(Source: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/560eeebbe4b013138258ba90/t/562883eee4b052473f4d3080/1445495798675/?format=1000w)
What is My Modern Closet?
My Modern Closet is a Vancouver based company that renews the lifecycle on gently used clothing by reselling it. Consumers are able to browse clothing items for sale online and filter the collection by a series of searches. The mission for My Modern Closet is to bring awareness to end of life product cycles and style conscious solutions working on affordable budgets.
Why I think it works
The company strives on connecting people with clothing offering clothes that tell stories. On the site, users can search collections by certain individuals that include a mini-bio. Each individual demonstrates passion in their field, and the clothes the user can buy are clearly taken directly from their life stories. For example, Keighty is a fitness studio owner in Chinatown and has created a community that trains hard and has fun. Each of the clothing’s wrinkles come with stories of the individuals allowing the consumer to feel connected with the piece. It’s empowering to know that these are the clothes that help the original owner achieve their goals.
How this is an answer to environmental concerns
In class we watched the documentary, The True Cost, which explains the global impact of the fast fashion industry. The portion of the documentary that we watched put the global impacts of buying low priced clothing into perspective. The burden of the low costs are put on the developing nations’ economies. This is the exact mission My Modern Closet aims to bring awareness to. The practical element My Modern Closet takes is, they know the developed nations will not stop buying cheap clothing overnight. In the mean time, we can create a smaller impact by repurposing what we already have.
I think this is a fun and new improvement to current thrift stores; shopping for clothing collections online can be more convenient and fun for shoppers and it significantly changes the thrift shopping experience! I can see how a lot of people who already enjoy thrift shopping, or look for clothes on budget, or individuals committed to sustainable clothing would use this service. However, shoppers, such as myself who prefer to buy new clothes and be able to feel it and try it on, would probably stay away from this service. This reminds me a lot of the UBC Clothes for Sale page on Facebook, except you cannot shop collections. I like how we have a clothing exchange through that group on campus and so many students enjoy selling and buying clothes at a discount. I fully support it because I think as students, we don’t always have the budget to buy new pieces from top quality stores.
I love this idea! After watching the global impact of the fast fashion industry in the True Cost documentary, as you mentioned, it was shocking to realize the impact we have on communities around the world when we decide to pick up some new items for our wardrobe. The appealing element of this to me, aside from the sustainability piece of buying second hand items, is that each item and each seller on the site has a story. My Modern Closet is forming a community through story telling and the element of sharing, which are two fundamental ideas of sustainability (to me). By having a smaller scale impact within the city of vancouver, the company is raising awareness, creating community, and repurposing clothes that are still wearable. Thanks for sharing!