March 21, 2020
Buy Well, Buy Once - Not just a hashtag
I’ve got a pair of navy blue cropped trousers from a French designer brand that I bought twenty years ago. Our relationship is still going strong. I respect and value them, don’t take them for granted and lavish love upon them. I’ve always followed their care instructions, steamed them, hung them up on the right hanger and kept a weather eye on any loose threads, which I sort out immediately. In return, my trousers have given me years of wear. They go with everything, they’re comfortable and I can dress them up or dress them down and know that they look good, and most importantly that they make me feel good. Not all clothing relationships work out this well. There are lots of cheap clothes out there. They might look pretty good on the hanger in the supermarket, but after a couple of washes the cracks will start to show. Unravelling hems, buttons coming off, fading colour. I truly believe that if you buy cheap, you buy twice. By purchasing clothes in supermarkets and from cheap High Street shops, the customer also loses their individuality. It’s embarrassing to walk into a meeting and find that someone else is wearing your clothes. Over the last thirty years or so, shops selling high-volume, cheap clothes have proliferated on the High Street and online. Our disposable society has got used to grabbing trendy and/or knock-off pieces, knowing that they’ll last a season (or a night) then go to the charity shop, or worse, to landfill. There’s a reason those clothes are so cheap. The people making them don’t have pensions, or holiday pay. They don’t work in safe environments. If they get ill, they’re easily replaced. We can’t support these work practices by buying mass-produced clothing with intolerable conditions for people. Using reputable companies and agencies where stock is more thoughtfully produced with ethical work practises at their heart is what we believe in. We will never source our fashion from an iso-container on a dockside, not we will buy mass-produced goods brigaded by 'clothing wholesalers' where we cannot lean in to ask questions on where they sourced their goods. Others do. That's up to them - we will not. Our ladies fashion and accessories are sourced through established agents from sustainable, ethical manufacturers who treat their staff well. Deliberately, we don’t buy too many of any one piece each season. Our customers' want to wear clothes which are unique, comfortable and which won’t fall apart after a couple of washes. Brands such as Chalk, Numph, Culture and Rosemunde produce beautifully-made, classic pieces which will last for years. I spent a lot of money on my navy blue cropped trousers twenty years ago. They don’t owe me a thing, but we still love each other. The 'fashion maths' works a treat - 50p a wear or less! Here are some new season examples of items that you can wear and wear:
Chalk