It’s over and I’ve done it. I’ve written about my experiences throughout the month but for anyone who hasn’t been following my posts tomorrow is the last day of September and for the past thirty days I’ve taken part in the #SecondHandSeptember challenge. Set by Oxfam to highlight the damage done to the environment by our wasteful use of resources and clothing in particular, it resonated well with my lack of enthusiasm for shopping and a growing concern about what, if anything, I was doing to help save our planet.
Not buying new stuff and cutting down on plastic at home might only be small gestures, but every little helps and if millions of us did the same, then the little grows to be something very big. It also gives me a feeling of agency, when the problems we face seem so overwhelming that the temptation is to hide in a hole somewhere and wait for the worst to happen.
Doing #SecondHandSeptember has made me feel better; has stretched my creativity and has stimulated debate. When I’ve mentioned wearing pre-loved clothes for a month people have asked why and how I’m managing it and have also commented on my FB posts. They’ve also said they’ve been inspired to try to do something similar and have posted pictures of themselves wearing something pre-loved.
Which shows how far we’ve come, for once, not so long ago, admitting that you shop in Charity Shops wasn’t done. Now we’re all into wearing vintage and putting together a look from a number of different sources, so the old is worn with the new, the truly antique, the vintage or just the passed on from your sister.
All of which is just great for someone like me, with a wardrobe full of clothes that date as far back as the 70s and not to mention the boots that I bought when I was pregnant with my second child way back when.
What goes round, comes round in clothes, in ideas, in almost everything, which brings me to my current WIP Freecycling for Beginners ….but more of that on another occasion.
Misha Herwin 