If You Want to Shop Sustainably, Shop Like Grandma

If You Want to Shop Sustainably, Shop Like Grandma


5 minute read

If my grandmother was still alive and I tried to explain “sustainable living” to her, she would simply call it living.  She was part of the generation that grew up in the Depression and was a newlywed during World War II. Frugality was a fact of life, whether money was tight or materials being redirected toward the war effort.  It is the opposite of today. We have too much of everything. We can buy whatever we want and most of the time it will ship for free and arrive on our doorstep in two days. We often don’t think before we buy because we don’t have to these days.  No where is our mindless, excessive consumption more obvious than when it comes to our closet.  

1.) Good Quality And Brand Names Are Not Equal.

My grandmother’s philosophy when it came to clothing was to buy the best you can afford so that it will last.  In her day, quality and price were directly correlated. Well-made items were simply more expensive. Clothing in general was expensive for our grandparent’s generation.  The average household spent nearly 17% of their income on clothing post WWII. Today we spend less than 3%. Our grandmothers often bought their clothing from local boutiques that made items specifically for their towns or cities.  The price of clothing was a function of the labor and fabric. It didn’t include the marketing costs of public relations, celebrity sponsorships or extravagant fashion shows. The easiest way to understand the quality of a garment is to look inside.  Some aspects are easier to see, like the fabric content and hem finishes, while others like the use of facings and interfacings aren’t as obvious and where most clothing companies cut corners.

How to determine cheap vs. well-made clothing

  • Fabric content
    • Anything synthetic is subpar as most are plastic derivatives and wear out faster. 
    • Natural fabrics like wool, cotton, linen and silk are superior to synthetics, this includes the lining of the garment.
  • Hem quality
    • Crooked stitch lines or loose threads on a hem or seam are dead giveaways to poor construction.
    • Hems should be perfectly straight, with a clean finish.  Blind hems, where you don’t see the stitching on the outside, are a plus as they are often finished by hand.
  • Facings, interfacings and linings
    • An interfacing is sewn in between the fabric and lining.  Facings are a piece of the outer fabric sewn inside. Both provide structure and strength to the garment and rarely noted by consumers making it the easiest step to omit.  
    • Linings also help preserve the shape, improve the fit and protect the outer fabric of a garment.  Every item shouldn’t have a lining, of course, but anything meant to have a tailored look like a dress or jacket needs a lining. 

2.) Look For Clothing Made With Natural, Season Spanning Fabrics.

She generally shopped for two seasons:  a cold season and a warm season. She had very few elaborate heavy tweeds or gauzy sundresses that can only be worn when it’s extremely cold or extremely hot.  Over her lifetime she lived in places where she experienced both. Instead, her wardrobe consisted of mid-weight wools and wool blends for the colder months, and silks and cottons when it was warm. Clothing was often lined in silk, a feature reserved for ultra, high-end luxury brands today, but that we do at Senza Tempo. Silk linings are as practical as they are functional. Silk, other natural fabrics like wool and cotton, are breathable, thus they adjust to your body temperature.  It isn’t the wool to your suit that makes you sweat in July, it’s the fact that it’s lined in polyester or acetate which is a derivative of plastic.  

3.) Classic Styles And Clean Lines Are The Keys To Paring Down Your Wardrobe.

Though most people couldn’t name one item of clothing they kept until it wore out, my grandmother kept her clothing until it couldn’t be repaired or simply wasn’t wearable — in other words, many years.  She wore clothing clean, simple lines in timeless silhouettes. This ethos has been the biggest influence on my personal shopping habits and the philosophy behind my clothing line. The more simple a garment is, the easier it is to accessorize it in a variety of ways and wear repeatedly without growing tired of it.  Simple styles aren’t boring, but versatile.  

Even later in her long life, when she had the money to buy whatever she needed and shortages or rations were a thing of the past, she remained thoughtful with her spending especially when it came to clothing.  She didn’t buy something just because she liked it or because it was on sale. She bought what she needed. Shopping wasn’t a hobby — she was too busy working, cooking, cleaning, raising kids and later in life making time for actual hobbies like traveling with friends and crocheting.  In other words, living.  

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