hello hello I have a mic with me today because we have some things to talk about I know it's
giving karaoke Mike but I promise I will not be breaking out into song I feel like there's a topic
that we've been dancing around on my channel for so long but never like really sitting on it and
just like marinating in it and there's been a few comments lately that have reminded me of this slow
fashion basically I've been sewing on YouTube making my own clothes for like 10 years now and
through all the like sourcing of materials drawing up designs tedious sewing steps discarding fabric
scraps I've come to grasp more and more just the sheer amount of work that goes into creating a
garment the number of people involved to get a piece of clothing that's just an idea into your
hands and having you wear it right now and that for every little bit of scrap fabric that I throw
out the fashion industry is just discarding tons and tons of off-cut material also that we can like
look cute or presentable at least and to like change things up so we don't feel outdated with
every sewing project I realize it more and at some point it just like kind of becomes like pretty
exhausting to think about I have become just like a bigger and bigger fan of buying less clothes I
know it's kind of counterintuitive because I run a fashion and DIY channel and like if you guys
have ever seen a five minute DIY crafting video you know that a lot of those things are ending
up in the junk but despite all that I still want to be more strategic with my purchases I want to
simplify the amount of space that getting dressed takes up in my head lately I look at my closet and
sometimes it just feels like such a chaotic mess because the clothing reflects so many colors and
styles and Trends because I have a hard time throwing things away I want to do something
about this and I really believe I'm not alone in this feeling and I'm not sure how this is going to
turn out but I'm planning on going about this in a data focused approach so here we are a database
approach to simplifying your closet some of you may see this as a bit of an elephant in the room
when it comes to my closet she has had a major glow up on the the outside tomorrow Alexandra and
the team are coming here to make over our bedrooms so I guess this is goodbye Dan's Workstation
bed with throw blanket hooked up to a compression rod ever since us moving in half a year ago so
really looking forward to that being different this is the entrance to our ensuite bathroom
the makeover is not touching this however because we're not allowed to enter our bedroom we will not
be able to use our toilet with our lovely and over here not quite sure what's going to land
here but I'm going to be looking at this all the time I guess this is goodbye every one of
these details is subject to change so we will see what happens if you guys don't know who Alexander
Gator is please check the description to see her makeovers she is honestly a fairy godmother
transforming people's homes into beautiful spaces and she uh she made me cry when she showed me this
bedroom I think I suddenly was overcome by the reality of how long it would have taken me and Dan
to make this space feel like home for her to like transform it all in one go if you go to watch the
bedroom transformation video maybe like after this video you will notice there was one thing that I
was adamant on keeping they are also the sponsor of this video do you do you want to take it away
like many of you hopefully sleep is very important to me I can't tell you how much harder it is to
take care of a baby when you're not well rested when Alexander Gator gave us our bedroom makeover
we specifically requested please don't touch our mattress our bed frame they're from Birch
living we don't want them replaced we miss them when we travel I'm gonna bring this over here
Birch living is a premium mattress in a box company they make sleep products that are
stylish comfortable and environmentally conscious they're non-toxic mattresses are made in America
and they are crafted with Organic and natural materials that have been sustainably sourced it
was important for me to choose a birch mattress that was made from natural and organic materials
because I can sleep easy knowing that there's no harmful off-gassing from the manufacturing process
and in addition to being a better mattress for me for Dan for sagua who sometimes sleeps with us
Birch is also committed to being a better mattress for the planet throughout the creation of their
mattresses Birch ensures that their materials are produced and harvest sustainably they now have
the Birch Luxe mattress it's a premium upgrade to their original well-loved Birch natural mattress
we have an R Birch mattress for two years now we still love it so much we sleep so well through my
pregnancy postpartum late nights with baby the quality of the mattress is just obvious when we
compare it to our previous mattress if you want to check it out with your Birch mattress you'll get a
100 night sleep trial you'll also get a 25 year warranty so for all of you that are nervous to
buy something that you haven't tried you will get more than three months to sleep in it roll around
in it work from home in it and if you don't love it virtual pick it up you'll get a full refund
all good the best and easiest part of it all is that Birch delivers right to your door for free
also in the US it comes rolled up in a box and is super easy to set up yourself and then each
Birch mattress comes with two Eco rest pillows that we also use they're made from recycled
