Published

1 year ago

January 31, 2025

Alice Rush

In slow fashion, we often talk about “fewer, better”. All too often, though, we focus in on the fewer part and forget about the better.

Putting the “Better” in the Fewer, Better Philosophy

There’s no question that we need to produce and consume fewer things. But if we only think about the less part of the equation, slow fashion can feel like a sacrifice.

Yet when we focus on the better — cherishing the clothes we love, caring for them more intentionally, and setting high standards for what we allow into our closets — the fewer part comes more naturally. And the experience is so much more joyful.

When I stopped thinking about how I wasn’t “supposed to” buy more clothes and instead leaned into simply appreciating the beauty of the clothes already in my closet, I found myself wanting those new clothes less.

I created higher standards for what I allowed into my wardrobe. This not only led to fewer purchases but also made me happier with the clothes I did decide to purchase. And when you have such incredible garments already in your closet, fashion’s hype machine is a lot less tempting.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean I don’t love admiring good fashion or that I never buy anything! But I have become far more intentional with my purchases.

What Does “Better” Mean?

When you have garments you absolutely love — whether for their quality, materials, fit, or unique design — the relentless churn of newness loses its appeal.

But “better” doesn’t always mean more expensive. It means knowing what you love, and having a more discerning eye.

For me, I always look at materials first. Sure sometimes this can be a little more of an investment, but not always. There are designer brands that use 100% polyester for some garments, and plenty of mid-priced brands that are committed to using natural fibers. That natural mid-price garment is a way better investment in my opinion.

I prioritize natural materials because that is what “better” means to me.

Recently, I added a 100% organic linen button-down to my closet, and it’s an absolute dream. It was one of the few new (non-secondhand) items I added to my wardrobe in 2024, and I’d wear it every single day if I could. And then when I put on a polyester shirt, I can feel the difference. (As in literally feel the difference — I sweat so much more!)

Suddenly, having one amazing 100% linen shirt instead of five cheaper polyester ones doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. It feels like a gift.

The same goes for the secondhand cashmere sweater I swapped into my closet years ago.

I used to dread winter. Then, I found this sweater and I realized that I could actually make it through -10-degree days when wearing the right materials.

A single sweater changed how I viewed an entire season! This is the under-appreciated power and potential of clothing.

For you, “better” might not be about fabrics, but about the fit or the style or even the color and pattern. If you’re not sure what you would define “better” clothing as, start paying more attention to the clothes you enjoy wearing. What’s the silhouette? The color? The fabric?

There are often patterns among your go-to garments.

Cultivating Gratitude in Our Wardrobes

One of the most transformative practices I’ve incorporated into my slow fashion journey is gratitude.

In a world that constantly tells us we need this must-have trend, go to that unique next destination, or use this skincare product to look 10 years younger, it’s not easy to pause and acknowledge when we have enough.

But knowing our “enough point” doesn’t mean we stop evolving or refining our wardrobes — it means we approach fashion with a mindset of contentment rather than scarcity.

Here are some ways to cultivate gratitude in our wardrobes:

1) Honor Our “Hero Pieces”

Do you have pieces in your closet that you wear again and again — pieces that make you feel good, confident, comfortable, or put together? These are often called “hero pieces.”

Think about what those pieces are for you and how they’ve served you:

Maybe you have a trusty blouse that gave you confidence in an important job interview.
Maybe a particular handbag makes you feel put-together even on the days you were rushing out the door.
Maybe a certain pair of sweatpants is your go-to for a cozy, restful evening after a stressful week.

Perhaps it can sound silly at first to be grateful for clothing, but when we think about how clothes have supported us, it makes sense to appreciate these pieces.

Slow fashion isn’t about deprivation. It’s about developing a deeper sense of satisfaction and long-lasting joy from the clothes we already have.

2) Turn Overwhelm into Abundance

Recently, there was a trend on TikTok where people reframed complaints as expressions of gratitude. Instead of saying, “I have too many plans,” they’d say, “What a privilege it is to have a full life.”

Some (most?) of us probably have closets with more clothes than we regularly wear. Instead of saying, “I’m overwhelmed by my closet,” we can reframe it:

“What a privilege it is to have a closet so full of clothes that I have options.”
“What an opportunity to rediscover and restyle pieces I already own.”
“What a chance to rehome items that no longer fit my life and bring joy to someone else.”

Instead of feeling guilt over a full closet, I try to see it as an opportunity — whether that’s restyling an old favorite or passing something along to a new loving home.

3) Acknowledge the Makers of Our Clothes

Behind every garment — whether it’s a handmade artisan piece or a mass-produced fast fashion item — are skilled hands of artisans, garment makers, sewists, and factory workers. Even industrial sewing machines are operated by real people.

