Rule of 5: How It Works

Join our pledge to try to get through a year only buying five new fashion items. The earth will thank you.

Imagine if someone told you you could only buy 5 things for your wardrobe each year. Only 5 things. Sit with that for a second. How many have you bought already this year - can you even remember them all? Were they worth it? How many times have you worn each since?

Because it turns out, 5 things is all we can afford. A 2022 report from the Hot or Cool Institute crunched the numbers and worked out that if fashion wanted to stay below the 1.5C target everybody keeps telling us is the CEILING of what we can afford, and which every fashion house is telling you it's doing because it's immoral to admit otherwise, then the top 16 countries in the G20 need to just - stop consuming. All the biomaterials, rental, resale, charity shopping, regenerative agriculture in the world is not going to get us there, they say - slowing down our buying habits will.

After you’ve got over the initial shock, it’s actually quite a nice thought. If you’ve really only got 5 purchases for the year - what would you buy? If it's only going to be five, I'm going to make them count. They will be good quality, long lasting, they will work hard in my wardrobe. They will be mendable, resilient, they will be beautiful. I will cherish them, care for them, love them. Suddenly they become rather valuable.

Also, this is not the end of fashion - far from it. In fact this community are here to prove that mending, alternations, swapping, rental, dressmaking and so much more (Dior avatar, anyone?) are the future for a new fashion business model.

Subscribe to this newsletter and we will show you how.