Is it time to rethink how we shop for clothes?
When I started out on Instagram, many years ago now, it was all about fashion. My name, Style me Sunday came about from encouraging people to put on their best garms on a Sunday and share their pics. It was fun and it was popular and I grew my online presence on the back of it.
I love clothes so I had fun with it too, yet as the years went on I felt I wanted to share about more than just fashion. So I started to explore inside myself and what I wanted and, well, you have seen where that’s got me.
However, I still love clothes!
And as I have evolved as a person, so have my values and some of the fashion industry pratices just do not align with me anymore. I don’t want to buy new clothes all of the time… I just can’t.
Bringing up children really opens your eyes to the future, to the impact we are having on our environment, to the real cost of fashion, whether it’s to the environment or on a human level, to the people who work in such terrible conditions. Did you see the latest exposure of fast fashion brand Shein? People working 75 hour weeks, for hardly any money, with barely any time off just so we can buy cheap clothes. No thank you! That’s the real cost of cheap-fast fashion.
So that leaves me with a dilemma – I want to wear nice clothes but not at the expenses of all of that.
According to research, the reality is that we wear 20% of our wardrobes 80% of the time! That means most of our clothes just hang in our wardrobes, unworn, for years. Yet we keep buying more.
I am sure you have had that moment when you finally go to wear that dress you wore once, years ago, and it does not fit, look right or is simply out of fashion.
Thankfully, I am not alone and there are a myriad of options becoming available for the fashion and environmental conscious of us.
From sustainable brands, the move towards reused, renting and sustainable stylists… it feels as if the fashion industry is finally catching up!.
Renting
Gigi’s Dressing Room
Renting clothes is an amazing solution and one that I chose regularly now. I am booked for a lot of talks and events, I want to look good but don’t want to buy a new outfit for every single one of them.
Renting means I can chose new outfits, and sometimes garments which I would normally not be able to afford, wear them and send them back afterwards.
Seriously – it’s changed my life! They are so user friendly and flexible and some even allow you to make some money by renting out your own clothes.
Here are some of my favourite clothes rental businesses;
Rent from a selection of sellers at a price that suits you. This is perfect for events. If you fall in love with something, you can even offer to buy an outfit if you love. The clothes get delivered to you with the return label to make sending it back easy.
Choose from dresses, tops, bottoms, jumpsuits, coats and bags, you can look a million dollars for a fraction of the cost.
This is a gem of a shop! Based in Walthamstow with an online shop coming soon, Gigi’s stock an extensive range of unique vintage and designer clothes available for you to hire for any event. They also host what’s become a legendary Wednesday night dress up events where you can have fun trying on outfits with a glass of prosecco.
You can make money by renting out your clothes, or rent outfits to wear with the ByRotation App.
This is great for those clothes you have and don’t wear often! It’s so simple, you can rent out your own clothes and rent from other users like yourself.
I fuckin love it. All of this means I get to wear good quality, well-made clothes without having to buy them!
Stylists
If you need some help transitioning into new brands or a new way of shopping and dressing then search for a personal stylist who focuses on preloved or sustainability.
Buying preloved
There are some amazing online thrift stores cropping up! Ebay may have started but now there are loads of online stores where you can buy and sell preloved items.
Vinted and Depop are great for preloved items, as are Preworn and Thrift+
Remember jumble sales back when you were a kid? Well, Kilo sales are a little like that but much more fun! Google to find one in your town, you can, shop thousands of garments and pay per kilo.
Still want to buy some new pieces?
My advice for buying clothes is to go for something with longevity. So choose classic, well-made items which will last you years.
Let’s say goodbye to cheap, fast fashion for good.