Why should we all do #Secondhandseptember

The shorter days and cooler air can only mean one thing - summer is ending ! 
There is something about this transition that I always liked. This is the transition into new things - a new school or university year for the younger but also for the older amongst us , new seasons, new hopes , new dreams . This is the year where we will get into better routines ,  do something good for us etc etc 
Of course , this is also the season of shiny new clothes in the shop window. The season where the idea of buying a soft wooly jumper makes us feel cozy inside, and look at this year new color. New fashion trends are shown on mankins, this year ‘new’ colour. It is tempting, but let me tell you a secret : there is no ‘new fashion’- and everything eventually repeats itself. From skinny to bootcut jeans, they go onto a cycle! Same for colours, as much as I love colours I think it is not possible to have new ones anymore.
Do you understand where I am going with this ?

Now, before I give you the solution to all of our fashion issues (because, yes, you can be both fashionable and sustainable), let me remind you of a few of the issues related to buying new clothes: 
Firstly , the fashion industry is responsible for 10 percent of the carbon footprint of the world.. which is quite a lot considering that is just some clothes! It's only second to the oil industry, just to put it to scale!
It’s impacts are primarily related to (1) Material sourcing, (2) Energy requirements of production and distribution, (3) Water usage,  (4) Contamination of waters, and air,  during production, (5) distribution if you want more information about the specific area this is a very informative resource:  https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-environmental-impacts
And these that I just mentioned  are just the environmental issues,  to which ethical considerations (who makes these clothes for starter) should be added ... 
Beyond the production aspects there also post production issues, for example, just to mention a couple, the fact that fast fashion is filling the landfills and that microfibres from clothes are ending in the sea at every wash!  At the beginning of my blogging venture I already mentioned that part  of the solution was to shop second hand.. So - as a second hand fashion lover, I jumped at the idea of not buying anything new for a whole month (and what a challenging month, this is the most 'tempting' for me as i was mentioning before). So I invite you all to join me and try for one month to shop only second hand ! Join me in this #secondhandseptember and sign up here https://oxfamapps.org/secondhandseptember/ . If you sign up, you will receive all sorts of inspiration to make it through a month of no new new clothes (but still can get some old new clothes , and why not take advantage of giving some of your things that you don’t wear much anyway away for a good cause instead of in the landfill ?). The challenge is launched by Oxfam and it used to be one of my favourites when I was in the UK (they are a worldwide charity but most of the charity shops were in the U.K. and Ireland!)! If you are in London I recommend you to go to the oxfam in Marylebone and if you are in Belfast by any chance check their store in Botanic Avenue . They were my best bargain hunts places! Also if you are really far away I found out that they have an online shop and they also ship it, although to me it takes away the fun out of bargain hunting to do it from a computer...

You can also decide not to shop at all and do a clothes swapping party with friends , I remember doing that at university a few times and they were fun parties!
You can also swap within the family if you are lucky enough to have someone of similar size and taste.. 

So, hope you will join me and looking forward to hear of any good finds!