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| Shirt from What Goes Around... vintage shop in Camden Market |
I’m happy
to admit I’ve never been that fashion conscious, as I’ve always valued comfort
over style. I didn’t start paying attention to my clothes until I hit 18 and
suddenly realised that if employers care what I look like, maybe I should too!
At that point I looked at my wardrobe of band t-shirts and skinny jeans and
thought, “this needs to change”. But renewing your wardrobe is even more
daunting when you’re passionate about protecting our planet and living
ethically.
Every time
I step into an affordable retailer like Primark or New Look, I instantly feel a
twinge of guilt. It’s a sad reality that consumer demand for constantly
changing trends is destroying our planet. Natural plant fibres such as cotton use
up tonnes of fresh water, are heavily sprayed with pesticides, and cultivated
using damaging mono-cropping techniques. Animals raised for their hides create
horrifying amounts of carbon emissions and use resources that could be used for
people, plus the processing of hides and fur uses toxic chemicals that easily
leach into the environment. And man-made fibres generally rely on oil, a finite
resource which we are using increasingly destructive methods to extract. On top
of all that, the people who make the clothes are generally low-paid workers in developing
countries who are forced to endure disgusting conditions to support their
families. At this point in my thought process, I’ve walked out of the shop.
But what’s
the point in acknowledging issues if you do nothing about them? My philosophy
is to do as little harm as possible, so I needed to find a way to replace my
wardrobe without adding to the mess humans have created. Ethical clothing is
often overpriced and a bit too hippieish for my tastes, so I needed something
more realistic. The best solution was to buy second hand!
You may be
thrown off by the idea of buying second hand, but don’t be. Many people do it
without realising it! The most common ways are buying unwanted items off
friends and family, shopping in charity or vintage shops, and buying off
websites like Ebay or Depop. People often get rid of clothes in excellent
condition, maybe because it’s the wrong size or was an impulse buy that doesn’t
suit their tastes. It may take a bit longer to fill out your wardrobe, but you’ll
know that you had less of an impact and your clothes are more unique. You’re
much less likely to accidentally match dresses at a party if your clothes are
from a vintage shop instead of Top Shop!
Do you have
any great tips for buying second hand? I’d love to hear them in the comments.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
- Bethan
The only problem I have with this is that it seems the only men who give to charity shops are 86 year old retirees - I can never find anything I like, and I'm always looking!
ReplyDeleteIt's similar with women too, there's a lot of old lady clothes! I find it varies a lot with area though. For example, the charity shops in Chatham are awful, but Rochester tends to have okay stuff. I generally find that student towns (like Canterbury!) and large cities such as London and Manchester have the best charities shops.
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