(12/22/25) BATON ROUGE, La. — If you are doing some last-minute shopping, an LSU textiles, apparel and merchandising professor has several tips on how to think more sustainably this holiday season, while staying fashionable.

L. Danielle Honeycutt discussed the importance of thoughtful choices when shopping for stylish loved ones. Her approach outlines ways to be environmentally conscious without sacrificing fashion or festivity.

“Giving the gift of something that can be a part of what we call the circular economy,” Honeycutt said. “Keeping something that either is already a part of the fashion cycle, meaning it's already had a first life, and you, by purchasing it and gifting it, would be giving it a second life.”

Honeycutt encourages shoppers to think beyond buying new and instead focus on choices that reduce waste while keeping style in rotation. Intentional purchases are central to embracing slow fashion. Clothing rental services offer one method of participation. She encouraged gifting a subscription to a rental service.

“I participate in three different fashion rental services,” Honeycutt said. “I'd say if you ask most of the students in the department, when they come up to me and ask me what I'm wearing, 80% of the time my response is, ‘It's rented.’”

Although some people may have reservations about rental services, Honeycutt said that the companies remove all the guesswork from the process. The only decision the consumer needs to make is choosing styles they like.

“Everything is paid for,” Honeycutt said. “You throw it in a bag, and you send it back. You don't have to wash anything. You don't have to dry clean anything. All you're doing is truly picking the kind of styles that you enjoy.”

In addition to hesitations about rental services, Honeycutt acknowledged that there can be pushbacks around shopping vintage or secondhand. She pointed out one resolution to that is to find highly curated stores, such as Time Warp in Baton Rouge.

“Sometimes thrifting or vintage gets this bad rap for, oh that's kind of weird or gross or dirty, or that takes too long to pick through,” Honeycutt said. “A place like Time Warp, for instance, is highly curated. You can go in there knowing what decade you want, and an employee can point you to the rack where that exists.”

Beyond gift giving, Honeycutt said New Year’s resolutions provide the perfect opportunity to set realistic goals around sustainable fashion, starting with what people already own.

“The New Year's resolution I'm setting for myself that I'm going to be sharing with my students in January, and I am very anxious about this because it's a big undertaking,” Honeycutt said. “Not that everyone can do this, but maybe one little piece of this: I am not going to buy anything new in the year 2026, apparel related. The only exception I'm making is shoes.”

Even smaller commitments can have financial and environmental benefits. The subscription-based rental service Rent the Runway keeps a running total of the retail value of rented pieces, and that number adds quickly.

“In the app, they keep a running tab of the monetary equivalent of what I would have spent if I had purchased all the things I've rented from them,” Honeycutt said. “The value I've rented since March of 2019 is $297,000.”

Seeing tangible results, she said, often motivates people to continue making sustainable choices. In addition to being an advocate for rental services, Honeycutt emphasized the importance of building a reliable wardrobe foundation.

“Don't underestimate the value of your own personal capsule collection,” Honeycutt said. “Knowing your style and having a few key pieces that align with that, you love how they fit you, they're quality pieces and you can mix and match them and rotate them.”

For additional inspiration, Honeycutt suggests finding a few new influencers who are taking part in slow fashion. Many creators are starting to express their exhaustion with microtrends and are moving away from them altogether. Following someone else’s plan can make it easier to get started with the process.

Fashion choices are inseparable from conversations about waste. Honeycutt noted that the average American generates more than 80 pounds of textile waste each year, but individuals can still make a difference, especially during the holidays.

“Fast fashion is not sustainable. We can’t do it. And if we're not going to make the choice to no longer engage with it, someone else is going to make that choice for us because it's not a sustainable model. The Earth cannot handle it.”

Vintage stores, such as Time Warp in Baton Rouge, or thrift stores offer a second or even third life to fashion. Photo by Avery Williams

Fashion from the 1980s at Time Warp vintage clothing store in Baton Rouge. Photo by Avery Williams