29 Nov 2023
A selective group of sustainable local businesses have come together to inspire consumers to think differently about their purchases this Christmas.
Eliza of twenty_outfits, is a slow fashion advocate/stylist, and curator of the St Albans Sustainable Collective which showcases some of the city’s creative and unique small businesses and makers. All with sustainability at their core.
Christmas is THE most wasteful holiday of the year. Festive clothing such as Christmas jumpers and sequin party pieces are some of the worst examples of fast fashion. Research has shown that two out of five Christmas jumpers are worn only once and then thrown away.
According to a survey conducted by Oxfam, out of the 2,000 British women asked, 40 per cent said they would buy a sequined piece of clothing for the holidays. A quarter said they would wear it again, five per cent said they would throw the clothes away once they are finished wearing them. In 2019 Oxfam calculated that 1.7 million pieces of festive partywear would end in landfill.
The majority of Christmas jumpers are made from acrylic and sequins are made of plastic with a metallic reflective coating. Synthetic materials that contain toxic chemicals and microplastics are super damaging to the environment and are not degradable.
Other shocking stats about Christmas wastage from the GWS Group website:
- £42 million worth of unwanted Christmas presents are sent to landfills annually;
- On their busiest day in the run up to Christmas, Amazon receives 47 orders per second;
- UK households throw away three-and-a-half black bags full of Christmas packaging;
- The UK uses 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each year;
- The amount of cardboard used to package PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox consoles covers an area larger than central London;
- UK residents send around 114,000 tonnes of plastic packaging to landfills instead of being recycled;
- As many as 1 billion Christmas cards end up in bins, that is the equivalent of 33 millions trees.
With these statistics in mind, the aim of the Sustainable Collective is to inspire consumers to buy better, buy quality, buy sustainable, buy second hand, from small businesses. There will be organic clothes, gift, homewares, textiles, headbands, preloved festive clothing and accessories that have been thoughtfully sourced. Brands involved include: Tommy & Lottie, Safomasi, The Preloved Edit, Pompones and twenty_ outfits.
A percentage of proceeds will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) to help support the tireless work they are currently doing in Israel-Gaza and other conflicts that are currently happening.
The Sustainable Collective Pop Up will be held at the Mad Squirrel Tap, Heritage Close, 17 High Street, AL3 4EB on Saturday December 2, 12-5pm.
Instagram: @twenty_outfits
Main photo: Stephanie Belton
