How to do a Wardrobe Audit

Have you ever heard of a wardrobe audit?

It’s similar to a trash audit which is something I recommend everyone do at the start of their zero waste journey. And a wardrobe audit is something everyone should do when beginning their sustainable fashion journey.

What’s the point? Well, there are many benefits to performing a wardrobe audit.

1. It gives you an idea of what you’re dealing with
2. It helps you know what clothes you own that you actually wear
3. It prevents you from making MANY errors

What errors am I talking about? I’m so glad you asked. When I first started my ethical/sustainable wardrobe journey I made one huge mistake that I try to warn everyone of. I threw all of my fast fashion away! I know, the act still haunts me.

I thought that in order to have a sustainable wardrobe, I could only have clothing made from sustainable and ethical fashion brands. Oh, how wrong I was.

Let me tell you a secret: the most sustainable wardrobe you could ever own, is the one you have right now. Even if it’s filled with only fast fashion brands.

Because here’s the thing, everything in your closet already exists. Think of it as “the damage is already done”. Throwing them out or getting rid of them only contributes to the textile problem and it’s wasteful. Even if you were to purchase a wardrobe full of responsibly made clothing, you’d be creating demand for those items and resources would need to be used to create them.

So now let’s get to the actual wardrobe audit.

How to do a wardrobe audit:

First, you can grab your FREE wardrobe tracker PDF right below!

Here’s how to use it:

1. Print it off!
2. Take a few hours to go through your closet, drawers and off-season clothes
3. Write down the brand (if you know it), the style (t-shirt, tank top, blouse, etc), approximately when the last time you wore it, and which season it’s for

This is a super simple way to see your wardrobe all at one glance. It lets you know how much you have, how often you wear it and what’s missing from your wardrobe.

Then you can decide what needs to be donated, what you wear all the time, and what items you need to source to fill in the gaps!

I try to do this every season as I work to refine my wardrobe more and more.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this post and do your own wardrobe audit! Leave a comment if you have any questions or feel stuck or follow me and reach out on Instagram!