Closet Purge and Ethically Made Shoe Search

Today was the first purging of my closet.  I am selling and/or donating 74 pieces of clothing, 4 purses, and 4 pairs of shoes.  I've decided that I'm going to forgo the spring jacket and instead buy some new shoes.  These are my current spring/summer shoes.  As you can see, the soles are cracked and wearing out.  You can't see the big hole in the side of the right shoe.  I think it's time for new ones...

 
I've been searching for some black ballet shoes that are ethically made.  I think I paid no more than $10 for the shoes you see above.  I have not found a pair of ethically made black ballet shoes for less than $80.  That being said, I am willing to spend more money to ensure that my shoes are slave free.  My guess is that they will last longer too.  I'm hoping that I can sell some of the clothes I cleared from my closet today so that I can buy some new ethically made ballet shoes soon.

Here is a few I have found so far...

These are Patagonia Maha Breathe shoes, $79.95.  I found Patagonia on FREE2WORK.

 These are TOMS camila ballet flats, $84.  I found a $5 coupon HERE so they would be $79.


Clearing out my closet was an interesting venture.  I wonder if I would have done it the day after my dress project if it would have been easier.  At that time, I was considering just keeping 7 sets of clothes, one for each day of the week.  Today there were some things that were easy to take out, but I had a difficult time with others.  For example, in this season of my life I don't need "dress" clothes too often, however, in less than 2 months I will graduate with a master's degree in community counseling. Since I am planning on counseling individuals, I will need fancier clothes.  I'm not going to get by on my t-shirt and jeans.  I struggled to decide which dress clothes I would keep and which I could sell or give away.  I had the hardest time with my jean skirts.  I had 6!  Who needs 6 jean skirts?  But they were different shades and some had designs.  I took out 2, but I think I will take 1 more out to at least cut the amount in half.  I noticed that a lot of my shirts are layering ones.  You know, the standard black, white, and cream tank top and then those colors also in long sleeved shirts for the winter months.  I kept most of those.  This is what my closet looks like after today's purging.

And here's the other half...

To compare, see my closet pre-purge HERE.  74 pieces were removed, although some were removed from my dresser drawers.  I still have way too many clothes for one girl.  I would like to continue to purge moving forward.  Stay tuned for next time.