Welcome to slow fashion month on benpechey.com. All this month I will be discussing the perils of fast fashion, how we can make a difference, and what the world needs us to do stop fast fashion from ruining the whole world.
You might think that clothes aren’t really ruining the world, but I think you might be surprised. With the pace of fast fashion, the rate at which we are using resources is alarming. On average the UK buys 70 million pairs of jeans a year. It takes on average 1800 gallons of water to grow the cotton required to make ONE PAIR. I tried to do that sum, and as you can imagine the number is HUGE.
So as you can see that is the impact of just jean consumption in the UK. What is more startling is the fact that so much of what we buy is discarded, sometimes unworn. I thought everyone gave things to charity, well, no, a lot of our clothes go straight to landfill. Where the materials they are made of, will never decompose. SO that’s not so cheerful, is it?
What is ridiculous is that fashion should be fun, but the pace that it has reached in recent years is ridiculous. Forget the 2 traditional seasons we are supposed to adhere too, now every time I go on Instagram or open an email, there is a new collection that I MUST SHOP NOW.
Please don’t think I sit here typing this in judgement of you and your choices, I buy more clothes than most. I have a fashion website, I share new looks weekly. So no one is more guilty than I am. This is a discourse that has arisen from seeing ridiculous sales in stores, with prices being slashed by 90%. I have tried to engage the staff about the issues with selling stuff off so cheaply, but no one seems to care.
So this is my line in the sand. I am saying and doing something. For this month I have tried to buy nothing. I failed twice. Firstly, because I fell into an M&S Sale, and bought a jacket that I have courted for months - I had to have her- I will talk more about her later in the month.
The second is this cropped Trench coat, and I HAD TO HAVE IT. However, technically this piece of cotton heaven was a gift from Rachel (my sister/photographer) so I didn’t pay for it myself. Also because it was designed by modern style icon and all-around living legend Danielle Vanier for Navabi, it will be a modern classic in my wardrobe for years to come. I stared at this jacket daily from the minute it was released, and really really really wanted it. I will talk about how to still shop when reducing your intake of fast fashion at a later date this month.
Other than that, I have shot entirely from my own wardrobe. I re-imagined statement pieces from my archives, and show you that you don’t need to buy a new outfit. So welcome to slow fashion month, I hope I can give you some ideas on how to consume less, and inspire you to still enjoy fashion.
It seems like a good point to mention that every day in my Instagram stories I will be giving you facts about fast fashion, that will enlighten and educate you about fast fashion. So this is your month ahead on benpechey.com, keep coming back for insight and knowledge.
Shot by Rachel Pechey
There are no links to clothes this month because it is mostly things I have owned for years. So use my looks as inspiration…