Borrowing clothes from the Fashion Library SS17-Part II: new things I’ve learned

This is a list of items I’ve borrowed in LENA Fashion Library in the month of April. But most importantly, this is a post about all my recent revelations about the fashion library concept. In the month of April there were 2 “aha” moments that I had:

1. I’m much more careful with the clothes I borrow (and my own). Let me explain: the same way your car is inspected when you rent it, so are the clothes before you borrow them. Every stain and pulled thread is carefully documented. If you happen to damage the outfit you borrow – you’ll run the risk of paying a fine. I’m much more careful now when I eat something or go out and when I come home I immediately change into my “home clothes”. This practice has started with the borrowed clothes and seeped into the rest of my wardrobe. This attitude is another wonderful sustainable side effect from using a fashion library: my clothes are longer in a mint condition, I take care of them better and treat them with the utter most respect they deserve.

2. I don’t go to the fashion library as often as I used to (and that’s ok).The initial idea was to go to the LENA fashion library every week. And that’s how it was in the beginning. Even though the novelty of the concept and the newness of the clothes kept me immensely excited I did worry however how long this excitement would last. I worried that at some point I might get bored with the assortment of the clothes or with the concept. So the fact that my visits seem to have stabilized into a routine of about 2 visits per month makes me very happy. And that’s enough for me. I still get plenty of new clothes… almost more than I can wear.

And now, without further ado, this is what I borrowed this month or “the battle of the “Swedish” jackets”:

Borrowed: Grey Jacket – “Carin Wester” – (secondhand value € 249,00)

Worn: 4 times

I love Carin Wester designs! The Brand’s philosophy is to create timeless pieces that stand against over-consumption. This jacket wasn’t as “basic” as I first thought and I had quite a difficult time combining it with the items in my closet. I wore it pretty much every time with these leather culottes, but I really liked this combo so it was worn quite a lot.

Borrowed: Emerald Jacket – “Filippa K” – (secondhand value € 79,90)

Worn: 3 times

Swedish design brand Filippa K launched three new inspiring sustainability concepts last week that truly consider the environmental implications of their designs. These new concepts include garments made from 100 percent sustainable materials, reused garments for the designers to re-imagine, and a way for clients to hire garments for several days instead of buying a piece that they only wear once. These thoughtful ideas follow the brand’s core objectives, to create long-lasting pieces through a commitment to reusing, recycling, reducing and repairing.

So back to this jacket: the same story as with the previous one – this basic looking garment didn’t “gel” with anything from my wardrobe except with these red pants and that’s how I wore it every time. I’m so glad for this chance to borrow my clothes first from the fashion library: I know that I wouldn’t have worn these jackets often in the future so buying them would really be a waste. Sometimes you only realize how often you would really wear something… well… only after owning it for sometime.

Sustainable fashion is so much more than organic cotton or the implementation of the new technologies. To be truly sustainable is to see first if you can reuse something or borrow it. The most organic, fair-trade and sustainable fabrics still require energy to be produced. The best practice is to utilize first what we have got.