From encouraging people to rummage for charity shop treasures to extolling the virtues of ‘mending activism’, those at clothes recycling charity Traid want us to reconsider our relationship with shopping. The charity has declared November 21-27 #Secondhandfirst Week with the campaign designed to coincide with the run-up to ‘Black Friday’ on November 25. Often considered the day when Christmas shopping begins in earnest, it will see a projected £1bn spent across the UK in just 24 hours.

Buying secondhand and repurposing items rather than buying new could reduce fashion’s substantial environmental footprint. An estimated 10,000 items of clothing are sent to UK landfill every five minutes, equating to more than 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothes being dumped in landfill each year. Most of us own at least one pair of jeans but few know it would take approximately 14 years to drink the amount of water used to make just a single pair.

How many times have you worn today’s outfit? Research by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) shows the average person wears items only six or seven times before throwing them away. Statistics aside, say those at Traid, more frequently choosing recycled and repurposed clothes could also lead to a more fulfilling relationship with fashion and identity.

“Increasing our use of secondhand goods also includes a social and cultural dimension,” says Traid’s chief executive Maria Chenoweth-Casey. “It has the potential to transform people from consumers into citizens and to loosen the grip of advertising and corporations on shaping our style and identity.”

We have the power to inspire customers to buy less new and reducing demand for the ‘must haves’

Just a week ago, 13 Indian garment workers died in a workshop fire in Ghaziabad, India. Their deaths come three years after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in which more than 1,100 workers died. The disaster prompted some, from brands to shoppers, to reconsider where clothing is sourced and at what cost.

“Fast fashion is one of the dirtiest industries in the world,” Traid’s Leigh McAlea tells Positive News, “coming second only to big oil. In that sense, our #Secondhandfirst campaign is unlikely to cause fast fashion retailers sleepless nights. However, where we do have power is to inspire customers to buy less new and so reduce demand for the so-called ‘must haves’.”

The foundations of today’s fast fashion are complex, but McAlea suggests the disconnection inherent in a hyper-globalised world with extended supply chains plays a large part.

“It is extremely difficult to relate to the workers and processes that bring clothes to our high streets and into our wardrobes. Those making our clothes are so remote as to be barely human, and certainly there is no sense of people with lives and aspirations that may intersect with our own. At the same time, the voices of garment workers are rarely heard, further enabling and normalising exploitation in our supply chains. Despite raised awareness of conditions through devastating events such as Rana Plaza, consumer desire for fast fashion – currently around £44bn in the UK annually – trumps ethics.”

Kit Oates Photography / TRAID

#Secondhandfirst Week events will take place across London, including late night shopping sessions at Traid’s 11 charity shops and a screening of films made by 50 Cambodian garment workers. Shoppers will also be encouraged to sign a secondhand first pledge: a promise to wear at least some secondhand outfits during the week.

“You can choose what percentage of your wardrobe you want to rebalance from new to secondhand,” says McAlea. “You don’t necessarily need to source all your secondhand in charity or vintage shops, but can also swap, mend and lend.”

It has the potential to loosen the grip of advertising and corporations on shaping our style and identity

Rather than focusing on guilt to motivate people toward changing habits, the Traid team are keen to emphasise the fun and creativity to be had in sourcing fashion more sustainably. So does McAlea have a favourite charity shop find?

“It’s almost impossible to pin down one! Having said that, an antique set of Russian dolls comes near the top of my list, and a vintage cashmere camel coat from Traid Dalston which has seen me elegantly through three winters so far. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in charity shops, but just take each rail at a time and go through it carefully, you’re bound to find something you love.”

Kit Oates Photography / TRAID

Find out more about #Secondhandfirst Week here.

The post Could ‘secondhand first’ be an antidote to fast fashion? appeared first on Positive News.

Rapanui
Rapanui goes above and beyond simple fashion. They have also worked with MEPs to lobby for a new EU clothing ecolabel.

Mart Drake-Knight, co-founder of Rapanui, explains: “Some clothes might have an organic or eco-friendly logo on them, but it’s hard to tell what’s really going on when you look at all the different labels.

“At Rapanui, we’ve taken all the complexities out of the labels, specs and small print of clothing and rounded it all up into a simple grading that lets you shop quickly, with a conscience,” he added. The system is known as ecolabelling and uses a simple A-G rating, similar to the successful EU energy rating label.

One customer told Positive News: “My T-shirt was 70% bamboo and 30% organic cotton – super soft and silky. It came in fully biodegradable packaging, and had their ecolabelling on it. The clothing is good quality and nicely designed.”

Junky Styling
With a quirky and deconstructed look to their clothing,  Junky Styling is an innovative design-led label, and all their garments are made from the highest quality recycled and upcycled materials. These are then deconstructed, re-cut and completely transformed. They call it wardrobe surgery and it always goes down a storm at London Fashion Week.

Designers Annika Sanders-Nicklinson and Kerry Seager-Sze founded Junky Styling in 1997, inspired by the inventive recycling that they saw on their travels in San Francisco and Tokyo. They have a shop and studio on Brick Lane in trendy East London and also show their menswear at Paris Fashion Week.

People Tree
People Tree ensure their bright and breezy fashion meets the Fairtrade principles set out by the World Fair Trade Organisation. They work in partnership with 50 Fairtrade groups in 15 countries to bring benefits to people and the planet at as many steps of the production process as possible, from growing cotton, to embroidery and stitching. This plays an important role in helping to alleviate poverty in the world’s most marginalised communities, the company says.

It also pioneers methods of production that minimise environmental impact. Not only is most of their cotton certified organic and Fairtrade, all their clothes are dyed using safe and natural dyes. People Tree’s clothing designers worldwide all know how to work within this framework, which means design isn’t compromised.

Kazuri
Even big chain stores are starting to turn their focus to Fairtrade and fairly traded fashion. John Lewis stocks jewellery brand Kazuri, which creates hand-painted ceramic jewellery made in Karen, a suburb of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Established as a small ceramic workshop, which gave tools to single mothers, today Kazuri employs more than 300 local women to make beautiful beaded bracelets, earrings and necklaces. Every bead which makes up a quirky but trendy statement piece is shaped by hand, which gives it that one-off look and an authentic feel.

Millionhands
Millionhands is a small company, which is proud to say their clothes are sweatshop free. Their T-shirts are screen-printed in the UK and despatched to customers from their warehouse in Kent. Owner Tom Mangan says: “We’re Fair Wear, which is a type of certification given to manufacturers and suppliers that meet a set of criteria. Our T-shirts are made in India using green energy.”

He says that while in recent years people have started to develop a conscience regarding the sourcing and rearing of food, it seems that ethical fashion and sustainable clothing manufacture is also beginning to gain momentum. “A large portion of the market will no longer find the ‘stack ‘em high sell ’em cheap, we don’t care how they’re made’ philosophy acceptable,” says Tom.

The staff at Millionhands said they love their work and hope this is reflected in their label. From the considered designs to the use of 100% organic cotton and Fair Wear manufacturing, this is sustainable style at its best.

Ethical fashion glossary
Buying ethical clothes can be a minefield. Here are a few points to consider:

Ethical fashion:
This refers to the guarantee that clothes are made without harmful chemicals, or in a way that harms the people in the fields or factories where they were made

Eco textiles:
These are fabrics that are better for the environment and the people who make them. They’re extra soft, more breathable than most fabrics and kind to skin

Traceability:
Traceability examines the whole process, from ‘seed to shop,’ which includes planting and processing techniques, as well as manufacturing and transport

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