Eco Fashion World

The reinvention of the charity shop is long overdue and still a considerable way from anything you could call complete. Thanks to the efforts of fashion guru and creative director Jane Shepherdson, Oxfam would appear to be one of the few charities pulling its stores through a major image reworking and providing us with anything approaching a viable option to mainstream buying.

Shepherdson’s vision has reinvented recycled fashion, turning on its head any idea you may have about ill-fitting dresses secured with safety pins. Her concept of the Oxfam Boutique, which draws together donations that have been selected, customised by volunteers, or restyled by designers, has been instrumental in instilling the idea amongst fashionistas and environmentalists alike that charity can be chic. Indeed if it’s Camden and Westbourne Grove branches are anything to go by, the charity shop is fast becoming a major resource for the environmentally conscious style seeker on a budget.

With the opening of two more boutiques last summer and considerable media coverage, Oxfam has gone a considerable way in discarding the fusty image of charity shopping while bringing to our attention the main reasons behind why choosing to buy donated clothing is one of the easiest ways to reduce our environmental footprint which, where clothing is concerned, is big.

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