A Year of Ethical Fashion

I've decided to sign up for 'A Year of Ethical Fashion', which has been launched by Pip Lincolne on her Meet Me At Mikes blog.

Here's the Year of Ethical Fashion (#YOEF) pledge for 2014...

If I'm looking for things to wear I will only:

a) Buy from ethical makers or
b) Buy second-hand or
c) Make it myself  or
d) Wear things I already own or
e) Borrow or swap garments with friends

I had been thinking about doing something along these lines myself, but it will be so much more powerful to be part of a group!

If you want to join in, you can sign up here and there is also a facebook group.

People are going to take a variety of different approaches to this. Some folks are planning to do a lot of home dressmaking, but I am more likely to wear things I already own, buy second-hand and buy from ethical makers.

Here is an example of the kind of ethical fashion I tend to wear. This second-hand denim jacket came from a dress agency.

Over the next year, I'll be trying other options for ethical fashion, including ethical knickers, jewellery and fairtrade footwear. I'll be writing about this on my Minibreak Mummy blog.

Here are the ethical fashion blogposts I've written so far:

• Slow Fashion from People Tree
• Who Made Your Pants?

Magpie Monday - Boden jacket

The jacket I love most, and wear the most, came from eBay. It is a dark grey cotton Boden 'Photographer' jacket with a boxy shape and four pockets.

Here is a picture of me wearing this jacket with a grey dress from Hobbs. The jacket looks good with dresses - and the pockets are useful.

There is also a lovely printed lining which can just about be seen on the photo below.

I had really coveted this jacket when I originally saw it in the Boden catalogue a couple of years ago, but the full price was £69 so I resisted buying it. Then a year ago saw it on eBay where I managed to buy it for £36.99. And it has been a really good buy as I have worn it 2-3 times a week since then and it washes well.

Update - while writing this post I had a quick look on eBay and found the more recent version of the  'Photographer' jacket for sale through the official Boden eBay shop for a 'buy it now' price of £34.50 including postage. So I have just bought that one too!

Linking up with the Frugal Friday Fashion Show at Family Budgeting and Magpie Monday at Me and My Shadow.

 

Rohan 'denim plus' skirt

This is a picture of me wearing my bargain Rohan 'denim plus' skirt. I got this skirt from eBay for less than £13 (including p&p). The full price of the current version of this Rohan skirt is £57.

Rohan stuff is always excellent and I am particularly pleased with this skirt. It has a bit of stretch and is very comfortable to wear. The 'denim plus' fabric is lightweight and designed to be easy to wash and quick to dry so it's great for travel.

I buy quite a few items of clothing on eBay. As well as saving money, it also feels good to re-use pre-loved clothing in this way. Sometimes people are de-cluttering, or getting rid of stuff after they have lost or gained weight. There is some good quality clothing available, though I tend to stick to familiar brands where I know my size. That way I am unlikely to have to return items.

The photo above was taken for FrOctober - which involves wearing dresses and skirts throughout October to raise awareness of, and money for, peri-natal illness including post-natal depression. 

I will be linking up with Magpie Monday at Me and My Shadow and the latest Frugal Friday Fashion Show at Family Budgeting.

Magpie Monday - denim jacket

This weekend I had a good look around in the charity shops and dress agencies for dresses to wear for the FrOctober challenge. There were no nice dresses in my size, but I did buy a lovely denim jacket with a slightly fitted shape. I have been looking for a nice denim jacket for ages. This one originally came from Principles and looks as though it has hardly been worn.

I am planning to wear this jacket at the weekends over dresses during October. That way I can stay in my denim comfort zone without resorting to jeans.

The other preloved item I found this weekend was a stripy shirt from the M&S Autograph Boys range. I am always pleased to find nice clothes in charity shops for my little boy. He grows out of things so quickly at the moment. This shirt will go in the 'too big' stash for now, but I think my son will like the stars on the cuffs.

I'll be linking up with this week's Magpie Monday at Me and my shadow because I am always curious to see what pre-loved treasures others have tracked down.

The FrOctober Challenge

I rarely wear frocks. Trousers are usually more my thing. Smart black trousers at work and jeans at the weekend.

But I am going to attempt to wear a frock every day for the month of October. This is because I am participating in The FrOctober challenge to raise awareness of post-natal depression and other mental health issues.

The slogan is:

Rock a Frock in October for Post-Natal Depression

I hope some of you will want to join in with FrOctober too. Here's how:

    •    Make a donation to our challenge charity PNI ORG UK here
    •    For all of October* wear a frock. Or a dress/tunic/skirt/skort/cullotes. Preferably a dress though.
    •    Recruit as many friends as you can to the Challenge – we’re gunning for at least 5 each.
    •    If you are a Twitterer, tweet a picture of what you wear each day, with the hashtag #frOctober.
    •    If you are an Instagrammer, put the picture it on Instagram
    •    Most importantly it’s about dressing ‘up’ and looking good to feel good.

I had a look through my wardrobe to see if I had any dresses. Sadly four of my favourite dresses don't fit anymore, so they have gone to Oxfam. But I decided that this gave me an excuse to order a couple of new dresses from Adini.

I've also got my smart shoes from Hotter and merino wool tights from M&S at the ready.