A Secondhand Outfit – What I Wore

Summer in the City

I’m one month into a slow fashion summer. Slow Fashion Summer is a campaign run by Fashion for Good and CollAction where more than 2500 people have committed to buying no new clothes for 3 months in order to collectively save up to 90 million litres of water and prevent 360 thousand kilograms of C02 from being emitted.

Summer is often a time where cheap throwaway clothing is purchased. Especially in countries where it is hot for a short time. We panic every year when the sun finally comes out that we don’t have enough summer clothes. So inevitably end up buying a huge amount of poorly made clothes that don’t last into the next year. Living in Amsterdam, I can get a lot of wear out of my summer clothes. Not so much when I lived in North Scotland!

Second-hand and vintage clothes are allowed to be purchased in the slow fashion summer initiative. It tends to be new clothing being produced that that is the problem when it comes to environmental and social fashion issues. Therefore any gaps in my wardrobe have been filled with pieces bought second-hand from Etsy, Oxfam, and a few thrift shops in Amsterdam.

Secondhand Outfit For Summer

A new favourite is this silk knit from Etsy. Knits in summer are something of a recent revelation to me. As long as the fabric is natural – think cotton, silk, wool, hemp – it is breathable and temperature regulating. It is more comfortable to wear a natural fibre knit in summer than a thin blouse made of polyester.

The skirt is also silk, I found it in Oxfam in the winter and have worn it all through winter, spring, and now summer. Summer skirts in winter are a thing, I’ve decided! The shoes are a few years old, bought new and are lasting well. To be honest, shoes are something I am struggling with. I could be done with another pair of flat sandals.

They might just have to go on the list for next year!

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