What 100 Days in a Wool Dress Taught Me
A lot can happen in 100 days.
At the end of the infamous, turbulent, unbelievable year that was 2020, I came across a “100-Day Dress Challenge.” A company called Wool& was offering $100 to anyone willing to wear one of their merino wool dresses for 100 days straight. I thought it sounded intriguing and I was looking for ways to simplify my life and curb my “fast fashion” shopping habit. Plus, I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could actually stick with something for 100 days in a row. Would I get bored or lose interest? Possibly…but it might also be a perfect distraction to get my mind off of all the negative stuff going on in the world. I decided to go for it.
In early January I received the dress in the mail, tried it on, and was immediately surprised by how comfortable it was. It was as soft as a favorite t-shirt, and it flowed like a comfy nightgown. Was it the most flattering dress ever? Perhaps not, but that wasn’t really important to me. In the winter, I’m all about being cozy and warm. All I had to do was pair the dress with some leggings, a pretty scarf, and maybe a cardigan on top, and I was all set for the day.
Some of my friends and family thought the challenge was a little odd, but I’d spent the past year learning how to live more authentically and not worry so much about what other people think of me, so this was a good test. To be fair, I worked in an office where I was mostly by myself during the day, so that wasn’t much of an issue. But honestly, the 100 days flew by and the hardest thing about it was remembering to take a photo of myself each day to document my journey with the dress.
As an unexpected bonus, I became part of an amazing group of about 3,000 like-minded women around the world who also signed up for this challenge. The “Wool& 100-Day Dress Challenge” Facebook group is a place where a collection of unrelated women share our lives and find commonalities. We lift each other up and cheer each other on. It’s a place without judgment and it’s full of genuine support and encouragement. It’s a safe space to be real and raw and to talk about the challenges we face with self-image, family dynamics, physical and mental health, and navigating the ups and downs of life during a pandemic. During their 100 days, some women in the challenge encountered birth, death, serious illness, divorce, depression, natural disasters, a house fire, and other really difficult circumstances. One the other hand, they also did lots of fun things in the dress: hiking, skiing, biking, camping, living in an RV, creating a new oil painting each day, feeding farm animals, playing with kids. Some incorporated the dress into various costumes or artistic endeavors. A lot of cooks, bakers, knitters and gardeners took up the dress challenge. And the “woolies,” as we’ve started calling ourselves, created some killer outfits using the wool dress as an anchor!
So, one hundred days later, what I have learned?
- I can get by with a very basic wardrobe. For me, a closet full of too many clothes leads to decision fatigue and more stress. Simplifying my wardrobe made life so much easier. Surprisingly, I never got bored. I got creative with the use of some great accessories and was inspired by the unique styling tricks shared by the other women in the challenge.
- My self-worth isn’t determined by what I wear; the way I feel and the energy I’m projecting is more important than how I look in a certain outfit. And people really don’t pay attention what you’re wearing day-to-day anyway.
- The “fast fashion” industry is one of the most polluting and destructive industries on earth, using millions of tons of water and contributing millions of tons of waste to our landfills every year. Washing synthetic clothing also sends billions of micro-plastics and microfibers into our oceans, further damaging our ecosystem.
- Merino wool has amazing properties: it’s sustainably grown, helps regulate your temperature, resists wrinkles, washes easily, dries quickly, and has antibacterial properties that make it resistant to odors! I only needed to wash the dress a handful of times. I hung it up on my closet door every night to air out and freshen up, and that was it. Seriously…no smell! Having way less laundry to do made me happy.
- I want to invest in better quality clothing and own far fewer pieces. I want to make mindful purchases instead of hitting the sale rack for a quick pick-me-up that ends up shoved in a closet and forgotten about.
- Women lifting other women up is one of the most powerful and positive forces on earth. The most common thing that came up in the Facebook group was that it was so refreshing and wonderful to be surrounded by so many compassionate and open-minded people. Each woman had her own story, her own journey, her own wisdom to share. The challenge created a unique bond, and it was a beautiful thing to witness.
Participating in this simple challenge turned out to be about so much more than just wearing the same piece of grey wool fabric every day. The dress has become sort of like a familiar friend. It’s been there to greet me every morning and has carried me through some of my own challenging situations. Wearing the dress as a daily uniform gave me a sense of security…almost like the “soft blankie” my son used to sleep with every night when he was little. It’s been a consistent, comforting presence every day.
Hearing from the other women who joined the challenge gave me a window into different lives around the world and helped me feel connected to a larger community. And I think that a sense of belonging and connection is really what we’re all looking for these days. So, I’m grateful to the Wool& company for creating this 100-day dress challenge that provided an avenue for growth and positive change and created space for new relationships in my life.
It’s been a fascinating social experiment. We’ve all been changed for the better in many ways, simply by sharing the experience of wearing a wool dress for 100 days in a row.
