Introduction to a mindful and conscious consumption

Part 1 of our mindful and conscious consumption guide. We hope to inspire you!

When we started working on Stor-ey, it was clear to us that we wanted to inspire people to consume more sustainably and live a more conscious life.

This turned fast into the motivation to de-radicalize the sustainability movement and finally give it the touch of casualness it deserves. (I mean we’re in 2020 — who is still buying plastic bags without bad conscience?)

We know when it comes to rethinking what we shop or in general to change habits, we find some things harder than others.

And with Stor-ey want to be your inspiration and your cheerleader on your way of becoming more sustainable.

We believe every step counts, and it is time to cherish finally ourselves.

To change the way we consume is one essential part of becoming more sustainable.

That’s why we decided to start our blog with the blog post series “A mindful and conscious consumption” consisting of 5 parts, in this first part we want to give you an introduction to the topic.

We hope you are enjoying this, and feel free to drop us some feedback!

In this first part and as an introduction we want to quickly sketch the situation where we’re in today:

A consumption-driven capitalistic society used to always want more and to keep buying. Driven by a vast of new products every day, triggering us to buy again.

For example, some time back fashion brands have presented twice per year new collections, now they are presenting up to 5 collections. In the meantime also fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M have risen, launching new products almost every two weeks.

And we as a customer are involved in the game of supply and demand, being in a seemingly endless loophole playing ping-pong with capitalism and our consumption.

With this first part one of “How to consume more conscious” we want to take a look at OUR OWN consumption, to begin with, we want to ask you a few questions (And please be honest to yourself):

• Do you find yourself thinking that €5 for a basic t-shirt is a normal price?
• Do you have more than 20 different cosmetic products in plastic packaging at home?
• Are you are excited about sale season and you buy each sale season more than 10 items?
• Have you recently bought something online and just browsed again on an online shop?
• Do you know the mailman quite well because you order maybe a little too much?
• Have you bought already one or more than one dress for €10 in the sale?
• Would you buy a dress to wear it just on a specific occasion?
• Have you more than one piece in your wardrobe that you have not worn once?
• Have you shown proudly a clothing item you shot as a good bargain to your friend?

Do you recognize yourself in these points? — Then please keep reading.

We grew up in this fast-paced environment, and keep buying and purchasing and spending money because we forgot that there is another way of living.

We believe that’s why we are working so hard every day, to afford THAT bag. If we get a raise because we are doing a good job at work, we already plan on spending our money. And how do we show someone our attention? Right, we buy them something nice.

Consumption has taken the overhand of our life, and everything is tied around it.

But now it is time to slow down a bit and hold on still for a second to take a moment to become aware, to think, and to rethink.

Acknowledging that the way we are consuming right now is not normal and not good.

And finally, to give items again the value they deserve.

It’s time to stop browsing your favorite fast-fashion website and look for an alternative.

Hello, and welcome to Stor-ey!

Our goal is to inspire people for more conscious consumption, together with our Part 1 we have published other articles going hand in hand with this first moment of consciousness.

1. Which costs are tied to that fast-fashion item that might not be displayed on the price tag (Read the article: “How much your €10 dress really costs“);
2. The unglamorous side that fashion has besides the glamorous role we give fashion in our lives (read the article: “The Unglamorous truth about fashion”);
3. How we trick ourselves always in buying something new and the lies we tell ourselves when doing so. (read the article “The favorite lies we tell ourselves when shopping”);
4. A general overview of what this so often used term sustainability actually stands for “what the sustainability” written by Hanna Rasper;
5. A personal column by our co-founder Fanny Imsel and the story of her €5 super good-looking plastic skirt, she wore to a party ONCE and what she would tell her younger self: A thought about the €5 skirt I wore once to a party”.

Originally published at https://www.stor-ey.com on May 7, 2020.