Let’s start off with a given, I love fashion, always have done, but recently I have had to review my shopping habits. Last year there was a programme on that totally opened my eyes to how damaging fashion could be for the environment, it was a called Fashion’s Dirty Secrets, part of the series Stacey Dooley Investigates. I discovered a lot of shocking facts; one being that the fashion industry is one of the top five most-polluting industries in the world, besides the oil industry. Lucy Seigle who is a journalist who specialises in environmental issues has said that “Globally, we are producing over 100 billion new garments from new fibres every single year, and the planet cannot sustain that,” Another fact highlighted in the programme, that was unbelievable, but sadly true, was how much water it takes to produce one pair of jeans. Oxfam have said … that ‘from growing the cotton to the dyeing process, it can take an estimated 20,000 litres of water to make just one pair of jeans and one t-shirt. To put this into perspective, it would take more than 13 years to drink this amount’ If you want to read more about the impact of fast fashion is having please check out Oxfam.

So what can we do? Oxfam are asking everyone to make a 30 day pledge to buying no new clothes in September, #secondhandseptember (you can still shop second hand)

And going forward after your 30 days are up, when shopping, just ask yourself

Do I really need it?

Try to buy from stores that have sustainable credentials, H&M and Mango are two high street stores that do. Online ASOS have sustainable options.

Always give your old clothes to charity, or swap them with friends, give to textile banks or even take them into high street stores that have clothes bins for recycling, high street shops that offer this are… & Other Stories, H&M, Zara, and M&S.

 #secondhandseptember