Secondhand September: What it is and why you should care

As a business working in the pre-loved sector, we feel it important to not only discuss but also encourage you to join us in taking part in Second-hand September. Here's all the information you need on this campaign and why you should.

Let's start with what Second-hand September is.

Last year Oxfam began a campaign to raise awareness of the impact that fashion has on the environment. September is usually associated with Fashion Week and the beginning of autumn clothing and so for the entire month Oxfam is encouraging us to avoid buying any new clothes.

Why should you care about it?

Fast fashion received its name for a reason – its quick, easy and convenient. Especially with the take off that online brands such as ASOS have had, getting inexpensive clothes delivered to your doorstep quickly has never been easier. With that in mind, its very plausible that many have never considered the effect that fashion has on the environment however the impact is huge with a frightening 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions being produced by the fashion industry. In fact, in the UK alone we send a whopping 11 million items to landfill every week, which is unsurprising considering we buy double the amount of clothes we did just a decade ago. With all that said it's so important to start extending the life cycle of our clothes by firstly buying second hand clothes instead of new and secondly by selling on our old clothes that are no longer of use to us as “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

So challenge yourself and see if you can join us in partaking in second hand September. Zip up your wallet and avoid the department stores. However, if you can’t quite make it through the whole month without buying anything at all then head on over to signofthetimeslondon.com for a guilt-free, pre-loved purchase.