This book shines a light on fast fashion and the cost to our environment and the people who work in the industry. This really made me think about what I'm buying, what I'm supporting and choosing quality over quantity.

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Plume and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The beginning line in The Conscious Closet caught my attention - "If you want to change the world, there's no better place to start than with the clothes on your back and the shoes on your feet.

The author teaches us from her own experience to be aware of where our clothes come from, where they are actually made, and why this is important. I learned from this book that I'm definitely a Style Seeker and in doing so changed many of the clothes I had hanging in my closet.

Overall, the book was brimming with insight, tips, tutorials and compelling enough to keep it on my coffee table for all to see.

Though I’m very late to reviewing this one, I really enjoyed it! It kept me interested, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in sustainability.

DNF after the first couple of chapters. An important subject, but I found the writing style to be a tad bit dry and the content of limited use to someone not already a fashionista or interested in becoming a fashionista.

If fashion is your thing and you're curious about how you can offset the environmental impact of the industry, hive it a shot, it may work for you.

I highly recommend this book, and I interviewed author Elizabeth Cline for my podcast This Mom Loves - link below.

The Conscious Closet is a really interesting look at how to do the work of sustainability in your wardrobe, too. Lots of insights about textile waste/pollution that I never thought about before.

A useful guide if you are hoping to clean out your overstuffed wardrobe and start thinking more consciously about your consumer behaviors. Since the global capitalist machine makes completely ethical consumption nearly impossible, I can't say how much changing habits can affect things on a large scale, but supporting businesses that are trying to make better ethical choices seems like a decent place to start. While the book isn't totally original (there is a cottage industry for this sort of fashion guide/closet editing guide), it does add to the conversation about how to think about consumerism and fashion on an individual level.

This book wasn't anything new in regards to minimizing your closet, but the point of view about "doing good" in society was interesting. I picked up some good tips.

Make Your Closet Better and More You

I love fashion. From the time I learned to sew, I’ve been fascinated by fabrics, color and design. This book is a treat for anyone who loves clothes and wants a more functional wardrobe at a reasonable price that says who you are.

Much as clothes are wonderful mood lifters, they can also be a drag on the environment if we don’t choose carefully and take care of what we have. This book goes into all aspects of the fashion industry. It discusses the political and social ramifications of poorly made clothes that are quickly thrown away.

Cline presents a better way to enjoy fashion than following every trend, being left with a stuffed closet, and then trying to decide how to get rid of things that no longer work. Her suggestions are excellent. Buy quality if you can. It’s also possible to buy used clothing that is in good shape at significantly reduced prices. There are even sites on the Internet where you can buy and sell your castoffs.

It’s important to learn to take care of your clothes so they will last, but when you want to get rid of them, it’s also important to do so responsibly. Rather that tossing them in the garbage to clog the landfill, there are places like some thrift shops that responsibly recycle clothing and make it available to people in need.

I enjoyed this book. It makes you aware of the place of the clothing industry not only in your closet, but in the overall economy.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

THE CONSCIOUS CLOSET by Elizabeth L. Cline is subtitled "The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good" and deals with ways to reduce fashion waste and thereby have some positive impact on climate change, pollution, and poor working conditions in the fashion industry. Cline has been raising awareness since she wrote Overdressed and is certainly an expert in an area which is drawing increased interest from corporations and retailers. For example, Macy's and JC Penney just announced plans to work with ThredUp, as reported by various media outlets, including NPR and The Wall Street Journal. Cline divides her newest book into six sections (each with multiple, short chapters), beginning with a "closet cleanout," then offering tips on wardrobe building and how to follow styles more consciously by exploring resale and renting. She later explains ways to choose more eco-friendly fibers, how to take better care of clothing you do have, and how to "link up with like-minded others." I can see aspects of this book (e.g., gauging quality by looking for serged seams) being incorporated into a Practical Arts or Business budgeting class. There is definitely more interest in vintage clothing, too, so this topic would likely be popular for a student-centered seminar day. While most of the readers for THE CONSCIOUS CLOSET, whether students or older, will already be pretty heavily invested in fashion, there is still much to learn from the tips, lists, and diagrams included in this title which received a starred review from Booklist.

Links in live post:
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/16/751861275/used-clothing-offers-fresh-hope-for-2-struggling-department-stores
https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-second-thought-traditional-retailers-make-room-for-used-clothes-11565947803
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-of-hand-me-down-inc-11565947804

When I read Elizabeth Cline's first book, Overdressed, I wasn't terribly impressed with it. However, I have never, ever forgotten it, and over the years since I read it I have completely changed the way I buy clothes, all because of Overdressed. Overdressed also put me in a quest to find a better way to style myself, which led me down the rabbit hole of fashion blogs, books, TED talks, etc. It may always be a work in progress, but I like how aware I've become about fast fashion, and how destructive our current fashions can be for the environment.

