Ask Luke Reichle: Green your wardrobe

You’ve got questions, and we’ve got answers! SheKnows’ contributing beauty and style expert, Luke Reichle, is taking your submissions and dishing out no-fuss answers! Today, we’re discussing how to reduce your clothing carbon footprint by going green in your closet.

Dear Baby G,

Ten years ago the concept of going green in your closet would have involved some AstroTurf and a staple gun. The green wardrobe of today can cover a lot of different eco-bases as the idea of ‘green’ changes, depending on who you speak to. Here is an option that will get you going on the road to carbon footprint reduction while expanding your resources in the quest for a unique personal style.

Recycled chic

Veteran shopping fashionistas have been practicing this for years. The quickest way to earn carbon credit is to buy used clothing and the advantages go far beyond the green consideration.

Consider this from Care2.com: “It takes 10 times as much energy to produce a ton of textiles as it does to make a ton of glass. But, while most of us recycle glass, recycling clothes is less common.”

The article goes on to suggest “getting crafty” and making new clothes out of old ones. This is something I fully support. I’m constantly hacking up garments and rearranging their parts to get the look I want. The costume designer who does this most brilliantly is Ruth Myers. Take a look at her movie Emma. The poorer characters all wear clothes that are made from recycled, repurposed bits. This was common at the time. We could all take a leaf from Jane Austen’s book and get clever, get crafty and get green!

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