Cheong – who was previously a fashion influencer before entering the sustainability space – had found herself spending thousands of pounds a year on clothes. “I was buying predominantly from fast fashion, high-street brands, and basically nothing would last,” she recalls, explaining how she wasn’t practising mindful consumption or investing in quality at the time. “I was like, ‘I can’t afford to keep doing this’, ‘Why am I still doing this?’”
That’s how Cheong created the Mindful Monday Method, a five-step process designed to encourage people to be more thoughtful about their fashion purchases. “It’s about how to shop better for your mental health and the planet, and you could actually save money while doing it,” she says.
The method begins with a wardrobe audit, to help you work out the clothes you actually like and wear –and more importantly, the clothes you don’t. “I’m interested in analysing what you don’t want, whether there are recurring retailers or materials that pop up, for example,” Cheong explains.
It can also help to work out what a capsule wardrobe looks like for you – with Cheong emphasising that it might not be full of wardrobe basics. “I think we should be curating our outfits based on what we already feel comfortable in when we leave the house,” she continues. “Anytime you’re leaving the house, take a photo in the mirror, save it on your phone, and once you’ve got about eight outfits, that is your capsule wardrobe. Count how many items you mix and match from what you already have.”
Cheong is the creator of the Mindful Monday Method, a five-step process designed to encourage people to be more thoughtful about their fashion purchases.
