Making The Leap And Going Green When Purchasing Your Kids Clothing

Most of us feel strongly about going green, especially now that it seems to be trending everywhere. We want our planet to be healthier, but it’s hard to make the switch to spending more money when the problems of not being green are so easily ignored.

In this post, we’ll share with you our tips on going green when purchasing clothing for your children, whether it's baby clothes or Disney-themed toddler girls' clothing.

How will we do that? By breaking it down into easy steps that you can take over the course of one month. Then all you have to do is rinse and repeat as each item in your child’s wardrobe needs replacing!

Day One

Take a long hard look at your kid's closet. Chances are it is packed to the brim with a vast, colorful pile of rainbow chaos.

Today's challenge is simple — pick out the most prominent five colors in your child's wardrobe. The first being the color you see the most, the second is the second most, and so on.

Organize your child's closet into sections of these colors on day one. Place the clothes that don't really fit into these five colors off to the side and out of the way.

Day Two

Remember those clothes that we set aside that don't fit into our five colors? Are any of those clothing pieces that your baby boy or girl loves to wear? If so, set the most loved pieces aside in a new pile.

Now choose ten clothing pieces from the set of clothes that don't fit into the five colors. Choose ten pieces from this set that your child never wears and set them aside.

Day Three

Remember how we organized their entire closet by color? Pull out the main color section. Set aside the clothes that your child enjoys wearing the most, and avoid letting the price or sentiment of other items trick you into making exclusions when you are separating these clothes.

Only choose the clothes that your child enjoys wearing from the first section and put those back into the closet.

Do the same for each subsequent color section until you have removed all the clothing that your child does not wear from their wardrobe.

Day Four

By this point, you should have been able to reduce the size of your child's wardrobe drastically by weeding out clothes that your child doesn't wear. Now it's time to weed out clothes that don't fit or won't fit by the end of the season, as well as clothes that need mending from each color section.

Set the clothes that need mending to the side and ask yourself if any of these clothes need mending beyond your skillset. If the answer is yes, go ahead and get this pile ready to go to a sewist all at one time.

Now place the clothes that no longer fit with the other clothes we have weeded from our closet. Keep this pile nice and tidy. We still have work to do here!

Day Five

It's time to ready our weeded out clothes by taking the following steps:

Step One: Take the clothes that need mending to the seamstress. Set a date to pick up the clothes.
Step Two: Separate clothing that has been barely worn or never worn and take it to a children's consignment shop to be resold.
Step Three: Separate any clothing that cannot be resold but is still in good wearable condition and drop it off at the local non-profit thrift store.
Step Four: Bag up remaining clothing that is not in good enough wearable condition to donate. Inquire at your local thrift store if they recycle unwearable clothing. If they do not, contact your local recycling center or find a clothing recycling box in your area.

Day Six

Does your child's wardrobe still have more than 20 pieces outside of seasonal items and a few special occasion items? If the answer is yes, then there is work left to be done so that we don't have to start back at day one once this season is over.

Every child needs an essential wardrobe, also known as a capsule wardrobe. Capsule wardrobes help you navigate your kid's clothing needs in a planned out and organized collection of complementary coordinates.

That's what we have been working on up to this point. We have been weeding out all the non-essentials to discover precisely what our children regularly wear.

By knowing what they do wear, we can then find the holes in their wardrobe and fill these holes with sustainable, eco-friendly, green choices that are healthier for our children, the supply chain as a whole, and our environment.

We need to determine if they have enough pieces in their capsule wardrobe to allow them to make thirty to forty different outfit combinations using coordinating colors (based on their five most prominent colors) and through layering.

20 Essential Items Found In A Standard Child's Capsule Wardrobe

Two pairs of leggings or sweatpants— In the warmer temps, they can be used as stand-alone pants, and in the colder months, they can be used as an underlayer like tights. They are great to wear with a skirt or a dress to add a little more coverage for playtime or colder temps. A comfy option for boys is joggers, and both of these choices can be used as activewear.
One mid-length or short skirt — Mid-length skirts are best for winter wardrobes for baby girls, while shorter skirts are great for spring and summer. These skirts can be paired with leggings, tights, and colorful socks.
One mid-length or short dress — Just like skirts, mid-length is more practical in winter while shorter hemlines are practical in spring and summer. Dresses can be layered with a light sweater or blazer in spring or a heavy sweater over the top in winter. They can also be paired with a t-shirt or long sleeve shirt underneath for an entirely different look during the other seasons.
Two pairs of neutral pants — Neutral tones will pair with everything for your little one. The neutral tone is often the central or secondary tone in your capsule, and you'll be able to create endless outfits by pairing it with the other colors of your child's wardrobe.
Two light-colored t-shirts — Whites and grays make excellent neutrals for any capsule wardrobe and can be layered under flannels and even dresses to create different looks. Graphic tees work here, too, and if your little one is very little, bodysuits and onesies are good options as well.
Two flannel and two patterned cotton dress shirts — Adding a little flair and warmth to your little's outfit is easy with a colorful flannel shirt. They can be wrapped around the waist when needed, worn buttoned up, or unbuttoned and tied over a dress or skirt.
One pair of jeans, one pair of denim shorts, and one denim jacket — Denim is classic. Every big kid needs a denim jacket, a pair of denim shorts, and a pair of denim jeans.
One pullover sweater and one button up or zippered sweater — You will need a pullover and a button/zip-up sweater to help layer during cold temperatures. A light sweater is excellent for dressing up a look. In contrast, a hoodie is great for dressing down an outfit.
One sleepwear set — everyone needs something comfy to sleep in!

These twenty items will get your child through spring, summer, fall, and winter if coordinated and sized correctly. You'll also want to invest in some seasonal outerwear, like a puffer jacket, as well as other seasonal items like swimsuits.

You also can't forget kids’ shoes, and you may want to consider versatile options like sneakers and rainboots as well as a pair of fancier shoes. These days, you're also likely going to need a few face masks for your kiddo to make sure you keep them safe. And never forget to have extra socks and underwear on hand! If not, they make great stocking stuffers (although your kids may not be thrilled!).

Day Seven

List out any holes you found in your child's capsule wardrobe and prepare to fill them with the greenest available option. You can shop at the very same consignment and thrift stores that you dropped your unnecessary items off at for select styles, or you can scour the internet for sustainable brands that offer a one-stop-shop for precisely the items you need.

Mon Coeur uses high-quality, technologically innovative earth conscious fabrics to create clothing for your child’s capsule wardrobe. Each fiber is composed of completely recycled materials. Whether plastic bottles taken from the ocean to protect or upcycled cotton, you can rest assured knowing you are getting a great product to round out a minimalist wardrobe and supporting earth conscious efforts as Mon Coeur is an ambassador for 1 % for the Planet and 5 Gyres.

Be sure to purchase your replacement items with extra room to allow space for your child to grow over the next three seasons. As your child begins to grow out of each piece in their capsule wardrobe, you replace it the same way, researching to find the best quality and most sustainable piece to replace the old piece.

Capsule Complete

In conclusion, this new clothing organization method will shift your focus away from buying large amounts of new arrival clothing for back-to-school and in Black Friday deals for Christmas. Instead, it will teach you to focus your budget on purchases of just a few high quality and sustainable pieces, one at a time.

In this way, every item in your child's wardrobe has a function, a place, and many many options in which it can be worn, and in just eleven days, you will have created the most efficient, practical, and highest quality wardrobe for your child that you can offer. Enjoy your new skill set and maybe apply it to your own closet as well!