plastic bottles yet still breathable and better for the environment we very much so love our
Birch mattress I think you guys will too if you're looking for a new mattress check out Birch you can
click the link in the description or you can go to birchliving.com with Wendy you will get 400 off
your mattress plus the two free Eco rest pillows thanks so much Birch living for sponsoring this
video more slow fashion in general is a concept that is the opposite of fast fashion it refers to
a fashion approach that considers the procedures and resources that are needed to create apparel
and generally promotes the purchase of higher quality clothes that will last longer as well
as Equitable treatment of people animals and the environment involved in the fashion manufacturing
process so where fast fashion says cheap labor cheap materials cheap Garmin construction sell
lots of it and then just like throw it out when we're done with it slow fashion says let's not
exploit garment workers let's select materials sustainably let's construct garments to last let's
buy carefully all with the intention of having as little as possible go to the landfill which sounds
great but I do think the rise of fast fashion is completely understandable given the track of
industrialization that we've been on during the late 20th century fast fashion grew significantly
due to improvements in clothing manufacturing the global supply chain as well as a dependence on
low-cost labor in regions like South to East Asia I'm sure we've all seen those tags on the
shirts that say made in Vietnam made in Bangladesh the speed the low cost it all fit perfectly with
shorter Trend Cycles in selling more products and companies like Zara h m Xi'an Primark these are
the massive companies that have profited off of fast fashion all of this has unfortunately
come at a cost to the environment the global fashion industry is responsible for about 10
percent of global carbon emissions every year and fast fashion is a significant contributor
of that so now looking back taking in the scale of pollution unethical treatment of garment workers
excess waste and then even at my personal level just the exhaustion of feeling like I'm always
supposed to be buying something new consumers are becoming more interested in I guess what I call
guilt-free clothing and appreciating more like long lasting quality slow fashion like it's not
free of controversy as it becomes more popular to be eco-conscious capitalism always finds a way to
to make more money many companies make statements about being more eco-conscious and I'm not trying
to be like raining on anyone's parade I do actually believe at high level I like to
see the conversation the energy the pressure the direction but unfortunately at a practical level a
lot of it can add up to be green washing or green Sheen greenwashing is a form of advertising or
marketing spin in which the supposed green benefits are used deceptively to sell more
products help the company kind of distance itself from its more environmentally Shady practices and
like in the end it really just benefits the bottom line more than the planet for example this isn't
often referred to one but Swedish brand h m has a conscious Choice collection which
what in their words pieces created with a little extra consideration for the planet but it has
been reported that since 2013 h m has burned 60 tons of unsold new clothing and they're not by
any means alone in this practice in the fashion industry there's so much more to untangle here
and I'll include some links in the description if you want to read more and I also want to be clear
me bringing up slow fashion is not me trying to shame anyone who is dependent on the system that
is fast fashion like when I see the price tags of items that are slow fashion versus Fast fashion
it hurts it's a huge difference and I also want to acknowledge minimalism simplification as popular
as they are they come loaded with privilege that you have the flexibility and freedom to invest and
think about the future instead of just worrying about survival and the now so with all that said
if you are at the point like me where you want to simplify your wardrobe you want to own items that
you wear and love you want to vote with your wallets that fast fashion needs to chill I'm
on that Journey with you the actions that I've taken thus far sorry the sunlight keeps changing
in here so maybe this is a little better over the years I have severely limited the degree to which
I shop fast fashion I've been trying to Thrift or buy secondhand clothes whenever possible I also
sell clothing when I'm finished with them and with that inherently comes trying to buy stuff that I
can tell has resale value so like I know it has a long life span ahead if you guys follow me on
Instagram you probably have seen me do a closet sale here or there stay tuned I'll probably have
more in the future but if I'm shorter on time I'll also often bring my things to a consignment store
all of which brings me to The Next Step I'm trying to take capsule wardrobes it's nothing new they've
appeared in American Publications as early as the 1940s at its core it's a collection of clothing
interchangeable items that can create the maximum number of outfits I have never attempted a capsule
wardrobe so I did try to look up some tips they are stick to a color scheme oh boy flatter your
body shape and complexion okay classic shapes and patterns high quality Fabrics that age
I like that one basically anything that doesn't meet most of these criteria is essentially not
