Why last-season’s clothes are a more sustainable way to dress
Fashion needs to change.
The trend cycle works at a breakneck pace, with new styles being adopted, spread and dropped in the span of months or even weeks. Once they’re ‘out of style’, these clothes are left to gather dust in the back of wardrobes or, even worse, sent to landfill.
While the traditional fashion calendar has granted designers and brands a framework to release new and exciting collections, keep the industry innovating and influence the fashion zeitgeist, it has also created a culture of consumerism and waste. To be considered fashionable or stylish, consumers are expected to always have the latest and greatest thing. Wearing something you bought and loved six months ago means falling behind.
‘Last-season’ shouldn’t be a dirty word. As a society, it’s important we recognise that clothes don’t just lose their worth the moment the cycle has moved on. The DOM’s Seasonless Edit embraces this notion and celebrates staple pieces that are designed to last for years to come.
Lou Ashton, Head of Marketing at The DOM says, “as an online fashion outlet, I believe our role should be to encourage more meaningful conversations around mindful purchasing and exploring personal style that’s timeless. We want to change customer perceptions about the trend cycle and notions of what fashion really is.”
The Seasonless Edit is curated by stylist and creative consultant, Emma Read. She explains, “seasonless fashion is not only the way forward for our environmental impact, but it’s freedom – when you’re no longer bound by trends or constraints, you have the ultimate creativity to be yourself.”
To encourage customers to buy clothes more thoughtfully and consciously, we’re looking at iconic pieces that never go out of style. The versatile white tee, the timeless nineties jean, the effortlessly elevated two-piece set – these are styles that have kept the world’s interest season after season.
Embracing these seasonless essentials and resisting the temptation of the trend cycle benefits consumers, the environment, and the industry as a whole. Buying less and loving your clothes for longer means fewer clothes clogging up landfills - fewer precious resources going to waste.
As fashion writer and sustainability advocate Maggie Zhou, elaborates, "Trend culture is really good at making people feel like they're always behind, and the growth of microtrends only exacerbates this. That's why it's so important to lean into personal style and invest in pieces you know you'll love for years to come. Stand firm in your style and resist disposable trends. It's tough but so worth it."
Even the world’s largest and most influential brands are beginning to see the appeal of an industry dictated by something other than a rigid, fast-moving calendar. Creative Director of Gucci, Alessandro Michele, wrote in a series of lockdown diaries that the brand would be transitioning away from seasonal collections in favour of two creativity-driven shows per year. “That is why I decided to build a new path, away from deadlines that the industry consolidated,” he wrote, calling the seasonal labels we’ve come to accept over the years “stale, underfed words”.
His emphasis on creativity and the more personal aspects of fashion trickles down to consumers, too. Buying one shirt – or pair of pants, or dress – and holding onto it even when the rules of the trend cycle have changed is one of the most fashionable things you can do. Finding new, inspiring ways to style the pieces you already love is a great way to challenge your creativity and develop your personal style.
Slow fashion stylist Jenna Flood explains the importance of finding the right seasonless essentials for your wardrobe, “When we buy pieces that are less trend-driven and more classic in style, we reach for them over and over again. These are items that we love and feel good wearing. Well-made, classic pieces become staples in our wardrobes and can become a signature part of our style. They also save us money in the long run - no more buying garments for only a month or two of wear.”
A simple white tee can be worn in so many ways – paired with your holy grail pair of jeans for a laidback everyday look, layered with a relaxed overshirt or dress, or worn under a blazer for your next event. Each time you find a new way to wear that piece you not only get more value for your money, you also prove that there are no rules that can restrain your style.
Shop our collection of Designer, Womens and Mens for season-less style.
