6 Tips for Alternative Fashionistas to Shop Smarter

At the Suitcase Rummage, I have bought many pieces I either adore or ignore.

We live in a world where we are surrounded by thousands of businesses competing for every dollar we have. They encourage impulse buying, excessive materialism, and blind trust. They tell you what you should want, what you should have, and they say you need it now! With the number of questionable fashion companies trying to grab our attention these days, it’s easy to fall into the cycle of constant consumerism without taking the time to learn what it is that you really want and enjoy. Shopping less and shopping smarter will lead to a wardrobe that better reflects you and your values, so allow me to share with you some tips I have found useful.

Disclaimer: While I will be recommending a few free products, I am not sponsored or affiliated with them at all. I’m recommending them because I personally find them to be helpful.

1. Watch fewer hauls.

I know, I know, hauls are a large part of the online fashion community, and while I believe that there’s an argument in favour of haul videos (which I plan on covering in a future blogpost), they’re also known to cause myself and others anxiety or stress as we lust for the items in the videos. Often the items featured are linked in the description. While this is helpful for anyone who might otherwise struggle to find said item/s, it also further encourages impulse buying. There’s also the issue of how hauls often glamourise and encourage excessive materialism as a mark of success and fulfilment. Ashleigh Wood in her blogpost ‘Is YouTube Bad for my Mental Health?’ said, “[F]or just a moment, it feels like it's me. It's my present, my haul, my success story. But by the end of the video, I'm reminded all too well that it isn't me.” I haven’t stopped watching hauls completely, but I have unsubscribed from channels that are mainly hauls or similar content (like subscription unboxings) in an attempt to unlearn that more stuff = success and/or fashionableness.

2. Unsubscribe from all shop email lists and download Honey.

While signing up for email lists for discounts sounds like a great way to save money on your favourite brands, in reality this is a ploy to encourage you to spend more as often as possible. The thing is, discount codes are awesome and a great tool for smarter shopping. You just don’t need email lists to access them. This is why I recommend you download Honey, which is a free coupon code archive service you can use to save money when you decide to purchase something on your own terms, as opposed to falling into the “Get it before the sale ends!” mentality emails can suck you into. One of the downsides to Honey though is that for niche websites, it won’t always have coupon codes recorded and ready for you. If that’s the case, be sure to google coupon codes for the website and/or check their social media.

(Note: This advice also applies to following brands on social media, though I also recognise for something like Instagram they can be a source of style inspiration.)

3. Download the Good On You app.

Good On You is an Australian app that rates brands based on their environmental impact, labour conditions, and animal welfare. Not only do they provide detailed analysis of all three of these criteria (when they have access to such information), they also have plenty of useful articles and resources about sustainability like ‘What Is Slow Fashion?’, ‘Living Sustainably As A Student’, and ‘Material Guide: Is Silk Sustainable?' (Links are mobile only.) It is an incredibly useful resource when you’re shopping out and about or browsing large online retailers, but it does have some limitations. For example, they only focus on brands that have a presence and popularity in Australia, and they feature no (or at least very few) alternative fashion brands. They also aren’t able to update their ratings as often as I would like, and I really don’t think Lazy Oaf deserves their rating of ‘We Avoid’ since lately they have been opening up about their steps towards sustainability. Since Australians shop a variety of international labels, I still think it is a useful resource for people around the world, and I believe that this app could greatly benefit from world-wide interest.

4. Declutter your wardrobe.

If you want to shop less, it helps to have a clear idea of what you do or don’t already have and/or want. One of the best ways to know is by decluttering your wardrobe. If you remove everything except what sparks joy, not only will you have a much better idea of the kinds of clothes you enjoy, you’ll know what it is that is actually missing from your wardrobe and can thus purchase with more intention. You’ll also feel much less overwhelmed when you look in your wardrobe and appreciate everything you do keep that much more. I plan on giving the alternative fashion wardrobe declutter its own blogpost, but for now I highly recommend you investigate the KonMari method from 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo. (I know it’s a cliche suggestion, but there’s good reason for that.)

5. Set up a fashion fund.

The Financial Diet once said that one of the most common causes for overspending is not budgeting for recreational spending. If you overspend on fashion and you don’t have a fashion fund already, give it a go! This is perfect for those dream items you have in mind. You know them: they’re rare and in high demand, disappearing as soon as they’re posted for sale. Or how about those expensive items that stick around, and you’re waiting for a sale? Your fashion fund will allow you to snatch up the items you’ve always wanted before anyone else can. A rule to follow though, try not to spend all the money in the account at once. What if another dream item pops up? Always leave something in your fund to build upon for the next big thing.

6. Evaluate how likely you are to actually wear an item before you purchase it.

Possibly the most important point on this list. One of the most common causes for buyer’s remorse for me is not thinking carefully about how an item would fit into my current lifestyle. Too often we buy something because we see it, we want it, and we have a vague image of what we might do with it. Then we get it, and barely/don’t wear it because we didn’t think about how and when we would wear it. Before you purchase an item, be sure to check the sizing carefully, consider how comfortable it’ll be, how much it aligns with your current style/s, how similar it is to items you already own, how many distinct outfits you can make with it using your current wardrobe, what specific occasions you would wear the item to in the near future (if it is a special occasion item). If possible, leave the item alone for at least a few days and see if you still want it after that time has passed. Then you can be confident that the new addition to your wardrobe will be worth it.

I sincerely hope you find these six tips helpful when deciding upon your future purchases. Feel free to tell me about your best and worst purchases, as well as any shopping tips of your own. If you would like to read an article similar to this one, I suggest you check out '6 Lessons Kawaii Lifestyles Can Learn From Minimalism’ to learn how to improve your relationship with the things you already own.

More Smart Shopping Resources

• ‘5 Money-Saving Habits Every Shopper Should Master’ by The Financial Diet (YouTube video)
• ’The Year of Less’ by Cait Flanders (book)
• ‘How to Change your Shopping Habits | Save Time & Money’ by My Green Closet (YouTube video)
• ‘5 Ways to Never Regret Your Purchases’ by My Green Closet (YouTube video) 
• ’How to Have Your Dream Lolita Wardrobe’ by Victoria Suzanne (blogpost)

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