Behind the eye-watering figures that illustrate our voracious appetite for new clothing, the success of the fast-fashion & ultra-fast-fashion industries, and the shocking volumes of clothing that go to landfill, sometimes without even being worn, is the fact that we have forgotten, or perhaps never appreciated, the responsibilities we have when we buy an item of clothing.
Of course, low price clothing instills in us the ‘throwaway’ mentality, where there is little value to be responsible for. Our possession of them is transitory, the materials are industrially mass-produced, and the styling unremarkable and widely available to anyone.
So, the addition and appreciation of value through design, through fabrics, through craftsmanship, through a degree of exclusivity is something that must be evolved across more of the fashion industry.
More and more people must feel that responsibility to consider and make purchases wisely, to look after their clothing, to repair their clothing and to ensure its next home, or its final home, is also a responsible one.
But there is one other important responsibility that we must instill in ourselves as consumers. From fast-fashion merchandise to high quality pieces we need to enjoy and to have fun with our clothing.
Have we all forgotten our responsibility to enjoy our clothes?
This responsibility to enjoy our clothing was brought home to me by a story told by the Rev. Kate Bottley on the BBC2 morning show. I’ll paraphrase her story…
She recounts her visit to a second-hand car boot market, and on passing by one stall she was drawn to a beautiful pair of shoes. Smart, stylish shoes for going out. They were not new, but cared for. They were her size.
The lady behind the stall came over and confirmed that the shoes were for sale. But said “I’m not selling them to you…”
“But why not? I’d like to buy them.”
“I am selling them, but I’m not selling them to you you…I am not selling them to you unless you promise, you swear, that you will always have fun in them!”
She went on to explain…
“These were my Saturday night shoes. When I was younger and went to discos and parties I always wore these shoes. They were my happy shoes, and in them I always had fun, I always had a great time. They are very special shoes. And for that reason I owe it to these shoes that they can only be bought by someone else who will promise only to have fun in them, and to enjoy them!”
The Rev. Botley was touched by the story and even more determined to give the shoes a new home. She made her promises and swore to always have fun in them. And to this day she has kept her promise to the lady and to her shoes. She only wears then to enjoy herself, and they always help her to have fun.
It is a nice story. It encapsulates how value can be added to clothing and footwear, indeed any possession, in any number of important ways.
It enforces the message that we should all have a respect and a responsibility for our clothes. Not just for the materials they are made from, or the people who designed them, made them, or previously owned them. And not just a responsibility to care for them, to clean them and repair them.
But a responsibility to enjoy our clothes, to enjoy the experience of owning them, of wearing them, of being happy in them, because above all, if we can’t appreciate that, then why did we buy them in the first place?