the best use of your hard-earned money if you're going to spend your money on an item
that you only wear a few times that's low Roi and we can do better okay we're getting we're
getting down to business a friend of mine showed me she was using this app a closet a closet this
is not sponsored it's a free app but basically you input all of your clothes it'll assemble
outfits for you help you live out your clueless sheer Horowitz fantasies but the part I'm most
interested in is the data as you use the app it will calculate how well you're using your
closet the items you don't use as much the items with the highest cost per wear to me this is like
the fairest most scientific way I could approach assessing which of my clothing items I probably
should part with but on top of that what I should buy that would be the most efficient addition to
the Wardrobe so I just don't feel tempted to like buy random things my friend said apparently it's
very easy to set up your wardrobe I personally I feel a little bit intimidated because it's a
lot of pictures I'm gonna give this a go I want you guys to guess in the comments how long you
feel like it would take you to do something like this I'm going to guess one hour two this thing
even has the weather alrighty I'm hitting the plus sign add clothes oh I gotta take a lot of pictures
[Music] okay I did it I did end up taking an hour to just do the top I think the whole thing took
three hours I retook some photos when I realized some clothes looked much cuter lying on the
ground than on a hanger and then on top of that I remember this whole box of clothes that I had
put away when I was really starting to show for pregnancy mostly pants I had no idea if I would
get to wear them again and I do still fit them so brought those back out the feature I'm second most
interested in outfit recommendations their ideas based on the weather occasion specific colors in
your wardrobe I want to try some of these first up let's try a pop of yellow I don't know if I
100 love this outfit because this white shirt really toes the line of like becoming a lab coat
okay let's find another one I don't think I would have ever put this outfit together this
one was suggested as let's try a white blouse I'll think about this one alrighty what else you got
Touch of black I feel like this one was heading in a good direction but the one thing the app
can't really take into account is like the weight or texture of things like this turtleneck is way
too heavy for this lighter dress it's silhouette from far away is like okay but it does give me
good ideas because then I could just do the same thing with a thinner turtleneck well that was fun
every day I've been logging the outfits hello they've got two types of stats utilization which
talks about how much I've been wearing each of the clothing items but then clothing stats kind
of breaks down the composition of my wardrobe I did Skip underwear socks shoes bags thick winter
coats and pajamas just don't really feel like they're as critical to this app according to the
app most of my items are tops which makes sense because while I was pregnant I had very little
desire to buy bottoms because it felt like that was an area where there was a lot of change and
two when I go thrift shopping it's just easier and more inviting to try on tops than to try on
Bottoms you actually have to go to the change room all that jazz and maybe also because of YouTube
you guys mostly see the top half of my body my takeaway from the stat is I think I should be
more picky and really check myself before I get more tops in terms of Brands I'm going to take
a moment to celebrate the brand I buy from most is thrifted and then in second place it's stuff
that I made which is also crazy third place is zurichia I mean like I put every sub brand Under
arizia I just called them all lauritzia to make my life easier I'm just gonna call that a good case
for wardrobe basics and then in terms of color I have the most black items in my closet I don't
know if anyone can really Escape that though in the world of data collection the popular saying
is garbage in garbage out you got to put in clear consistent specific data in order to get anything
that's worth analyzing and gaining insights from my plan is keep logging in this app until
at least the end of the year that way I avoid the Holiday Rush Temptation craziness and two
actually have enough information inside this app to start thinking about things already between
this app and Sample modern day caps wardrobe collections I can tell one thing that would
further unlock the potential of my wardrobe would just be like a nice fitted white collared shirt
I can also tell that I keep gravitating towards outfits with very simple color combinations and
so maybe having a colorful wardrobe is like a bit too aspirational for me generally a capsule
wardrobe is easiest when all the colors are cohesive if any of you guys have tried this
app and have more tips please do let me know I just really wanted to open up the conversation
of slow fashion I would love to hear any of your thoughts on this and I feel like there's something
in the air because a lot of other YouTubers that I'd love to follow have also been talking about
the dangers and real cost of fast fashion follow me on Instagram if you want to be in the know on
any of my closet sales and I hope we can continue this conversation about being more mindful of
the clothes that we wear and the impact that the fashion industry has on our planet thank
you guys so much for watching I hope you have a wonderful day see you next time foreign [Music]