When we pause to recognize this skilled labor, we not only develop a renewed sense of appreciation for our pieces, but we also acknowledge the (often undervalued and underpaid) workers who brought them to life.

Big fashion brands often hide these makers and the exploitative conditions they face. But recognizing the human effort behind each garment can help us shift our relationship with fashion. It can empower us to advocate for ethical labor conditions and fair wages in the industry.

Final Reflections: Gratitude as a Path to Slow Fashion

Practicing gratitude in our wardrobes is about more than just feeling good (though that is a good perk!) — it’s about reshaping how we engage with fashion.

When we approach our closets with gratitude, we shift from a mindset of scarcity and overwhelm to one of abundance and enoughness.

This practice helps us honor the value in what we already have, recognize the immense work that goes into every garment, and become more resilient against a culture that constantly urges us to consume more, no matter how much we already have.

Gratitude doesn’t mean we stop striving for better or stop curating our wardrobes. It means we approach these decisions with more care, joy, and appreciation.

And that is what truly puts the “better” in the “fewer, better” philosophy of slow fashion.

Want to get more slow fashion tips and inspiration?

The post Fewer, Better: How to Cultivate Gratitude in Slow Fashion appeared first on .

Fewer, Better: How to Cultivate Gratitude in Slow Fashion

Green Living

Earth911 Inspiration: Be True to the Earth — Edward Abbey

Published

3 days ago

May 22, 2026

Alice Rush

This week’s quote is from American novelist and pioneering environmentalist Edward Abbey: “I am not an atheist but an earthiest. Be true to the earth.”

Earth911 inspirations. Post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image.

This poster was originally published on January 31, 2020.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: Be True to the Earth — Edward Abbey appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/inspire/earth911-inspiration-be-true-to-the-earth-edward-abbey/

Green Living

10 Books to Counter Consumerism

Published

5 days ago

May 20, 2026

Alice Rush

We are constantly bombarded by messages that tell us we need more stuff to be happy. The average American household contains around 300,000 items. The average home size has roughly tripled since the 1950s, and we still rent self-storage units by the millions to hold the overflow.

If you are rethinking your relationship to consumer culture – whether by choice or necessity – we’ve rounded up a list of books to make breaking up with consumerism and easier to understand which of our purchases are really necessary.

(Amazon links are provided for convenience. Your local library and independent bookstore are excellent first stops.)

Empire of Things

by Frank Trentmann

Trentmann’s sweeping 2016 history follows material culture from late Ming China and Renaissance Italy through to today’s global supply chains. He shows that consumerism is not a recent American export but a centuries-long international phenomenon, one that has reshaped households, cities, and the planet.

Empire of Things is dense but never preachy, and it gives readers the long view needed to understand what we are actually pushing back against.

No Logo – 10th Anniversary Edition

by Naomi Klein

No Logo was a movement manifesto when it appeared in 1999, and its dissection of branding, sweatshop labor, and corporate cultural takeover reads as prescient now that nearly every screen on earth is an ad surface. To take the next step, pair this read with Klein’s more recent argument about capitalism and ecological collapse, How To Change Everything.

The Conscious Closet

by Elizabeth L. Cline

Cline first exposed the human and environmental costs of fast fashion in Overdressed (2012). The Conscious Closet is the practical follow-up: how to clean out, repair, swap, and rebuild a wardrobe without funding the industry that produces an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste each year. It is the most actionable book on this list for anyone with a closet.

The Myths of Happiness

by Sonja Lyubomirsky

Psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky brings the receipts. In The Myths of Happiness, she walks through decades of research showing that material milestones — the raise, the upgrade, the bigger house — produce short bursts of satisfaction that fade quickly. What actually sustains wellbeing is rarely for sale. A clarifying read for anyone tempted to outshop their way to contentment.

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell

Waste is coming for our minds, too. Odell argues that our scarcest resource is attention — and that the platforms we use have turned it into the raw material of a trillion-dollar industry. How to Do Nothing is not a digital-detox manual; it is a case for reclaiming attention as a political act, with consequences for everything from bird-watching to civic life. More relevant in 2026 than when it was published in 2019.

Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

by Jason Hickel

Economic anthropologist Jason Hickel makes the case that endless GDP growth is incompatible with a livable planet, and that “green growth” is mostly a marketing exercise. Less Is More (2020) traces 500 years of capitalism and lays out what a degrowth economy could actually look like — one organized around human and ecological flourishing rather than perpetual expansion. The book has helped move degrowth from the margins of academia into the mainstream of the climate debate.

