Am I making a summer fashion inspiration Pinterest board to help me write this, or am I writing this to justify the amount of time I’ve spent pinning various crochet items instead of revising? Either way, it’s full of colour, knits, groovy prints, seventies shapes and all-round joyfully clashing clothes. This summer is going to be full of outfits I’ll hate in ten years time and that is deeply pleasing to me.
Trends like bold patterned trousers and fur-trimmed trench coats are definitely going to be fleeting, so relying on fast-fashion to buy into them means more clothes to be worn a few times then thrown away. The best way to reduce the impact of our fashion is to buy little and mindfully, and to embrace circularity at every opportunity. Now second-hand shops are open again, supporting your locals is the best way to find actually unique clothes and help fashion stay out of landfill. Here’s some more ideas of sustainable ways to dress pretty this summer;
- Hissy Fit for the coolest graphic trousers and bold print tops, all ethically-manufactured.
- Nufin Wasted for up-cycled, block-coloured tanks, dresses and scarf tops.
- Petal Socks for the cutest, handmade crochet bandanas and tops. I’m so obsessed with this tube top, someone hide it from shein before they make copy and sell them for 34p each.
- GirlWhoIsCool makes the cutest crochet bralettes and bucket hats
- Nu-In gets a good in the goodonyou directory (my favourite way to check for greenwashing), if you want to invest a little I love their knit tops, midi-dresses and body suits.
- Vestiaire Collective for expensive/unsustainable brands, set your notifications and you might find a gem. I’ve got House of Sunny, Paloma Wool and Gimaguas in my current window-shopping rotation.
- Before July is good for colourful, made-to-order clothes; keep an eye for when they reopen.
Do your best, buy less, wear things 1000 times, and remember that unless you are a billionaire CEO selling shit clothes made by children to fund a ninth house then fast-fashion is not your individual problem to solve and it’s okay to be imperfect and buy things you need. Just step away from your Shein basket I beg you they’re the scum of the earth (i did buy a shein dress on depop though and i still don’t know how i feel about that, will let you know when i decide) Xxxxxx
