We’ve all heard the phrase, “the most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe”. While that sentiment is an essential reminder to shop with longevity in mind, it can apply an element of guilt when clothes no longer fit.

A customer recently told us, “I’ve had to upsize all of my jeans and trousers this year,” noting how odd it felt to be buying half a dozen garments in a single season, when she usually tries to mitigate fashion consumption.

For most of us, the idea of being a single size throughout adulthood is far from reality. Working with a tailor can help to transform ill-fitting clothes back into favourite pieces.

For most of us, the idea of being a single size throughout adulthood is far from reality. Working with a tailor can help to transform ill-fitting clothes back into favourite pieces.

Admittedly, making a garment a size bigger is more complex than making it smaller, and the concept of upsizing clothes is gendered, too. Traditionally, menswear trousers are constructed with a seam running up the centre back of the waistband, to allow the trousers to be easily let out and expanded. In womenswear, not so, thanks to outdated perceptions and pressures of women remaining one size.

Still, working with a tailor can broaden the solutions available to outgrown clothes. This year at The Seam—a UK-based platform for connecting with local tailors and repair specialists—our Makers have added elastic, let out seams, and inserted panels to create better fit. Not all types of clothes are suited to upsizing. Denim jeans, for example, are constructed from a lapped seam that is difficult to let out. Yet, there is almost no limit to what the creativity of a Maker can do for an outgrown garment.

Get second hand garments tailored to you

Chances are, if you’ve bought preloved or vintage clothes online, you’re familiar with the experience of less than perfect fit on arrival of your purchase. With second hand clothing and “re-commerce” such a key component of sustainable fashion, having a tailor on hand can make preloved shopping online more reliable every time.

Earlier this year, The Seam helped a bride alter her secondhand wedding dress for a better fit. She’d made the purchase on eBay, but the measurements had been incorrectly listed by the seller, and when the dress arrived, it was too tight in the chest.

After some creative reworking, we managed to turn it into the dress (and fit) of her dreams. “I think it’s very important that you don’t alter yourself to fit a wedding dress”, she recounted to Cosmopolitan about the experience.

Repairs can help you responsibly rehome clothes

If you take a minimalist approach to cleaning your wardrobe, you may find yourself with a pile of unworn clothes set aside for donation or resale.

Yet, if the items in your pile are being let go of due to flaws like rips, stains, or broken zips, chances are your donation will burden the community where it ends up.

Part of taking responsibility for what we consume means getting garments into a good state of repair before parting ways. If you’re into reselling your wardrobe, working with a tailor to fix flaws can also increase the value of your items, and ensure a quicker sale.

Whether or not you’re already taking part in circular fashion solutions like reselling, renting, and swapping clothes, the items that simply get “donated” are often deemed as value-less when we part ways with them. This raises the question of what kind of value we can expect them to generate for charities. Working with a tailor or repair specialist helps keep value in these items, and keep them in the loop.

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The flaws in standardised sizing

The first en-masse size standardisations for garment manufacturing were put forth in 1958. Initially, body measurements from a large sample group were taken and averaged to create early size charts. Though technology has replaced manual measurements with 3D body scans, this precision hasn’t helped the average consumer navigate the confusing realm of clothing fit—especially when it comes to online shopping.

The key flaw in standardised sizing systems is not the accuracy of measurements but rather the notion that averaging proportions will still offer a good fit to a wide range of people and bodies. In the words of tailor Philip Sparks, “We must recognise that people are left out of the fashion system because it is systemised.” While an important tool in clothing fit, measurements become redundant when they are universally applied to unique shapes and proportions.

To add to the confusion, the introduction of ‘vanity sizing’ has continuously eased sizes and shifted standards on the basis of a slim ‘ideal’ body type. The assumption is that if a woman finds herself wearing a size 10 in jeans at Levis and an 8 at GAP, her loyalty will fall with the latter brand. A women’s size 12 in 1958 now matches a contemporary size 6.

Beyond the failings of typical size charts, there is also an incredible lack of size representation above a UK size 12. Aja Barber writes, “The fashion industry has, noticeably, always failed to invite bigger bodies to the party.” Even where brands do offer a more inclusive range of sizes, consumers often complain of lazy pattern grading, leading to poor fit or awkward proportions.

Poor fit fills landfills

With poor-fit cited as the number one reason for clothing returns, it’s no wonder that solving size is a necessary overhaul for an industry that’s landfilling some 13 million garments per week in the UK alone. However, with the price of garment manufacturing continually cheapening, many brands find restocking returned products more expensive than sending them to the bin.

Second hand shopping, which is typically a more sustainable alternative to buying new, is also hampered by issues of poor fit. Reccommerce, as it’s known, usually doesn’t come with the option to return items in case of poor fit. There is also typically only one size available in each item, making a well-fitting thrift an even more challenging option than buying new. Not to mention the issues surrounding thrift flipping that leaves even fewer larger size options up for grabs!

Making fit part of the fashion experience

At The Seam, our solution to ill-fitting, unloved clothes lies in making alterations part of the everyday experience of consuming clothes.

When buying clothes online, we always recommend taking your own measurements and aligning them to the brand’s size chart without restricting any one number. This means that if your bust and waist measurements align to a size 16 and your hips to a size 18, you should opt for the larger size! Clothing is always easier to take in than let out, so following this rule sets you up to work with an expert and craft the perfect fit.

Taking your clothes to a local tailor—or even having them come to you via The Seam if you’re based in the UK—offers a personalised approach to the perfect fit. It also has a lasting impact on longevity, which is one of the most sustainable steps you can take for your wardrobe.

A study from Greenpeace suggested that the ‘high’ we experience upon buying a new garment wears off for around two-thirds of people after just a day. Yet, we usually find that after taking a garment through the experience of being altered or personalised, the relationship between wearer and garment is strengthened exponentially.

Making alterations more accessible and incorporating them into the routine of buying new clothes also helps mitigate some of the body insecurities that come with fashion’s chaotic sizing systems and dissatisfactory clothing fit. One size cannot and should not fit all.

Making alterations more accessible...helps mitigate some of the body insecurities that come with fashion’s chaotic sizing systems and dissatisfactory clothing fit. One size cannot, and should not fit all.

Working with a Maker isn’t just a fix for new purchases but offers a tailored solution for those back-of-the-wardrobe garments that may no longer fit due to natural changes in our bodies or even in our tastes. Reworking something we’ve outgrown, whether in style or fit, is an opportunity to transform something that would be discarded or unworn into something we can cherish for years to come.

Fashion Revolution Cofounder and Advisor to The Seam, Orsola de Castro, says, “The most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe.” Bringing a trusted Maker into the fashion equation opens up the possibilities within our existing wardrobes and strengthens our bond to what we already own.

Author bio: Founded in London in 2019, The Seam is a platform that connects customers with local specialist Makers to alter, repair, and transform clothing to increase wardrobe longevity and ensure that good fit is available to all.

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