A Capsule Approach to Underwear & Basics
This post is in collaboration with Organic Basic, who kindly gifted me the Tencel Lite Set and Tencel Lite Tank. Contains affiliate links.
When shopping for clothing, I’ve found it’s important to go for durable high quality materials that last. But what about when you’re shopping for those necessities that you go through endlessly like bras and underwear? After many years of buying uncomfortable bras and cheaply-made underwear that I would inevitably cycle through, I’ve finally found a solution that works for me. The key was to find the right fit and stick with it! So today I’m sharing some tips for using the capsule wardrobe approach to shopping underwear and basics.
Know Your Preferred Fit
I made the switch from underwire bras to bralettes a couple years ago and never looked back. They feel more like loungewear compared to the restrictiveness of underwire bras. And I think people may be surprised by how suitable they are for different sizes and how supportive they can be, depending on the style you try. I have a couple of brands that I swear by now and wear exclusively. The same goes for underwear. By now you probably have a preferred style that works with your clothing and fits comfortably. When you know what you like in terms of fit, it makes shopping for quality pieces that much easier.
Good Things Come In Packs
I’m very much an advocate of buying multiples of items that work and nowhere is this more true than with underwear and basics. Whether it’s a plain t-shirt that meets all my criteria or a pair of comfortable briefs, it takes time to find items that just work. So once I find something I like, I develop a sort of loyalty to it. I love that Organic Basics gives you the option of purchasing your favorite basics in packs, saving money in the process. There’s just something about having reliable basics to make you look good and feel even better, and it’s a big driving force behind the capsule wardrobe approach.
Getting The Basics Down
I think my capsule wardrobe approach truly started the day I realized that I didn’t own any plain white t-shirts. I was constantly buying tops with frilly details or in unusual colors and that made pairing pieces together much more difficult, often resulting in that “nothing to wear” feeling. Nowadays, I consider a basic t-shirt to be part of my personal uniform. One basic that I’ve needed to replace for a while was a plain black tank top and this TENCEL Lite Tank Top fits the bill perfectly. I love it because it works as loungewear, under knitwear in the Winter and on its own during the Summer, a quality all-season staple.
Mindful Consuming
The capsule wardrobe approach is all about limiting the total number of items in your wardrobe, but it can be harder to do so with underwear and basics. Luckily with brands like Organic Basics, we’re able to limit our consumption around necessities in other ways, like reducing waste during production and using natural, biodegradable materials such as TENCEL Lyocell. You can learn more about their practices here. And with recent initiatives like The A-Z Guide: Fashion is Dirty and the Low-Impact Website, they make the whole online shopping process that much more informative and sustainable.