The Day the World Stops Shopping

by J.B. MacKinnon

Journalist J.B. MacKinnon designed The Day the World Stops Shopping (2021) as a thought experiment — what would happen if global consumption dropped by 25%? — and then watched the pandemic run a version of the experiment in real time. He travels from Namibian hunter-gatherer communities to American big-box retail, talking to economists, ecologists, and CEOs. The result is one of the most readable accounts of why we shop, why we cannot easily stop, and what we would gain if we did.

Consumed: The Need for Collective Change

by Aja Barber

Writer and consultant Aja Barber connects fashion, colonialism, and climate in Consumed (2021), a debut that has become a touchstone for the ethical fashion conversation. Where Cline writes as a practitioner, Barber writes as a systems critic, tracing the textile trade’s roots in slavery and racial inequality and asking readers to confront why we fill emotional gaps with purchases. Pointed, generous, and built to be read in two sittings.

Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future

by Oliver Franklin-Wallis

If consumerism is the input, waste is the output we work hardest not to see. Award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis follows that output across continents in Wasteland (2023) — from New Delhi’s landfills and Ghana’s secondhand clothing markets to nuclear storage sites and the corporate origins of curbside recycling. Named a Best Book of 2023 by The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Kirkus, it is essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered where “away” actually goes.

Fixation: How to Have Stuff Without Breaking the Planet

by Sandra Goldmark

Sandra Goldmark runs a pop-up repair shop in New York and serves as director of sustainability at Barnard College. Fixation (2020) is her plainspoken case for getting things fixed instead of replaced, and for building a circular economy where good design, reuse, and repair are the default. Her five-rule formula — borrowed in spirit from Michael Pollan — is the most quotable advice on this list: “Have good stuff. Not too much. Mostly reclaimed. Care for it. Pass it on.”

What You Can Do

Reading is a start, not a finish. A few next steps:

Start at the library. Most of these titles are available through WorldCat or your local branch. Borrowing keeps a book in circulation and out of a landfill.
Audit one category of stuff before adding to it. Pick clothes, kitchenware, or electronics. Inventory what you already own before the next purchase. Most of us own more than we remember.
Find a repair option in your community. Take the time to locate repair, reuse, and donation outlets near you before tossing anything broken.
Support right-to-repair policy. Several U.S. states have passed right-to-repair laws since 2023; the rest are weighing them. Individual purchasing choices matter more when manufacturers are required to make repair possible.
Read one of these books and talk about it. Anti-consumption is harder alone. Book clubs, mutual-aid groups, and faith communities have all become surprising hubs for this work.

Editor’s Note: Originally authored by Gemma Alexander on June 18, 2020, this article was updated in May 2026.

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Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: EarthX CEO Peter Simek on Cultivating Bipartisan Climate Strategies

Published

5 days ago

May 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Subscribe to receive transcripts by email. Read along with this episode.

For 15 years, the Dallas-based climate conference the EarthX conference has created space where fossil fuel executives and environmental activists, Republican appropriations chairs and Democratic climate hawks, find common ground. The organization targets three core stakeholders: the corporate world, policymakers, and investors seeking startups where environmental solutions are baked into the bottom line. Peter Simek, EarthX’s CEO, explains how reframing climate action around shared values—stewardship, economic opportunity, and love of the land—unlocks support that crisis messaging alone cannot reach.

The doom story doesn’t sell, Simek explained. “We’re not motivated as a species by doomsday language. It puts people in fight-or-flight mode.” He points out how climate became an identity issue, tangled up in culture-war debates over hamburgers and gas-powered trucks, when the real conversation should center on clean air, clean water, and protecting the places we love. “The EPA and the Clean Air and Clean Water Act were passed during the Nixon administration,” he notes. “There are ways to message this that appeals across lines.”

Peter Simek, CEO of EarthX, is our guest on *Sustainability In Your Ear*.

Simek bets heavily on bottom-up action as EarthX works to build bridges. States, cities, and private capital often move faster than federal mandates, he argues, and they’re harder to reverse with a single executive order. Texas leads the nation in renewable energy deployment because wind and solar make bottom-line sense. “Even as there’s a policy turn against it, there’s still the driving reality that solar and wind are viable energy sources,” he says. A new event in 2026, the EarthX Institute, will focus on two policy priorities: nuclear energy, where bipartisan consensus is growing, and urban biodiversity.

Whether conversations at forums like EarthX translate into policy velocity that matches the pace of climate impacts remains to be seen. Simek says he stays focused on tracking downstream results, specifically the investments funded, the coalitions built, and the policies incubated from the local level up. “It’s about finding those ways in which there’s common sense, common ground, common values,” he says. “Elements to talking about nature and the environment that no one can really disagree with.”

Learn more about EarthX and its upcoming April 2026 conference at earthx.org.