To combat global heating, people in wealthy countries need to stop buying so many clothes. Australians buy more cheap fashion than any other wealthy nation, according to the Berlin-based thinktank Hot or Cool Institute, and need to reduce their clothing consumption by 74%.
This calculation is based on the assumption fashion emits 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions (not the oft-quoted but inaccurate 10%). The institute suggests buying just five new items of clothing a year, something that prompted the British fashion editor and author Tiffanie Darke to create a wardrobe challenge called the rule of five.
Darke’s challenge permits one new purchase a season, not counting lingerie, socks and underwear. Some vintage is allowed, as are rental, repair, alterations and borrowing from friends.
Although it might be the newest online movement designed to help people contain their shopping habits, it’s not the first. Challenges including Buy Nothing New and Project 333 have already been popular for several years.
All of them come with limitations and frustrations but advocates for each say they are far outweighed by the rewards. Here adherents of each system share how the shopping pledges helped them rediscover their wardrobes and develop their own sense of style.
Rule of five
When Darke read the Hot or Cool Institute’s report she realised if she believed in helping the world achieve emissions reductions, the very least of her personal responsibilities was to buy only five new items of clothing a year. “Although five is a tough number, it’s … doable,” she says.
Last year was her first attempt. She found unexpected benefits from limiting her purchases: like the creative joy of mending, altering and styling her existing wardrobe. There was also reprieve in