One last push
I don’t know about you but I'm hoping mother nature gives summer one last push before we hurtle into Autumn, even though I'm a sucker for layering there is nothing better than squeezing out the last of the summer sun, like the majority of people i didn't get to escape to Europe this year so my Vitamin D levels (nor my tan lines) are where they should be. I always get nervous towards the end of August, the close of summer makes me melancholy and the final bank holiday of the year is always bitter sweet. But this year is like no other, the past 6 months are peppered with different memories than we usually make and although the next 6 months are still uncertain, we enter into them irreversibly different than we were before. The impact the enforced pause has had on fashion retail is already being felt through job huge losses, it is the UK’s 15th largest industry spanning retail, wholesale, manufacturing and design and without sounding like the economic grim reaper its going to get worse before it gets better but, and there is a but, if you look closely among the carnage, the green shoots are already appearing, small brands who have been squirrelling away unnoticed all this time while the big shots stole the show, are now bathing in a little bit of well deserved attention thanks to their contribution towards sustainability. Recently the national press have shone some light on brands who make to order so have little or no wasted fabric, brands who use only remnant or old fabrics to avoid further pollution from producing new ones, and designers who specialise in “up-cycling” the practise of breathing new life into tired old clothes by altering or re-making them. However flattering this type of PR and recognition is, its the amuse-bouche in the grand scheme, consumers, shoppers, thats you and me, need to shop with these small brands, and recognise what they are doing is special, they aren't the cheapest, they aren't the quickest (don't expect next day or free delivery) but i believe they are the future, and the future looks bright.
Photo credit: Mary Benson IG
