Sustainable Fashion. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and shipping combined. There are simple habits you can adopt to avoid fast fashion, shop sustainably, dispose of responsibly and to extend the life of your clothes.

Swap, don’t shop: Find fun ways to refresh your festive wardrobe the sustainable way

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Christmas is a time of joy but also a time of overspending and overconsumption. But this year could be different, starting with your wardrobe. What if this festive season, you bought nothing new to wear?

Before you panic about party season, hear me out. The fashion industry produces 100 billion garments annually, yet we wear items an average of just seven times before discarding them according to The Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Meanwhile, recycling that glittery party dress isn’t the solution we imagine – mixed fabrics are virtually impossible to separate and recycle effectively.

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Socks displayed on pebblesBrighton Socks

The Trouble With Sustainability

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Socks displayed on pebblesby Amanda Law, the Brighton Socks Company

 Having coffee with an old friend in Brighton’s North Laine recently, the conversation quickly, and inevitably, turned to the climate crisis. Many of my conversations do these days, especially when discussing my small business, the Brighton Socks Company. My friend and I agreed, without question, on the need for sustainability across the business. But what happened next took me by surprise.

“What do you actually mean by sustainability?” my friend asked, with genuine curiosity and a hint of devil’s advocacy. The question, loaded with trepidation and intrigue, sat silently in the otherwise bustling café for just a little longer than I would have liked. Here I was, running a “sustainable” business, yet struggling to articulate a suitable response. So I did what I normally do when faced with a conundrum and reached for my phone – before nose diving down an internet rabbit hole.

The dictionary defines sustainability as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level” or “the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.” Simple enough, yet when applied to the messy realities of running a business, I had a sense that these rather basic definitions may quickly reveal their limitations. My search continued.

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Love your clothes

Second-Hand, First Choice: Vinted Saves Money and the Planet

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Written by Katie Webber

In a world of fast fashion, how can we buy sustainable clothing that is also affordable? Is Vinted the answer to saving our pockets and the planet? Everyone loves a bargain, and it’s an even bigger win when buying cheap clothes doesn’t have to compromise on quality and style. Vinted is very user-friendly for both buying and selling second-hand clothes, so you’re sure to find what you’re looking for!

Vinted is perfect for saving money as a buyer and making money as a seller and I would  recommend it to everyone – whatever age, gender or style. In the UK, nearly one-quarter of the population use Vinted and I am one of them. I now buy all my clothes on Vinted and can always find what i’m looking for and at a huge discount! It’s also a great side hustle for me too. I’m able to list all my unwanted clothes in a quick and easy process to make a bit of extra cash, with no extra shipping costs for me!

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From Donation to Dump: The Environmental Cost of Charity Shop Surplus

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© Kevin McElvaney / Greenpeace

Written by Katie Webber

You know that big bag of old clothes you dropped off at the charity shop after having a wardrobe declutter? You probably felt a warm glow of generosity by donating your unwanted bits to a good cause (and it’s probably also a relief to get all that clutter out of sight by conveniently handing it all over to someone else, right?). What if I told you that only between 10% and 30% of second-hand donations are resold in store. What happens to all the rest?

The clothes that charity shops can’t sell are taken away and in the UK, 70% of used clothing is exported to the Global South. Once there, many clothes end up in landfills or incinerated. This has major impacts on health and the environment, including water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, worsening the strain on countries already struggling with waste management infrastructure. Read more

Fast Fashion – When your t-shirt costs less than your coffee

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The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, and 20% of global waste water. In the UK we buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe and an estimated £140 million worth goes to landfill every year. Simple changes to how we buy and dispose of our clothing can have a huge impact on both the planet and also save us money.

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Horsham Cape of Good Hopes

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At Sussex Green Living we often talk about our outreach with families, in the villages, in schools and with the Youth Eco Forum.  What people may not realise is that we also run community sessions with the elderly. Morag and I went along to the Kings Court Care Home in January this year, taking the Horsham Cape of Good Hopes along with us.

What is the Cape of Good Hopes?

The Cape of Good Hopes is a collaborative community project. It consists of the construction of mini artworks created by individuals and groups to bring the community together with the common cause of celebrating nature in all its wonderous forms and acknowledge that we can’t survive without a healthy planet to support us.

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Fashion to Die For ! (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Last month London Fashion week was held.  There’ll be another in June.

Fast fashion is absolutely one of THE most polluting and damaging industries on the planet, second only to oil, and here in the little UK we are actually one of the worst countries in world for creating most waste clothing.  The dying process alone uses huge amounts water that is sorely needed for food crops, and is often discharged into rivers without being cleaned up – much like our raw sewage is now being discharged into Sussex rivers.

