Consuming less, focusing on investment pieces and embracing a minimal wardrobe are all the rage in the world of sustainable clothing. Walk-in closets are a rather rare topic of debate. The grandeur of these closet spaces is more commonly associated with the offices of fashion mags and the likes of Victoria Beckham and Rachel Zoe.
Yet some people are convinced of the green nature of walk-in closets. The logic is: if you own a lot of clothes, you will wear each item less often and hence discard it less quickly than you would if you’d be one of those brave souls adhering to schemes like Six Items Or Less or The Free Fashion Challenge. In addition, once one has accumulated all these racks of clothes, making new purchases will be a rare occasion. In which case, a walk-in closet would actually not be at odds with consuming less.
Convincing as this line of reasoning may sound, it is a far cry from the minimal wardrobe that the average consumer used to have. Seven outfits for everyday wear and maybe an extra one for special occasions – that has been the amount of clothing that a lot of people have been obliged to do with for a pretty long time.
Sounds bizarre? In 2008, Dutch researcher Michael Scheffer of Saxion Hogeschool in Enschede calculated that we’d need to fill our wardrobes with no more than ten outfits. An outfit for reach day of the week and a few more items for specialty purposes like sports and parties.
Now, surely no-one would need a walk-in closet for that?