confessions of a fast fashion shopper

Hi, I’m Nicole, and I love shopping.  Growing up I thought the more the better.  The more jeans, sweaters, shirts, dresses, shoes, the better off I was.  It gave me more options.  But of course with more, they had to come at a lower price point and quality was frequently suffering.  I would go into whatever cheapy store and try to buy as much as I could. It didn't matter if the clothes fit, the quality was poor or the colors were off, as long as I could fit it in my budget, or more realistically on my credit card, it made me happy.  Or so I thought…  

I would go home, put my most recent treasures away, usually in my overflowing dresser because I owned so much crap and would try to wear my new clothes with my next outfit change.  Usually, they weren’t quite as awesome as I thought they were.  Some of them didn’t fit, looked cheap or didn’t match with anything else I owned.  And let’s face it, I had my closet go-tos that I loved and wore all the time and the majority of my clothes would sit there.  Frequently I had to purge because nothing else fit in my closet.  I would do my best to give them to someone who needed them, but who knows where this crap ended up, and to be honest, I really didn’t think much about it.  

Cue the online shopping era.  I would order a ton of stuff online, my new items would arrive and usually the thrill was gone.  I would realize I had 4 similar pieces in my closet or it wasn’t as perfect as I thought it was.  Then I would have boxes, marketing materials, plastic mailer bags, in addition to the new clothing, to get rid of, return, and put away.  On top of that I would feel super guilty for spending money, wasting time and wasting materials.  This had me thinking, is this obsessive shopping habit worth it?!  

As much as I love being a consumer, I love nature.  From the time I was a young kid, being in nature, in the woods, was my most favorite place in the world.  Collecting rocks, loving animals and if I had the option to walk vs. drive, walking it was.  Being a fan of nature and buying all of these clothes felt at odds but I still had no idea the harm it was doing to the earth.  It wasn't until my 30s that I started to understand that clothes were one of the largest contributors to landfills.

This blog is going to talk about my challenge with shopping; how I love being a consumer, I love mother nature and how I work on balancing the two, while running a clothing company.  simply stitchd was created with my new values in mind.  Buy less, prioritize quality and wear forever.  I wanted to start a company that gave back to our environment and to help create awareness around consuming and shopping.  I also wanted to start living a simpler life because everything already is so damn complicated.  Let's go on this journey together, I'll share my missteps, challenges and learnings but I believe we can become more conscious and conscientious consumers together.

Peace, love, tees & trees,

Nicole