I once went to a birthday party where the theme was to wear something plastic. Me, getting literal, showed up to a downtown club wearing a blue garbage bag, Saran Wrap, clear plastic high heels, and a Ziplock bag purse. Other people were warmly dressed and casually sporting a plastic belt or shoes.

If I knew then what I know now, I could have went to that party straight from work in my Lycra spandex day uniform of a jogging suit and been a lot warmer.

Turns out most of the clothes I have been wearing for most of my life are made partially or entirely with synthetic fibers and I have been oblivious as to what that means or how that impacts the environment.

I quit shopping fast fashion at malls a long time ago and shifted to vintage and thrift shopping for clothes and accessories with the exception to knickers and footwear. I managed to create a whole cycle where I would clean out the clothes in my closet that I no longer wear or want to keep and donate them to good will. Then I would take a trip to my favorite thrift shops and go on a mini shopping spree for unique clothes I couldn’t find at the mall.

If I’m being honest, my shopping patterns made it easy to bring some things into my closet that I never wore because it was a good deal and was appealing on the rack. I wasn’t really thinking about the life that piece might have after I was done with it.

Then I heard the statistic that the average person throws away the equivalent of 44 tshirts a year. I don’t think I was going through that many clothes but I also wasn’t cognisent to where they went after I donated them.

50% of donated clothes end up in a landfill.

I dislike the thought that half of my old clothes are just sitting in a landfill not breaking down until long after my body has died and broken down.

So, I have become much more textile conscious. I’m now reading the label of everything and attempting to only bring in clothes that are long term keepers and made with hemp.

I initially set out with a vision to create a head to toe hemp outfit and then eventually an all hemp wardrobe. I can’t say that my closet is all hemp but I can say that I wear some kind of hemp everyday.

Finding hemp clothes that I find fashionable has been a task. I’ve managed to score some things from Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, or directly from the designers but many of the things I want don’t exist and I will have to custom make.

That being said, I was excited to recently discover some European fashion designers who have never stopped using hemp, they just didn’t advertise it after prohibition happened during the 1930s in America. I’ll be posting more about that very soon.

Stay tuned! Choose Hemp!