A Minimal Shoe Wardrobe

I’ve been thinking a lot about shoes lately. This is not really anything new, as shoes are fabulous and I am in no way immune to their wiles. But ever since reading this post about wardrobe staples on The Note Passer, I’ve been pondering what my own essentials would be, specifically in the footwear arena. I wondered, would it be possible to have a complete shoe wardrobe with only six pairs of shoes? (I have 30+ pairs currently.)

As I attempted to meet this challenge, I came up with a few non-negotiable characteristics to make sure my selections would be versatile, comfortable, and actually fit into my life.

  • I don’t do heels, so every style had to be flat.
  • I work in an office with a fairly stringent dress code, so most of my selections had to be work-appropriate.
  • I eliminated all suede shoes because I want shoes that are worry-free in all kinds of weather, including snow and rain. Its fuzzy surface is also inherently more casual, which makes it hard to dress up.
  • I decided not to include specialty shoes like snow boots, running shoes or dancing shoes. Those are harder to find ethically-made, so my strategy there is to buy quality shoes that are made to last, or buy secondhand.

After some serious sole searching (see what I did there??), I came up with the following selections for my dream minimal shoe wardrobe.

Minimal Ethical Shoe Wardrobe

I organized my search by thinking about four specific types of shoe that I felt needed to be represented no matter what. Once I had my options for each type, it was just a matter of mixing them together to make a balanced wardrobe.

Loafers & oxfords

  1. Smoking Shoe in Noir from Nisolo
  2. Caramel Lalibella Loafer from Sseko Designs
  3. Joanie Faux Suede Flat from Beyond Skin
  4. Amanda Shoe from American Apparel

Ethical loafers and oxfords

Boots

  1. Scout Boots from Bourgeois Boheme
  2. Caramel Nomad Bootie from Sseko Designs

Ethical boots

Flats

I had extra criteria for flats: a quiet sole and a slightly pointed toe. Clicky shoes are hard to dress down, and a round toe is hard to dress up.

  1. The Classic Point in Metallic Gold from Poppy Barley
  2. Shelley Flat from Beyond Skin

Ethical flats

Sandals

  1. Rose Sandal from Beyond Skin
  2. Delicias Sandal in Pale Honey from Nisolo

Ethical sandals

Lessons learned

One key lesson I learned during my search is that camel/nude shoes are the key to being able to wear brown clothes without having a plethora of rarely worn brown shoes. This was both a revelation and a buzzkill, because I love brown shoes and have several pairs. (Remember the surprise boots?) But from a practical standpoint, you can wear camel or nude shoes with a lot more things, and they can be dressed up more readily than brown shoes can.

Black shoes are of course the most versatile, especially if you work in an office and wear a lot of black and gray professional attire. Metallics can act as a neutral in many cases as well, but I would recommend only having one or two pairs of metallic shoes and sticking to black or camel or nude for the rest.

Another takeaway was the wonder of oxfords and loafers. I don’t currently own any oxfords or loafers, but I now realize they would solve much of my morning shoe anxiety. They’re appropriate for the office but still work with casual clothes, they fill the gap between flats and boots, and you can wear them pretty much all year-round. I prefer oxfords to loafers, but unfortunately there were fewer ethical oxford options to be found.

The ability to dress a shoe up or down is important as well. To avoid having formal shoes that you rarely wear, get your everyday shoes a little more on the dressy side so they can work for more formal occasions.

I’m not looking to chuck all my existing shoes and start over, but this exercise definitely gave me some things to look for the next time I do need to buy shoes.

Have you ever tried to pare down your shoe collection? What are your must-have types of shoes?

Connecting Stuff You Don’t Want with People Who Want It

The other day when I arrived at work, I found a mysterious box sitting on my desk. On it, this note from my coworker Katina:

Would you like these boots? Never been worn.

Tall brown boots in shoebox

Surprise boots! I giddily tried them on and modeled them for everyone in the department. I also got the origin story from Katina—the boots originally belonged to her cousin’s coworker, who gave them to Katina’s cousin, who gave them to Katina, who gave them to me. Whew!

The convoluted journey of these boots made me think about the ways our unwanted stuff circulates. One man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure (somebody didn’t want these boots! seriously!), but sometimes the path from person-with-stuff to person-who-wants-stuff isn’t easy to find.

