INTERVIEW #143 SARAH STEPANEK
Name: Sarah Stepanek
Occupation: Digital Content Creator/Influencer; Magical Vacation Planner at The Vacationeer; Owner of Thrift Colorfully on eBay
Based: Grand Haven, Michigan, USA
Sites: @imsarahstepanek, @sarahthevacationeer and eBay
Hi Sarah, welcome to A Sustainable Closet, can you please tell us more about yourself?
Hello! My name is Sarah. I’m a content creator based out of West Michigan. I've loved fashion and Disney all my life, so I found a way to make them both my job. I've always been passionate about the treasure hunt for second-hand finds. In recent years, I have also discovered the importance of the sustainability aspect of second-hand and love sharing that world with the world.
What’s your relationship with clothes, when did you get interested in fashion?
I've always had my own style but that is definitely changed and developed over the years. It is also certainly been influenced by the crowd and environment in which I spent my time. In fact, from about 2005 until I'd say probably 2012 I wore almost exclusively black. My crowd at that time was the punk, skate, outcast, scene, etc groups. We were nicknamed the " black blob " because everybody wore all black. Then in high school, I used to do "site modelling" on Facebook. I heavily leaned into that style. I had a transition period from about 2014 to I'd say about 2017 or 2018 where was out of school, between jobs, and I really had no sense of style I would say. Then in 2019 I finally started coming into my own playing with colour and pattern and discovering what I liked independently of anybody else.
How would you describe your closet?
My closet is actually extremely organised. It's not huge so my bedroom itself has basically turned into a walk-in closet with a bed. My small closet holds my sweaters, dresses, skirts, pants, and blazers; all organised in colour order. Then I have a clothing rack in the room (scored for free at an estate sale clear out). I have an 11-shelf shoe rack full of shoes as well as more shoes stacked on the ledge of my wall. Hats hung on the wall. Then an 18-cube storage, that I upcycled with free paint from that same estate sale cleared out and wallpaper gifted from Lust Home, that holds my bags. That's most of it! Everything's organised by color for the most part of course.
When did you start to get interested in second-hand?
I've been interested in second-hand literally as far back as I can remember. I've always gone to garage sales and flea markets and things like that since I was very little and always enjoyed it. I've been thrifting in actual thrift stores. Definitely for at least I would say 17 or 18 years. I have one specific memory of thrifting visiting my grandparents when I was about 12 or 13 when I was just getting into that wearing all-black phase. I thrifted a t-shirt that said, " This is my antisocial, mad at the world, scare soccer moms, black T-shirt". I think I wore it every single day that week, I thought it was the greatest thing ever.
You also talk about outfit repeating - why is this important, how does it work and what is your advice for those who hesitate?
The reason I talk about and decided to start my outfit repeater reels series is so often people think "Oh, I've worn this already" or " I've already been seen in this" and it's like, who cares? If I spend my money on it, and even if I didn't and it was a gift or I found it or whatever, and I love it, I should be able to wear it as many times as I want without judgment. I made the reel series to show that you can re-wear items, even bold statement items, in completely different ways, and it'll be a completely new look each time. I've had people comment under the videos before saying that they'd seen these pictures before, because I use pictures that I had previously posted on my feed, and never realised that that was the same item in each image because of how differently I had styled it. The culture of wearing it once is just so detrimental and wasteful. Especially when the pieces are being bought new to be worn once and then tossed. If I'm going to buy a piece, even if it's from fast fashion which I do occasionally do, it's a piece I know I will get my use out of. Several of my reels feature items that are fast fashion items but they're staples in my closet and they're not going anywhere.
What can one do that seeks to create a more sustainable closet?
My view on creating a sustainable closet may be slightly different than the general consensus. I think that the most important thing is to be selective in your buying process and only buy the things that you are actually going to wear, and wear repeatedly. I think that it's a lot more sustainable to buy one fast fashion item that you really love and are going to wear a hundred times than to go thrift a bunch of pieces and do a haul from a slow fashion store and then wear all those pieces once and get rid of them. Because in the end, sure the thrift store and the slow fashion items were the better option up front, but if they don't have the longevity in your closet, it's not sustainable for you or the planet. So be selective, and if you do thrift, thrift colourfully.