So even though I wasn't too inspired by this book, I suspect I will think about it for years to come. It's a little bit frustrating actually that this book didn't come out in conjunction with Overdressed because it has every scrap of information that I spent years gleaning from the aforementioned research. I could have saved myself a ton of time by just reading this book! And clearly, Cline and I were looking into the same things because almost everything she mentions in her references were things that I have found on my journey to be more environmentally fashion conscious. This book summarizes a lot of good information, and breaks down the different material types, and offers suggestions of places to shop. One thing that annoyed me about this book (it also REALLY annoyed me about Overdressed) is that the author gushes about certain designers, or places to buy clothes, but these places cost WAY more money than most reasonable people can afford. This doesn't bother me quite as much as it once did, partly because Elizabeth Cline offers better alternatives to buying clothes than she did in the last book (she talks a lot about ThredUp, Poshmark, etc.), and partly because since reading Overdressed I have become a big fan of buying something that costs more and having it last for years and years. I still can't see spending $1000.00 for a skirt from Stella McCartney but I can see keeping an eye out reasonably priced Stella McCartney on Poshmark.

Cline also talks about how to make clothes last, and I understand what she's saying about not using dryers, but as someone who was raised in a house without a dryer, I would tell you that I would never, ever go back to not using one. There are reasonable ways to use one that don't destroy your clothes. Line drying presents its own problems. Also, Cline is a DINK (Double Income No Kids) like me, so hand washing, and line drying our clothes every once in a while may work for us, but I can't imagine this being a realistic solution for people with kids.

Take this book with a grain of salt, but it's not bad! Thanks Elizabeth Cline for making me aware of things I never would have thought about.

This book covers all aspects of clothing choices' effects, and the healthier alternatives to the current "usual" way of doing things. I don't pretend to be fashionable, but I've generally tried to buy quality items that will last a long time and don't require dry cleaning. I will try to do more, and perhaps find some treasures in a resale shop! This is an important read!

For anyone wanting to dress more sustainably, this book is a good starting point. I already have a good background in conscious shopping, but I still found this book worth reading. I particularly appreciated the DIY sections and laundering sections.

Lots of information is packed into this book. The author covers where clothes are made, the chemical make-up of fabrics, the working conditions of textile workers, laundry tips, and advocacy 101. All of this information was well worth reading, but I felt completely overwhelmed after reading the book. The tone of the book is a bit dry as well. However, the content is quite valuable, and I hope readers will use it to help reduce the environmental impact of what they wear.

Although I have always frequented thrift stores, it wasn't until just over a year ago that I started to truly care about the items that were in my wardrobe; from where they came from, to how they fit with my style and this book was a great companion to this change.

Elizabeth goes into all aspects of the fashion industry from the fabric of our clothes, the overstuffing of our closets, and how to be more ethical in our purchases. I love how the book divides up the sections in first cleaning out the clothes that we already have, to making better solutions in the future.

She goes through how to reduce what we wear, fix items ourselves or take them to someone who can, and how to pick better brands in the future. I felt this book was very well written, chock full of links to resources, and written in a way that doesn't make you feel bad about your decisions in the past, but rather working towards better decisions in the future.

This book was so comprehensive, I can't believe how much the author decided to tackle. Obviously some of the tips are things most of us are probably familiar with, like not supporting fast fashion or buying fewer clothes, but the author did a good job mentioning eco-friendly brands I had never heard of. I feel like the author did a good job of mentioning that not buying fast fashion can be really expensive and tried explain that by shopping used or resale or repairing the clothes you already own can be a lot cheaper, a lot of the brands mentioned as alternatives are at price points that are not really attainable for most of us. I feel like this book would be a great reference book to keep around the house and pull out when you need specific parts of it, like the sewing section or the section on how to downsize the amount of clothing you own. I think the way I read it, just a few sittings where I read every section, the amount of information was a little overwhelming and I didn't feel like I remembered many of the tips. I received this book for free from NetGalley.

This book offers so many great suggestions for how to be a more conscious clothes shopper. It was very informative about the impact of the clothing industry, especially fast fashion, on the environment. I knew it was bad, I just didn't know how bad! I love the practical suggestions for tackling your own closet and making it more earth friendly.


Disclaimer: This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.