Yes, we can donate clothes, but increasingly it is becoming like plastic rubbish- often “recycled” by transporting it to another, poorer country where it lies in a heap, unusable, partly because the cheap mixed fibres are unrecyclable.  Natural pure fibres like linen, bamboo, hemp, wool and cotton can be re-used more easily (as can unblended clothes made only from polyester.) Read more

Are your clothes really causing climate change?

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Now how is it that clothes are causing climate change? …..Where in the world are your clothes made?  Take a look through your drawers and cupboard to find out! In the 1980s lots of clothes manufacturers decided they wanted to copy some of the big expensive brands, however to ensure they sold more and more cheaply and faster they moved their manufacturing bases to Asia. Most of the world’s clothes now are made in China, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka where the price of labour is much cheaper.

Container ships produce more greenhouse gas emissions than some small countries. According to The Essential Daily Briefing: “It has been estimated that just one of these container ships, the length of around six football pitches, can produce the same amount of pollution as 50 million cars (22/04/2018)

Like many commodities, clothes are transported by cargo ships which equals a rather serious carbon footprint and directly contributes to climate change.  Read more

Pre-loved clothes sale in Horsham

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Did you know the second most polluting industry is the fast fashion industry? Learn more about the problems in this blog ‘Are your clothes really causing climate change? We are delighted to announce a local solution….in partnership with our friends at One World Living and our great volunteers, we are running a pre-loved clothes sale otherwise known as a kilo sale! It is on Saturday 9th November 12-4pm at Greenway Academy, Greenway, Horsham, RH12 2JS, at the end of Green GB Week. We will be selling quality pre-loved clothes for a bargin £10 per kilo (normally kilo sales charge £15 a kilo).

To give you an idea of what you will get for one kilo….. a pair of man’s denim jeans will be about 1.5 and 2 kg and woman’s clothing 1 kg will be about 1 pair of denim jeans or about 6 T-shirts. Thanks to the PTA at Greenway Academy there will be drinks and homemade cakes for sale, so come for the afternoon. There will be a separate areas for children, ladies and men’s clothes.

Proceeds from this sale will help us deliver FREE climate education in local schools, learn more here,  also deprived children and families Romania and Uganda. Plus helping the planet and your pocket! Read more

Caring for clothes & planet events

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During the first half of 2019 Sussex Green Living and the Horsham Repair Cafe are out and about, inpiring people to ‘make do and mend’, remake, repair, repatch and basically love the clothes and materials around them. Come and learn long lost skills of sewing, patches, repairing buttons, clothes etc. Learn about fast fashion and the damage it is causing our planet, solutions, ways of saving money and the planet……

2nd (10-4pm) and 3rd March (10-3pm) Horsham Repair Cafe and Sussex Green Living are at the Kinder Living Home Show, County Hall, North Horsham, Park Street, Horsham, RH12 1XH. The event aims to encourage more sustainable choices in our homes, gardens and daily lives. We will be offering repairs to electrical household items and clothes and clothes swapping. Read more

A Tietastic Guinness World Records

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Carrie Cort is ‘Officially Amazing’, so say the Guinness World Record (GWR) office.  Last year as part of a ‘Green Play and Display Day’ which Carrie organised in the Human Nature Garden, Horsham Park, she attempted to beat the GWR challenge for the person wearing the most neckties, which was 260 ties, 400 had been donated. Carrie managed to beat the record by 10, a small margin but her neck would take no more! Her GWR officials were (left to right) Jeremy Quin MP, Amanda Jupp – WSCC County Councillor, Paul Bellringer – founder of Horsham Festival and Sarah Bamsey, who placed the ties.  Read more

Top tie upcycling ideas

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Neckties are a bit of an environmental nightmare, novelty ties get bought for people who might use them once or twice, charity shops don’t want them as they don’t sell well and if sent for recycling they often get caught up in the recycling machinery and cause expensive damage.  Upcycling, remaking and reuse is best!

A creative community group bought together by Sussex Green Living have been busy demonstrating Read more

Guinness World Record helps William Penn School

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William Penn primary school children counting neckties for the Guinness World Record attempt to wear the most neckties.

Horsham families are in for a summer half term treat, a free family tietastic Guinness World Record event in the Human Nature Garden in Horsham Park!  Carrie Cort founder of Sussex Green Living has got together with the organisers of the Horsham Circle of Life Festival to lay on a fun action packed free green event. Read more