Finding yourself in your wardrobe: An exploratory study of lived experiences with a capsule wardrobe

Abstract

Fashion overconsumerism and overproduction have placed the fashion industry one of the world’s most polluting industries. In addition to its environmental impact, research has shown that materialism leads to lower life satisfaction and decision fatigue. Recently, studies have highlighted an increased interest in sustainable fashion consumption and ethical lifestyle. The capsule wardrobe phenomenon, that is, defined by limited clothing pieces that focus on quality, longevity, and minimal or classic design, has gained exposure as a road map for consumers to remain fashionable while consuming less. Until today, no research has evaluated the impact of minimalist wardrobe on consumers. Using a phenomenological approach, the present study method to understand 10 female participants’ lived experiences with a capsule wardrobe. Our results showed a positive impact of a 3-week capsule wardrobe on our participants who felt less stressed, detached from fashion trends, have found joy in their fashion style, and enhanced their awareness of conscious consumption. Our findings highlight the richness of minimalism, sustainable consumption, and self-expression through an innovative and relevant phenomenon.

Exploring Worldwide Wardrobes to Support Reuse in Consumers’ Clothing Systems

“…Naturally, to make this case, wardrobe outflow should also be investigated, which is currently not part of the survey in this study. However, it remains remarkable that the data from this study show different results, as it was not the youngest category (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), but the oldest category (51+) who owned the most clothing items. Whether that is a result of, for example, the total amount of time to accumulate clothing items, connecting more value to their clothing items and/or purchasing power of this category is unsure.…”

“…In order to only include respondents who filled out the survey seriously, we excluded respondents who only filled out up to 3 clothing categories, used incomprehensible ways to indicate the amount of clothes for each category (e.g., only mentioning "yes" or "no" or saying "20 + " items), and lastly owning less than 30 items. The latter is the amount of clothes that is often used as the minimum amount of clothes that someone needs, often defined as a "capsule wardrobe" or "minimalist wardrobe" [18,19]. The remaining sample consisted of 520 respondents (N = 520), of which 78.3% were female, 58.1% were aged between 18-30 years, 27.9% were between 31-50 years old and 5.6% were older than 51 years.…”

Everyday Creativity Practiced through a Capsule Wardrobe

“…What they shared was mainly related to sustainability. Previous research [54] also showed that this minimalist capsule wardrobe experience changed the participants' perception of sustainability. The participants in this study, college students who were majoring in Apparel Design and Retail Merchandising, understood the importance of sustainability, but they had few ideas of 'how to' practice sustainability in more creative ways as students, consumers, and individuals in everyday life.…”

“…The items selected could include all kinds of clothing, shoes, and bags but not counted were accessories and jewelry, i.e., hats, scarves, belts, earrings, necklaces. Unlike the previous capsule wardrobe research [36,54], the participants in this study were not provided with specific rules and guidelines for creating an ideal capsule wardrobe because it was important to give them every possibility to use their creativity and problem-solving skills. The participants were asked to live with their capsule wardrobes for seven weeks and keep a record of their daily outfits.…”

Perempuan dan perilaku berkelanjutan dalam komunitas online pecinta barang lokal

“…Studi ini menemukan bahwa konsumsi fesyen berkelanjutan memiliki nilai sosial bagi perempuan yang menjadi bagian dari penelitian ini. Kami mengkonfirmasi studi-studi terdahulu yang menemukan bahwa konsumsi fesyen berkelanjutan berkaitan dengan nilai sosial (Bardey et al, 2022;Cervellon & Wernerfelt, 2012;Ozdamar Ertekin & Atik, 2015;Pedersén et al, 2021). Kedua hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa nilai sosial dari fesyen berkelanjutan juga begantung pada di mana ia dibeli.…”