My typical practice has been to throw all my unwanted stuff in a bag and take it all to Goodwill. Don’t get me wrong, this is way better than throwing it in the trash. But I’ve caught glimpses of the back rooms of some thrift stores… SO MANY PILES. And have you ever been to a Goodwill outlet? It’s the stuff that didn’t sell at regular Goodwill stores, and they sell it by the POUND. Eeek. The amount of stuff we donate is overwhelming, and when you donate to a thrift store, you’re rolling the dice on whether anyone else will even want it. Oftentimes surplus donations are shipped to developing countries overseas, which on the surface appears charitable but may actually undermine local economies.

Infographic listing ways to connect unwanted stuff with people who want it

With the rise of the sharing economy, I think how we get rid of stuff is going to change a lot in the next 5-10 years, or even sooner. Companies like Lyft and Airbnb demonstrate that people are willing to make personal connections to share cars and homes. Not only are they willing to do it, it’s the cool thing to do! On a smaller scale, I think people are going to become more and more excited about the idea of making personal connections to share their unwanted stuff.

Here are a few ways to connect your unwanted items with people who will be excited to have them. Some of them are more personal than others, but they all offer an extra level of likelihood that your stuff will be used and appreciated:

  • Sell online (eBay, Amazon, Twice, thredUP, Vinted, Poshmark)
  • Exchange in an alternative marketplace like Yerdle or Bondsy
  • Swap with friends, or give to a friend
  • Give away on Freecycle
  • Sell or give away on Craigslist
  • Sell to a store that sells used items (Half Price Books, Disc Replay, etc.)
  • Consignment stores

Admittedly, all of these methods require a little more effort than dropping off a box at Goodwill. You may have to make a trip to the post office or set up an appointment to meet a buyer/recipient. However, knowing a little about where your stuff is going can be incredibly satisfying. Over the summer I gave away some screen printing supplies on Craigslist. The guy I gave them to told me the kit was for his daughter who has been learning the screen printing process and has made some prints in the past. Just hearing those few details made me really excited to give him the supplies, knowing they were going to someone who would be interested in using them.

I have also been the grateful recipient of other people’s junk. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a Facebook post asking where I could find some reclaimed wood for an art project. Within a day I got suggestions of eight different sources, none of which required me to buy wood off the shelf at a lumberyard. I ended up getting wood from two different friends who just had it lying around. It’s amazing what people will provide if you just ask! In the same way, if you just put it out there that you have X item, you never know who might be interested in it!

Indiana wall art made with reclaimed wood

My reclaimed wood art! Also featuring leftover artificial turf from a work project and old Christmas lights.

Will I still shop at and donate to Goodwill and similar stores? Of course. You can’t beat big thrift stores for convenience and variety, and some items may be too small or low-value to be worth the effort of those other channels. But this year I want to make more of an effort to connect the things I don’t want with people who will be excited and happy to have them.

Have you used any of these methods to get rid of stuff you didn’t want? Have you ever made a great connection with someone who really wanted what you were giving away?

Buy Less, Live More

In the final days before Christmas, I wanted to share this fun and thoughtful campaign from the Story of Stuff Project.

Buy Less, Live More: Play, Bike, Share, Knit

The Story of Stuff Project started several years ago with an animated online video that showed the journey of the stuff we buy from its production to its eventual death in a landfill. Since then the organization has expanded its scope to address issues issues ranging from overconsumption to corruption to the environment. This December they have a campaign called Buy Less, Live More, which asks individuals to share photos showing what they have time to do when they’re not shopping.

Buy less, live more poster

I submitted a photo but it wasn’t approved by the time I posted this, which is actually OK because it’s a bit of a spoiler for a DIY post I’ll be doing in January. This year I finished up my Christmas shopping on a Friday, which left Saturday open for yoga class, biking AND running (it was definitely my most fit day of the year), and working on that DIY project. It was an incredibly satisfying day! Admittedly, I did get mostly store-bought gifts for the people on my list, but I did make one gift and tried to support ethical and local businesses for the others.

buy-less-give-more-poster-2

I like this campaign as a simple and fun way to remember that shopping and gifts are not the point of this time of year, and a thoughtful gift doesn’t have to be a store-bought one.

Have a warm and happy holiday from us at the Fair for All Guide!