There has been a lot of talk lately about having a capsule wardrobe. Honestly, it is something that we should all know about and try because it simplifies your life and helps you to be organised. So in this post we are going to talk about its definition, how to start your own and personal capsule wardrobe and which benefits it has.

Definition

A capsule wardrobe is a small collection of clothes that can be worn together in different ways and includes everything you wear in your day-to-day routine. Each season, you change your capsule wardrobe’s pieces because of the weather.

Pros of having a capsule wardrobe

There are some interesting benefits when having a capsule wardrobe. First, it saves you time, energy and money. Because you will no longer spend much time thinking about what to wear and you will realize that there’s no need to have much clothes when you own what you really need. Then you will get creative at the time of dressing up and discover infinit outfit’s combinations that you will enjoy. And also you are actually defining your personal style. This is very important because everyone is unique and when you wear something that you love and represents you, there’s no need for something else. It is enough.

And last but not least, having a capsule wardrobe is a great way to support the environment and human rights. The fast fashion  is the mass-production of cheap and disposable clothing. It uses trends replication and low-quality materials in order to bring affordable and trendy styles to the public. And because of this, the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world after the oil industry. We are buying more clothes than ever. Now we consume about 80 billion new garments every year. In particular, this is a 400% more than the amount it was consumed 20 years ago. And the average lifetime of a garment today is of 3 years.

This matter gets worse. Nearly all of our clothes are made in countries where workers rights are nonexistent. Garment workers are exploited because they are forced to work from about 14 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week and just gaining $3 per day in terrible conditions. So it is a great start to stop buying fast fashion clothing and having a capsule wardrobe. If you want to read more about fast fashion click here.

How to start

I have seen different guides and methods on the Internet about how to start your capsule wardrobe. Some recommend to only have 37 garments, others 10 pieces each category, etc. What I think is that your own capsule wardrobe depends on your lifestyle. It is something very personal and I it is also a process to start saying goodbye to the clothes that aren’t used anymore. This is linked with a detachment attitude.

It’s not easy at first but there’s a nice exercise to do so you can start building your capsule wardrobe:

1- Clean up your closet

Spend a few hours to take all the clothes out of your closet and sell, donate or give away those pieces you know you are not going to use anymore because you don’t like them or they don’t fit you currently. I recommend you to see this as the beginning of a new fresh start.

2- Stablish your basics

This step is essential because you have to be focused on which pieces you tend to use more everyday and better adappt to your lifestyle. The basics don’t tend to change from one season to another except for the ones that do because of the weather.

3- State your capsule wardrobe

Once you do the two previous steps, you are ready to finish and finally build your capsule wardrobe. Something important to do is to think the activities you do during the week and so weekends so you can be sure that you have in your wardrobe everything you need. For example: work, formal events, active (gym, kids), daily groceries, date night, etc.

4- Check out your clothes

This last step is for later. Once you cleaned up your closet and start having a capsule wardrobe, you can wait a few weeks and go back there and check again your basics. Because at first it might be difficult to say goodbye to some garments. But as time goes by, you will realize what you need and what you have “just in case” (but you actually know that we will never wear that). And let me tell you something else, as long as you giveaway your clothes or sell them, you will have a feeling of satisfaction and gratitude because you are actually seeing how happy is other people with your clothes and they can give them more life and use than you.

This is a proccess and I’m sure that if you follow these easy steps you will realize how great this is!

Conclusion

There’s no right or wrong way to start a capsule wardrobe of your own. So don’t stress. Just start. Sometimes it is better to have an idea of which steps are easy to follow and then do it as you wish. By doing it you will realize how nice it is also for your mental health to have only what you really use and defining your personal style.

I hope being of help! If you have some questions or comments about this don’t dought of writing me on my Instagram profile @belromano or right here!

If you liked this post then I recommend you to read 5 Reasons why shop vintage clothing.