretty satisfied with my wardrobe right now, but I don't think I'll be putting a specific number on it. I'm glad your 10 buys of the year were practical and enjoyable!
I’m not doing a buying pledge because I’ve had trouble with overshopping in the past and I don’t want to set myself up for a failure. However I’ve been doing intensive trauma therapy and noticed I’ve been shopping much less and returning things much more often. I only kept two items I bought in December which is big change for me. So I’m more interested in the working from the inside out theory and things will fall into place rather than imposing outer restrictions on myself that I tend to rebel against. That’s what’s helping for now and I’m excited to carry it into 2025.
I’ve been enjoying reading about your journey and your thoughtfulness about consumption.