Fast Fashion

Festivals of the future – can they ever be sustainable? Top tips for eco-friendly festival-goers!

Booming season Festival, Vietnam. Photo by Tony Pham on Unsplash

Festival season is in full swing in the UK and Europe, with over one million people attending live music events in London alone, in the first week of July. Glastonbury festival in Somerset, UK attracted a crowd of around 210,000 people. Tomorrowland, Belgium is set to double even that total in a few days time.

There are many ways of reducing your environmental footprint when attending these events, and you still get to still dance to great music in a big field with a drink in your hand. Here are our top four “do’s and don’ts” for more sustainable festival-ing.

Hidden animal products – from Fashion to Fuel

Go Vegan graffiti on a wall covered with stickers

We all know a plant-based diet is good for the planet – in fact it’s one of the most impactful actions you can take as an individual (alongside greening your finances, and cutting out flying). BUT true veganism is more than just a diet. 

For some areas of our lives this is easy – maybe you even already buy vegan cleaning products, and cruelty-free cosmetics. However, did you know you might be using animal products without even knowing about it? Read on to find out more…

It turns out, animal products are used in everything from Aviation to Zinfandel! (Yep, sorry to be the one to break it to you, but that glass of wine you’re drinking probably isn’t vegan…)

Can we really afford cheap clothing?

a photo of a garment factory

Many of us know that fast fashion is harming the planet – we have previously written about the environmental impact of clothing manufacturing and the amount of plastics in clothing. But fast fashion also has a huge social cost, impacting the garment workers who manufacture our clothing and the communities that get left to clean up our discarded items. However, dealing with…

What would happen if the world stopped shopping?

A shopping mall

Let’s take a curious dive into J.B. MacKinnon’s thought-provoking thought experiment to find out!  Before we start, you might have some questions… Firstly, what is a thought experiment? A thought experiment is an exploration of a hypothetical situation, in this case: a world without shopping. What do we mean by shopping in this context? MacKinnon clarifies that by ‘shopping’ he is referring…

#WhatsInMyClothes

Whats In My Clothes campaign photos

A couple of weeks ago saw the return of the annual Fashion Revolution campaign, designed to raise awareness of the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry. One of the questions they are encouraging consumers to think about is ‘What’s in my clothes?’ and we’re here to take a curious look into that very topic… 

Fashion sustainability schemes – A licence to greenwash

What’s Going On Here? Changing Markets Foundation, a sustainability campaign group, just released their latest report into the fashion industry. The report, titled ‘Licence to Greenwash’, found that the industry’s biggest and most well known sustainability schemes “facilitate greenwashing”. What Does This Mean? Ten schemes were analysed including well known ones such as WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), bluesign, EU Ecolabel…

Record-breaking number of Black Friday boycotts by independent retailers

Blurred crowds in front of a Black Friday sign

What’s Going On Here? The hyper-consumerist behaviour encouraged by events such as Black Friday is detrimental for the environment. However, increasing awareness around climate change is one of the reasons 2021 saw the biggest independent Black Friday boycott in history. What Does This Mean? According to the British Independent Retailers Association, 85% of independent businesses boycotted Black Friday: the highest number that…