I love the idea of spring cleaning. Back in Romania we frantically scrubbed every corner of the house, hauled heavy rugs outside to be aired, and spread generous amounts of lavender in closets and dresser drawers.

But I don’t remember throwing clothes away.

It’s true we had a more permanent relationship with our clothes, probably born out of necessity–communism has its share of problems, but consumerism isn’t one of them. Perhaps this is why the KonMari method never quite resonated for me. But for all you KonMari fans out there, take a moment to consider these seven facts before embarking on your next purging ceremony.

– Due to the popularity of Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, thrift shops and donation centers are having trouble keeping up. Treehugger reports that Goodwills in the D.C. area saw a sixty-
six percent increase over last year. Do you really want to add to their problem?

– Your well-intentioned donations may hurt the environment more than help it. Only 0.1 percent of the clothes we donate are recycled into new textile fibre. A large percentage of the rest end up in methane producing landfills or toxic gas emitting incinerators.

– Fashion trends have a way of coming back. Don’t throw your clothes away just because they are not trendy anymore. Remember, even fanny packs and mommy jeans have found their way back on the runway.

I get the appeal of Marie Kondo’s spark joy method. It’s simple to follow and validates our need for joy. But I’m inclined to take a less aggressive approach.

– I get the appeal of Marie Kondo’s spark joy method. It’s simple to follow and validates our need for joy. But I’m inclined to take a less aggressive approach. I assess my wardrobe at the beginning of each season. I hold on to pieces that fit my lifestyle and current trends, and I part with pieces that are damaged, that I’m not comfortable wearing, or no longer fit my body. The difference? I make sure I have the things I need, even if they don’t spark joy, so I avoid wasting more money. Also, I avoid feeling guilty about past spending.

– You’ve probably read stories about bloggers who make $29,000 selling their closet. I don’t know what they had in their closet, but recently a second-hand shop offered me less than fifteen percent of the market suggested retail price of some nearly new items.

– I don’t know about you, but an empty closet is just another excuse to go shopping. After that first dopamine rush caused by the newly organized closet I’d look to replace the things I got rid of.

If you want to save money, declutter your closet, and save the planet, shop with restraint. It might not be as easy as buying with impunity and purging, but it’s more cost-effective, less wasteful and better for the environment.

I don’t harbor any nostalgia for communism, but I can’t deny the influence it had on my relationship with fashion.

Imagine Romania, circa 1980’s: rationed food, rationed gas, rationed hot and cold water, car curfews on Sundays, two hours of TV a day, freezing-cold apartments and exactly one “house of fashion” in each major city.

Although “Casa Modei” was only a pretentious tailor shop located in an elegant Main Street building, it gave status to its customers. In a society that demanded uniformity, where everyone drove the same type of car and lived in similar apartments, some of us saw fashion as a rare opportunity to be different.

Being well dressed required connections (to stores or factories producing for the West), a good eye and creativity. Having relatives who lived “Outside”, was also an advantage. Lucky for me, I had an uncle who not only lived in New York, but was also gay.  He was impossibly stylish and very generous. He understood how to mix high end luxury pieces (that he would send me) with whatever I could get my hands on there, so he sent me trendy bags, designer sunglasses, jeans, designer jackets, cashmere sweaters (unheard of in Romania) and beautiful accessories. That was my first lesson in combining splurge/steal clothing.

While we wouldn’t want to recreate the conditions under which I developed my fashion sensibilities, I am happy to share with you  important takeaways:

ALL YOUR CLOTHES SHOULD MAKE YOU HAPPY.

I had more than one dress as a teenager, but I can count them all on one hand. Most of them had the same story of origin. I designed it and found the right fabric and Grandma sewed it on her manual Singer Sewing Machine. My dresses were made with love and they made me happy.  Like the one I wore to my first boyfriend’s birthday party. It was there I discovered that I wasn’t his only “girlfriend” invited to the party, but that doesn’t mar my fond memories for the floral, flounce hem, spaghetti strapped midi dress that saved the day for me.

NO MONEY? NO PROBLEM. YOUR CREATIVITY WILL KICK IN.

