Welcome to Simply Nordic Life and Simply Nordic Style
It all started with my latest closet cleaning. There was just so much stuff, too much stuff. So much stuff in fact that I barely knew what I had in the closet. Even worse, somehow it didn't fit back in when I wanted to throw it back and forget about it. This made me think; all this stuff, is it just a nuisance or something more?
Like famous American interior decorator Dorothy Draper said: "Too much of anything is the beginning of a mess", and that was certainly true of my closet. Lately it had started to feel like it was more than just a mess, it was added stress. I started to think about how this may not just be a stressor on me but how this over consumption of, in this case clothes, is a stress on our environment as well.
The "aha" moment
I knew I had a lot of stuff but I felt surprised by just how much, and how little I knew of the contents of my closet. I found some clothes that I love and wear all the time, but mostly clothes that I just didn't know what to do with. Some I had forgotten about all together and were a surprise to find. Some used to fit and I clung to the hope that they would once again. Others had seemed like a good idea at the time but in the light of my everyday life seemed questionable at best. And lastly there are those items that you just can’t bring yourself to get rid of. They all accumulated in my closets, drawers and boxes in the attic.
As I started to reflect on this predicament I realized that I felt caught in a wheel of consumerism; wanting to keep up with new trends, enjoying shopping and feeling good in a new cute outfit, but also having this creeping feeling of ick over the unsustainability of it all. It had all started to feel quite overwhelming.
Overconsumption and your health
There is a health impact of living under the weight of all this stuff, literally. Many of us are
living with overflowing closets and garages where nothing fits because of all the “stuff”. Consumerism has been amplified by social media where especially young people are bombarded with messages about what you need to have or how you need to look to fit in. I still naively believed that we live in a world of fall and spring fashion lines. We still do, fashion week is going on as I write these lines, but for younger people there is now a world of micro trends and what is “in” can change as often as every week. Influencers tout their “hauls” on social media; bags of cheap clothes that are often to be worn only once before they are rejected. These garments are not meant to last so they hold little value.
According to online consignment giant ThredUp one in three young adults report feeling addicted to shopping.
Clutter has been shown to have a negative impact on our well-being. It can make us feel stressed, anxious and even impacts our productivity. Our brains like order so being surrounded by messes and clutter drains our cognitive resources which can affect our memory and ability to focus. A 2009 study showed that women who had cluttered homes also had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol which is bad for our health. We can't even get away from it when we sleep as research shows that sleeping in a cluttered room negatively impacts our sleep!
On top of all of this clutter also collects dust which aggravates allergies which is a health issue many of us struggle with.
Overconsumption and the environment
The fashion industry also has an environmental impact which is enormous and growing every day (which in turn also impacts our health). These are just some recent statistics*:
Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill.
About 60% of all materials that is used in fast fashion comes from plastic.
The production of polyester and other synthetics uses 1.3 billion barrels of oil per year.
500,000 tons of microfibers are released into the ocean every year from washing clothes, which is the same as 50 billion plastic water bottles.
What am I doing...
This question and quest, to find a way off the wheel, has become a bit of a hobby for me. In my search for a simpler and healthier life I have become passionate about reducing and
reusing. My mom left me with an interest in beautiful textiles, fashion and design (although I myself may not really wear it or be fashionable I love it for the artistry and history). Over the past few months my business took an unexpected turn and has now evolved into a second hand and vintage store where I find, fix (using natural and chemical free products) and resell clothes and jewelry from Nordic designers. I want to find, and share, ways to live a simpler and more sustainable and balanced life.
Simply Nordic Life, my lifestyle, wellness and health blog with a Nordic twist, now also features the best styles and fashion from top Nordic brands; I call this Simply Nordic Style.
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* Geneva Environment Network (2024). Environmental Sustainability in the Fashion Industry. Available at https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainable-fashion/
*NRDC (2023). New York Is Exposing the Fashion Industry for What It Is: A Nightmare. Available at https://www.nrdc.org/stories/new-york-exposing-fashion-industry-what-it-climate-nightmare#:~:text=Clothing%20accounts%20for%20a%20fifth,billion%20barrels%20of%20oil%20annually.
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