In a world where fast fashion exists, sustainability has become more prevalent than ever and with that comes countless second-hand stores and apps that can often feel overwhelming. With the help of Resale Stylist’s Emily Schwartz, shopping sustainably can become effortless.
Join The Resale Stylist, Emily Schwartz, and the Denver fashion community at Marmalade Lounge in Arvada, CO on Thursday, March 9 from 5:30-7 p.m. for an in-person workshop. Buy tickets here.
Inspired by her early days of having to buy office attire, she found herself struggling with finding inexpensive clothing pieces that someone in her office didn’t already have. This negatively impacted Schwartz and her ambitions.
“I didn’t know it then, but I know it now: we perform at higher levels and our emotional happiness increases when we dress in ways that feel authentic to us,” Schwartz said. “My goal is to help unlock that for others.”
Because of this, she started shopping at consignment stores and truly fell in love with sustainable fashion. From there, she continued her passion by helping a friend declutter her closet and found that she could make a business out of it — this led to The Resale Stylist.
“Too often, cost is a perceived barrier to authentic expression through style – it doesn’t have to be,” Schwart said. “Resale is an extraordinary channel to explore and I want to help make it as accessible as possible, no matter your price point.”
With sustainable fashion on the rise, apps like Poshmark, Depop, ThredUp and TheRealReal were created for a more accessible way to shop. However, this has “made the digital resell space more fragmented and challenging to navigate,” Schwartz said. In combination with the ever growing apps, thrift and consignment stores are rapidly popping up on every corner.
Needless to say, it’s hard to know where and what to buy. The Resale Stylist helps those achieve their goals and better understand how to approach sustainable shopping.
“I try to make reselling approachable and less overwhelming and make sure that people have an understanding where they can go shopping or sell based on their goals in this very overwhelming space,” Schwartz said.
Through The Resale Stylist, Schwartz not only provides shopping guidance but also education. She not only coaches her clients on how to shop, sell and search effectively but offers advice on tools and resources to make shopping easier.
“I want consumers to feel really empowered and have the knowledge to shop and sell responsibly without needing a partner every step of the way,” Schwartz said.
Often, shopping sustainably comes with a connotation that it’s outdated or everything in someone’s closet has to be second hand — Schwartz said that’s why a lot of people are hesitant or resistant in trying to find alternative shopping. She explained that it takes 2,400 gallons of water to make a new pair of jeans and buying one pair of thrifted pants can instantly have a positive environmental impact.
“It doesn’t have to be all or nothing to make a difference,” Schwartz said. “If you’re buying everything new right now and you just buy one pair of resold jeans that makes a major impact on the environment. You don’t really have to overhaul your existing routines and habits.”
The Resale Stylist’s backbone is educating so it comes as no surprise that Schwartz is hosting a workshop on March 9 that will focus on having conversations on alternative ways to shop. Topics will include how to ditch fast fashion without breaking the bank, why it’s worth it to develop new consumer habits and routines, and myth busting.
“I’m encouraging people who attend the workshop to come with their questions; if they’ve had an experience that left them scratching their heads, if they have sort of a personal goal that they are working towards, or what they want to learn more about like downsizing,“ Schwartz said. “I want it to be an interactive opportunity for people to learn and share their experiences.”
Buy tickets to The Resale Stylist workshop here.
All photos courtesy of Emily Schwartz.