Q & A : No New Clothes : Part I

High fives to everyone who has been rethinking clothing purchases.  I hope you’re loving it as much as we are.  It seems you have a lot of questions about what Martin and I have gained from going on this No New Clothes Challenge and some concerns about where you’re struggling.  So I’m rolling up my sleeves and pulling out the dirty laundry to see what we can share.  Here goes nothing.  Part I.

Q: Katie, how do you deal with people giving you clothes?  My mom likes to buy me clothes.  My sister gives me clothes. -Michelle

Hmmm.  That’s an interesting question.  Ever since I started this blog, people have stopped giving us “stuff”!  They’re really aware of what our goals are as consumers and as caretakers of the earth.  I would suggest you talk to the women in your life about their clothes giving habits.  Its clear they offer these things to you because they are thinking of you and loving you.  Be constructive about it by offering ideas on what you would love to receive from them instead… such as time together making cookies, planting flowers, painting a room, or volunteering.

Q:  If anyone has ideas about how to effectively patch up jeans, I’d be grateful! My jeans are cotton, with small holes in not-so-obvious places, but I fear the holes may get bigger in time.  -Berliner

I’m still a beginner at patching jeans, so lucky for all of us, we have Annie to the rescue.  This fabulous woman just happens to be a professional seamstress.  Here’s what she says:

1. Purchase, online, a thing called “steam-a-seam 2″.

2. Use an old piece of jeans for a patch.

3. Follow directions on SAS2 and iron the patch onto the back. Then take sewing machine and zig-zag around patch edge. Match thread with jeans and it will hardly show.

SAS2 is made so it isn’t supposed to come out in the wash or dryer, but I don’t trust anything. You don’t have to fix the hole unless you want to if you have a matching patch behind it. If you do want it not to show, then put your machine on straight stitch and start on the left side of the hole, stitch forward and backward, pulling it to the left minutely as you do. Eventually you will cover the hole area with matched stitches.

(my first attempt at patching jeans – work jeans)

Q:  Sometimes I feel like I should hold on to some “nice” piece of clothing for that one time that I might need to wear it — even though I haven’t worn it in a couple of years and even though I spend my days in jeans and t shirts. So do you have any items that you hold onto just in case, or do you let those go, too?  -Jennifer

Here’s how I am approaching this topic:  will I wear it in the next two years?  If the answer is no, it goes.  We’re all only going to have so many formal functions in the next two years.  If my position in life drastically changes – like suddenly I’m wearing a bunch of suits again – then I can get more suits then.  But right now?

Q:  How how you keep clothes from looking worn and frumpy? – Katherine

We’re able to extend the usable life of our clothes three ways at our house:

1.  We wear different clothes in the city than we do at home. That way our nice clothes last longer.  We also don’t have to worry about dirt from the streets and our bikes getting on our yellow couch.

2.  We line dry our clothes. You know all of that lint you’re pulling from the dryer?  It’s particles coming off of your clothes.  I’ve noticed the biggest difference in how long Martin’s undershirts last when we’re line drying instead of using a dryer.  The shirts are lasting much longer.

3. We realized we could stop doing so much laundry. The funny thing about washing machines is that they’re supposed to save us time.  But since the invention of the modern washing machine, we’re washing more and more clothes.  That’s taking up more of our time.  It’s also ruining our clothes faster – especially sweaters – and making everything fade and stretch over time.  If you have a hole in something, toss the item in the washer and that hole grrrrows.  So just because you’ve worn something, it doesn’t mean it’s dirty.  Frequent washing wears clothes out more than anything I know (excluding little boys).

Q:  Ok, I’m 60 years old. so I grew up in a leaner time than you, and my parents had less money than most, so these things of course formed my views about spending money. … What did my generation do wrong, to produce young people who think it is “radical” to only shop for clothes when you need them?  -Daniel

I don’t think that the consumerism our society has adapted is something to blame a generation on.  Over time, humans have been finding faster, cheaper ways to create everything.  Marketers have been working equally as hard to convince us that we need to have all of these things to lead happy lives.  Suddenly shopping isn’t something we do out of necessity.  Shopping is a hobby.  We do it for fun.  We hang out with friends by roaming the aisles.  We crave new clothing because we think it could change the way we feel about ourselves.  Marketing in this industry is good.  Advertisements for beer are equally crafty.  They really make you think, “Boy, I do need to start drinking that beer so I can play volleyball with big chested, skinny women.”  Or maybe those ads don’t work on us.  But the clothing ads sure do!  It’s pretty easy to see how the lifestyle portrayed in beer commercials isn’t reality.  With clothing, it’s much harder.

Breaking this habit of clothing shopping is hard, especially as clothing becomes cheaper and cheaper.  We have turned it into a form of stress relief.  But I suspect that many people such as Daniel (and now myself thanks to this challenge) are seeing that a constant need to create a certain image through our clothing doesn’t actually relieve stress when we get new clothes.  Instead, we’re constantly stressed to look right!

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So I hope that all helps!  If you have any questions you’d like me to answer about the No New Clothes Challenge, let me know in the comments.  And as always – your thoughts on the topic are most welcome.  Like what’s the longest you’ve had a favorite sweater?  Anyone else say since high school?  Or any more tips on how you make clothes go the extra mile… err kilometer.  I need to think more European here!