9 Secrets For Making the Clothes You Love, Last

Lately I’ve been trying to be more cognizant of what I buy thinking of things like how I see myself using an item long-term and how useful it is with other pieces in my closet. I’m partially inspired by this whole concept of thoughtful consumption, the new film The True Cost but also just gosh darn tired of getting sucked into buying stuff that I don’t love and won’t use past the next month. So when deciding to buy something is as much a labor of love as you can imagine it would be for an over analytical thoughtful geek like me, the last thing you want to happen is for an item you LOVE and add to the family, to get ruined or damaged!

I can’t tell you how many times this kind of disaster has happened to me. I’ll confess, it used to happen much more in college, we’ll chalk that up to overall carelessness lol but accidents happen and they can be so disappointing if they’re unfixable and ruin a favorite garment! And if you’re starting to think of your clothes as less disposable and more like items you love, seeing a piece destroyed can be HEART BREAKING (a little melodramatic but whatevs). And so without fuller adieu, our fool-proof tips for extending the life of your clothes:

1. Get separate laundry hampers STAT

This is a game changer in my very humble opinion. If you’re anything like me, you’re doing laundry late at night after a long day and are exhausted or throwing clothes in the washing machine while your already half way out the door to actually relax and have fun. Guess what happens when you do your laundry while distracted, mentally in another place or literally half asleep? MISTAKES. Yes I can’t tell you how many times I’ve washed something on hot when it should be cold or cold when it should be dry cleaned! The best way to beat this issue is to sort your clothes into different hampers for different washing method while you take them off! Get in the habit of reading the tag if you’re not sure too.

2. Read the care label when purchasing

I’m also the worst at this. Most of my closet consists of cold wash and line dry online, no iron and no pass go, no collect $200, go directly to laundry jail kind of thing. If you already know that you have problems with #1 above, make it easy on yourself and stay away from delicate fabrics or high maintenance items, ESPECIALLY if you’re on the fence about whether to purchase or not.

3. Choose your occasions wisely

A very perfect example of this just happened to me recently. One of my good friends and I went to see Mazerunner’s second movie at the Alamo draft house and it happened to be bottomless popcorn day! Yippeee for me!! Death for my blouse though! I wore a super cute polyester top that is one of my favorites for Fall from Topshop and unbeknownst to me, while I was shoveling handfulls of popcorn down my mouth in the dark I was dropping little tiny bits of popcorn (guilty, I can’t be the only one) with little tiny bits of oil from the butter on my top. As I emerged into the light of the bathroom to wash my hands and regain my dignity, BOOM, oil stains on one of my favorite blouses. So, choose your occasions wisely. Maybe not wear silk to tailgate with your boyfriend and all his guy-friends or those favorite white denim skinnies if you know you’re going to be eating pizza in the dark.

4. Hang dry

I picked this trick up on my first trip to Europe a while back now. Most Europeans don’t even own dryers, which blew my mind — until I realized that they dry their clothes with nature’s warmth! Lol, or just the inside of your home, whichever. The great thing about hang drying is that the clothes are retaining their natural shape (like all those times you found your bra twisted around a favorite tee), you don’t have to worry about shrinking, and if you’re slacking on separating your items like we already talked about you won’t have to worry about your items with hooks or clasps catching on your more delicate items and creating those mysterious tiny holes. They’re the worst. You can pick up a hanging rack for your items almost anywhere like Target and also pick supplies for #7 and #8!

5. Choose thoughtful accessories

I love trying new trends just as much as the next gal, but let’s be honest, some trends are down right dangerous for our favorite items in our closet. I have a knit open weave off the shoulder sweater that I wear ALL THE TIME around the house. The other day I wore it with this adorable little turquoise ring that has a bit of a pointy essence to it and caught the ring on my sweater. Once was enough, I immediately ditched the ring in my ring dish to wear on a different occasion when the death of my favorite sweater wasn’t at stake. When getting dressed, sort of ask yourself these questions too! If you’re wearing a particularly embellished necklace, maybe your new silk top or open weave sweater isn’t the best idea. Looking good is important but not at the expense of seeing your purchases last!

6. Stow away in off season

Not only will this create space for you to really shed the seasons with the weather and get your closet organized, but it can be a great way to make sure the items that you aren’t using daily are protected until you will! Think of all the cable knit sweaters that you might wear in the winter, now imagine catching a hanger on them ALL. My heart just dropped at the thought. When packing away your lovelies, pick up some tissue paper at the store before hand, white no-dye and some clear crates from Crate and Barrel or Target. Pack away your items while carefully wrapping them in tissue paper, this will ensure that you won’t get dust on everything if you have to dig into a crate mid-season for a specific piece. Also, you can use the tissue paper again and again!

7. Groom your nails

Ah yes, another “from personal experience” tip. I usually keep my nails pretty well-groomed but every so once and awhile I fall down on the job and my nails get long and then break. This is kind of a no brainer, but if you break a nail and you’re wearing a silk skirt. Don’t touch it. It will pull and you will cry in the bathroom. Alas this can be fixed fairly easily; keep your nails groomed! You don’t have to go spending a bunch of money on getting your nails did, just carry clippers  and a small nail file with you in your purse.

8. Carry tide to gos

Accidents happen. Unfortunately. And when they do it’s nice to have a friend on your side, like a tide to go pen. Had I had a tide to go pen in the horrendous accident noted above in #3 maybe I would have saved myself a trip to the dry cleaners and a top that is no longer! Get yourself one.

9. Become best friends with a tailor

For so many reasons. I’ve already shared with y’all the love I have for Nipping and Tucking but let’s be real y’all, if you’re a clothes horse, not to be confused with horses that love clothes, and you don’t have a go to tailor you are not in luck! Not only that, but regrettably we don’t stay the same size forever and that’s ok if you have a wonderful tailor. Taking in a little here or letting out a little there is their speciality and it will make your clothes last all the longer. When you take a piece in, ask the tailor to double-check all the stitching to ensure your seams are snug too to add extra oomph to the life of your clothes.

Most of all, treat your clothes like your NOT going to toss them after wearing them 5 times. People perceive fast fashion items as not being great quality, and sure they might not be top-notch handmade items, but if you treat them well and are mindful with them, they can last a very, very long time. I have classic items from H&M, Forever21, Zara, Topshop that are still kicking 3 years later because I love them and want them to last.  Just because you shop “fast fashion” doesn’t mean you have to treat your clothes like they’re here today gone tomorrow.

“in a world

full of
temporary things

you are
a perpetual
feeling.”
― Sanober Khan