This year Oxfam have launched a new initiative to raise environmental awareness and promote sustainability, and I along with many others have pledged to take part in Second Hand September. The 30 day pledge encourages customers to avoid purchasing any new clothes and only shop in charity shops for the month of September. I’ve always been a fashion lover but since the end of last year I have completely changed my shopping habits and I have really enjoyed experimenting with my style and rediscovering some old favourites.
The fashion industry has a devastating environmental impact including water pollution and CO2 emissions alongside countless human rights abuses. It is estimated the emissions from the new clothes bought in the UK each month are greater than those from flying a plane around the world 900 times. With 11 million items of clothing ending up landfill every week this is simply not sustainable and something needs to change. Sustainability is such a hot topic and it’s incredible to see so many people championing reusable cups and bottles, and several other low waste, easy swaps we can all make. I am a firm believer that all efforts no matter how big or small should be celebrated because every single change is helping to clean up our planet and reduce our emissions.
Being part of the blogging industry means I do follow a lot of influencers/ bloggers/ creators etc and it saddens me so much seeing so many still constantly promoting fast fashion, new trends and reams and reams of new clothing every single week. Consumers are not all to blame with all the big players producing hundreds of fast fashion lines every single year with trends coming and going before the postman has even managed to deliver your ASOS parcel. One of the biggest changes that needs to happen within the industry is the mindset of how we consume clothes.
Shopping second hand allows you to snap up some quality pieces for a fraction of the price and helps reduce carbon emissions while fighting the clothes to landfill crisis. Just one pair of jeans and one t-shirt can take between 10,000 and 20,000 litres of water from growing the cotton to the dyeing process. With the global demand for water continuing to rise this is not sustainable and needs to be addressed.
Take a stand against throwaway fashion and take the pledge now – say yes to Second Hand September!