We didn’t have money, and most certainly we didn’t have Instagram to tell us how to look. We had to create, improvise, learn skills and take fashion risks.

Like making my prom dress from a dreamy Christian Dior nightgown sent to my mom by my uncle. A very feminine white gauzy cotton 1970s peasant style nightgown got an easy makeover with the help of an elastic waistband and a shirred hem. The result was a long and flowy bohemian number. I had such a good time dancing the night away in it, that I was able to let go of any ill-will I could have harbored against Courtney Love for getting credited for starting the lingerie dress trend  in the nineties.

BUY QUALITY OR YOU’LL PAY TOO MUCH.

As I said, overspending was discouraged. At one point the food was so scarce that if someone was discovered with food rations (sugar, flower, oil) larger than a month’s supply, she could go to jail for six months. So I learned to recognize high quality clothing. Natural fabrics, metal zippers, buttons, good thread, and finished seams are all indicators of a quality item that was made to last, not just to be sold. There was a saying back then, “I am too poor to buy cheap stuff,” but its meaning is timeless and universal. So much so, I’m going to make it my personal mission to bring that expression back. (And while I’m at it, I’m also going to get the word out about Courtney Love taking credit for my idea!)

I miss those days of fashion freedom when the creative process was just as important as the end result. It’s a great lesson in the power of the human spirit and how adversity forces people to look for alternative pathways. I suppose it’s fitting this week to give thanks for all the experiences that life brings to us, because we never know where they might lead to. (Or what outfits we might get out of the situation.)

Most of us are sample sale aficionados because we can’t afford to pay retail prices. Some of us are because we love the thrill of finding a good bargain. But the rise of ethical consumerism has introduced yet another motive to keep us on our toes (while hunting for the perfect pair of heels): sample sales and luxury consignment sites save the planet.

Ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, fair trade fashion, and sustainable fashion have all become ubiquitous in the world of fashion—but many brands also incorrectly use them interchangeably. It seems everyone from your BFF to your favorite brand is going green. I agree that “green is the new black” when it comes to fashion and shopping.

We strongly encourage you to go green but it’s impossible to do that properly if you don’t have a solid understanding of what “green” truly means. And considering that it’s becoming more and more trendy, you have to make sure you’re discerning enough to be able to separate the truly green from the, well, aqua.

We are concerned that articles like this one that proclaim things like, “The luxury resale market is expected to soar with the rise of mindful consumerism,” put too much emphasis on the “help the planet” factor and not enough on the “consignors can make a substantial buck on their used goods” factor. The article might simplify the reason why second-life merchandise thrives, but that doesn’t mean it is completely wrong. Our planet is better off with us purchasing less new merchandise.

Brands are under pressure to score large profits and be sustainable simultaneously—and some are willing to do that at whatever cost… including taking advantage of naive consumers who don’t really understand what “sustainable” means. This practice even has its own name: greenwashing. Please, don’t be that consumer who falls victim to this deceiving marketing strategy—be immune to greenwashing and brainwashing alike!

Step One

Understand the difference between ethical, fair trade, and sustainable fashion.

We couldn’t find better definitions than the ones provided in People Tree by founder and CEO Safia Minney. So yeah, click that link… or check out our twitter version (tight character limit) of these definitions:

• Fair Trade Fashion is defined as fashion created by a Fair Trade Certified Group with the goal of empowering marginalised people.
• Sustainable Fashion is a product that is made with environmentally-friendly standards.
• Ethical Fashion is a broader term that can encompass fair trade and sustainable fashion but is not always explicit. Ethical fashion has no distinct set of rules, practices, or governing body.

But:

• Fair Trade Fashion may also incorporate sustainable practice, including the use of organic cotton.
• Fair Trade Fashion are sometimes grouped under “Sustainable Fashion” when the production is considered “sustainable” to communities in providing livelihoods.

Step Two

If you’re going to buy new items, then make sure they check off as many of the above boxes as possible, or whichever boxes are most important to you. However, this can be a challenge getting this information out of brands…

So an alternative would be even further simplifying this process by buying at sample sales and consignment stores. Why? Because even if they don’t check the boxes, they’re at the very least: not new. That means you save them from being destroyed at the expense of Mother Earth. It appears that extending the life of a product instead of always conflating “new” with “better,” plus creating a culture around that idea might be a sensible thing to do… for now.

