INTERVIEW #139 CARYS EGAN-WYER

Name: Carys Egan-Wyer

Based in: Malmö, Sweden

Occupation: Researcher

Gets inspired by: Too many amazing women to mention 

Instagram: @buy_less_be_more 

Hi Carys Egan-Wyer, a big welcome to A Sustainable Closet! Tell our readers about yourself?

Thank you so much for having me. I’m Carys, a sustainability researcher, teacher, micro-influencer, and occasional public speaker. And I’m also a mamma to a charming 7-year-old boy. I’m now based in Malmö, in southern Sweden but I’m originally from the UK and have lived all over the world. My main work is as a consumption and retail researcher and lecturer at Lund University but I also run a social media brand where I try to encourage people to buy less stuff!

We are so curious about your career and how you reached the point where you are today.

I always laugh when people ask this question because there was no plan or career path that brought me to where I am today. I’ve worked in fields as diverse as hospitality, retail, management consulting, computer programming, and sign-making! I’ve always followed my heart and have been privileged to find work that has allowed me to be in the places I want to be, with the people I want to be with. I ended up doing what I do now because I met a Swedish man while travelling in Vietnam and we fell in love. He followed me to Australia so I could become a diving instructor and work on the Great Barrier Reef. After a few years, it was his turn to follow his dreams, so I followed him to Sweden where I took a master’s degree at Lund University School of Economics and Management. I loved the research work I did during my degree and decided I would like to stay in academia. I started out researching consumer culture and all the sociocultural reasons why we buy what we buy (for example, we use our consumption to create our identities and to mediate our relationships with other people) and then, a few years ago, my research and personal passions collided when I got the opportunity to research anti-consumption and sustainability. So here I am…for now.

Where do you find your daily outfit inspiration?

I avoid fashion influencers and magazines because they make me feel that what I have (and what I am) is not enough and tempt me towards unnecessary consumption. Instead, I use two apps to help me get dressed. I love scrolling Pinterest and pinning looks that I know I can recreate using what I already have in my wardrobe. I have boards named Work Outfits, Casual Outfits, and Out-out outfits. When I’m planning what to wear the next day, I head to my pinned outfits for inspiration. I also use an app called Cladwell that helps me keep track of clothes, shoes, and accessories I own. It lets me save my favourite outfits and suggests combinations of clothes that I might never have thought of, which helps me avoid that “I’ve got nothing to wear” feeling. And it reminds me of clothes I haven’t worn for a while so I can consider whether to send them back into the circular economy so someone else can love them.

What is your relationship with clothes, how do you consume your clothes?

My relationship with clothes is complicated. I have struggled to reinvent my personal style since moving to Sweden. I feel like I’m a sundresses and flip-flops kind of person at heart but now I have to think about weather-appropriate outfits and things that I can bike in, which really stifles my creativity! Consumer culture has many of us thinking that a new outfit will make us look and feel better. Spoiler: it rarely does! That’s why I work hard with making the most of the clothes I already have and trying to combine them in different ways. And I almost never buy new clothes. Second-hand stores and swapping are my favourite ways to get new-to-me clothes. If buying new, it’s only for high-quality basics that I know I will wear almost every day, like jeans or winter boots.

What favourite stores or brands to shop from?

I love online second-hand stores, Sellpy for convenience. But when I want more inspiration, I like to browse around Swop Shop, Björk & Frihet, and the gorgeous vintage shops in Malmö.

Favourite material to wear?

I should make an effort to be more knowledgeable about fabrics, but I am clueless. I know that choosing well makes such a difference to how an item wears and washes and, therefore, how durable it is but, since I almost only buy preloved clothes, I don’t worry too much.

One garment in your closet that you just can't live without?

I can’t pick just one pair but I absolutely love my trainers. I bike as part of my daily commute so having practical shoes is a must and I rarely wear heels any more. I love that I can find almost-new trainers on second-hand websites in all kinds of glorious colours and styles. 

What is your opinion about the fashion industry in general? 

In a word: ambivalent. If we’re rational, we don’t need the fashion industry. We probably have enough clothes in existence to last us several hundred years. So the whole purpose of the industry is to produce and make us consume stuff we don’t need, typically in ways that are damaging to people and the planet. On the other hand, fashion is a great way to express our personalities and feel good about ourselves and I love a beautiful pair of shoes as much as the next person.

Describe what fashion is for you, in three words:

A guilty pleasure.