Happy green shopping!

xo

Depending on which magazine or site your read, the New York Fashion Week has either “lost its strength” or is “more robust than ever”.

Through the years we’ve attended our share of fashion shows, and followed everything printed (or typed) about the event. For years we knew what the “it bag” was, what celebrity sat next to Anna Wintour, and if she smiled or not. This year we missed all events, haven’t even read much about them. Not that we adhere to the school of thought that claims the New York fashion show is inconsequential, we just don’t know what is its rai•sond’ê•tre

Is it supposed to be an opportunity to sale clothes, to get a splashy Vogue feature, or a PR opportunity for celebrities to be spotted? When we find out the answer to that, we will return to attending the New York Fashion Week.

I am not going to lie, I love living on the Upper East Side. No, it’s not exactly sample sale heaven, but there are so many other benefits that make up for that. It’s not just the museums and the park that make me starry eyed, but also the meet-cutes that happen with Candice Bergen who stops to baby-talk your dog or Paul McCartney who is shopping ahead of you at Dean & DeLuca—both of which have happened to me. Fine, maybe this isn’t unique to the Upper East Side; celebrity run-ins happen citywide when the city is New York. And it’s understandable why so many celebs make their homes here… where else would they stumble across so many sample sales and consignment stores and thrift shops PACKED with underpriced gems all within any given three block span?

If you’re an avid TSC reader, you probably know by now that I myself have mixed feelings about secondhand apparel and shoes. Yes, I confess I am an only child and I’ve never liked sharing things. I didn’t borrow clothes from friends growing up and I can’t imagine wearing some stranger’s shoes. But the economic data doesn’t support my shopping preferences as the second hand apparel industry (offline and online) is an astounding $18 billion industry, and it is forecasted to reach $33 billion by 2021.

While I suspect most of the future growth will come from online consignment shops such as ThredUp and platforms like TheRealReal and Vestiaire Collective, I do hope Upper East Side second hand clothing stores still have a place in the future of fashion. Whether you’re motivated by investing in better quality you couldn’t afford otherwise or by environmental consciousness and sustainability, there are plenty of reasons to give second hand shopping a second look. Heck, even I did a double take that paid off.

On a recent visit to Margoth Consignment Shop at 218 East 81st Street, I was received with so much kindness in this cozy store, that I let my guard down and—gasp!—forgot about my preconceptions about second hand clothes. I don’t often establish relationships with sales people, but I feel in this kind of store, it’s not only a perk, it’s a must. My advice? If you can, get the inside scoop, make friends with the owner, ask her to let you know if something you want is brought into her store. This gives you an advantage you’d never get from any typical clothing store or sample sale.

Designer Revival at 324 East 81st Street is a much larger store with a good selection, pleasant décor, and a chic atmosphere to help support your retail therapy. Although I didn’t buy anything there, I’ve bookmarked their beautiful and functional website DesignerRevival.com and I will most certainly check it out from time to time.

If you want to minimize the traveling time and you want to hit as many consignment stores as possible, you can try Madison between 84th and 85th. For many years that block has been the location for Encore Consignment and BIS Designer Resale, but the imminent upcoming arrival of Michael’s puts it into a different category. Michael’s, the “family-owned mainstay known as a go-to for secondhand designer-label fashions & accessories” will be located on the North East corner of Madison and 84th.

I haven’t seen the financial statements of these stores, but I have a feeling nobody is getting really rich from doing this. Still, they’re sticking with them for the joy, the more personal retail experience, and the benefits for the environment and your wallet. These are challenging businesses, especially when you have to pay the Upper East Side rents. What they sell depends on the quality and quantity of products people give them to be sold. While some of them (Designer Resale, Michael’s) have new management with prior experience from the corporate world, social media savvy, and adaptability to adjust to the times, these are still tough times for most of them. If you love vintage and want to save the world (or just your money), give these small stores a chance. And when you are there and you stop by at Dean & DeLuca for a latte, don’t forget to look for Paul McCartney… you never know.