Author: Elizabeth

Charity shops are not a “dumping ground” for ultra-fast fashion and are still full of high-quality items, a charity sector boss has said.

Traid, a charity working to stop clothes from being thrown away, said it diverted 3,222 tonnes of clothes from landfill and incineration in 2022, reducing CO2 emissions by 30,609 tonnes, and putting more than 11.2 million garments back into use.

The charity’s chief executive Maria Chenoweth said ultra-fast fashion is designed “not to last”, but if it is in good condition it can still be sold in charity shops.

She told the PA news agency: “Charity shops don’t want rubbish. We’re not a dumping ground or a graveyard for ultra-fast fashion.

“Please don’t bring in unwearable, unusable clothing into charity shops because it costs us to handle and dispose of things that are unwearable.

“The best thing you can do for charity retail, which is one of

Wearing second-hand clothing has become an act of “rebellion” for young people concerned about climate change, according to celebrated fashion stylist Bay Garnett.

Garnett, who put together the outfits for Oxfam’s forthcoming London Fashion Week show, said shopping in charity shops is a sustainable way of enjoying fashion.

The stylist, who has dressed stars including Kate Moss in charity shop fashion, also said she believes the culture of wearing a new outfit just once for a social media post will become a thing of the past.

Garnett has hand-picked around 80 items of clothing for the Oxfam show in February and said it is “absolutely essential” that second-hand clothes are included on the world fashion stage.

“I mean, this is what people want to buy so much more now. So you can’t just have collections anymore that are just about new clothes because it would be out of touch with

Dame Mary Quant, the legendary British fashion designer, has received one of the highest accolades in the King’s first New Year’s Honours List. The 92-year-old, who is credited with making fashion widely accessible, has received the Companion of Honour award.

This special award granted to those who have made “a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time”. The members, of which there are 65 at any one time, currently include actress Dame Maggie Smith, legendary athlete Lord Coe, broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and former Prime Minister Sir John Major.

Dame Mary introduced the mini skirt and hot pants to the masses in the 1960s, creating the iconic ‘Chelsea Girl’ look, which remains influential to this day. Her designs, which also included coloured tights, Peter Pan collars and tailored trouser suits, were widely popular globally and are credited with having inspired the

According to Michael Ward, the managing director of Harrods, the 173-year-old retailer is falling behind Paris and Milan’s luxury trade subsequent to the UK axing VAT-free shopping.

Paris and Milan are overtaking London’s luxury trade, Michael Ward warns. Speaking to The Telegraph, he claims the decision to stop VAT-free shopping has put tourists off making luxury purchases in Britain’s capital city.

European countries, such as France and Italy, both still allow international shoppers to claim VAT back, yet the UK stopped this following Brexit at the end of 2020. To combat this decline in tourism, Harrods has made efforts to source exclusive designer pieces that aren’t available to shoppers in other European capitals.

Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng planned to bring VAT-free shopping back in an update during autumn 2022. However, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt went back on this.

Ward urges the government to overturn its tourism strategy as people

2022 saw TheIndustry.fashion’s podcast channel continue to bring inspiring stories, retail insights, and conversations from fashion’s most influential business leaders. As 2023 approaches, we’ve curated a list of our top 10 podcast picks from 2022.

Erik Torstensson, Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer, FRAME

Founded out of Los Angeles by two Swedish branding experts, then based in London, with no experience in making product, FRAME doesn’t appear to make any sense at all on paper. And yet, from the moment it arrived, the denim market was shaken up for good. And for the better.

In this episode of the In Conversation podcast from TheIndustry.fashion, Erik spoke to Lauretta Roberts about how the brand has always retained clean design as part of its DNA but is now intensely focused on clean manufacturing to having recently launched a new line of denim that uses virtually no water all in its manufacturing process.

Boxing Day footfall was up by more than a third on the UK’s high streets despite train strikes and the cost-of-living crisis.

Concerns had been raised that strikes and tightening budgets could scare consumers away from shopping destinations on the first day of the sales.

But industry analyst Springboard said data from Monday showed footfall was 38.8% higher than last year.

There were increases across all three key retail destination types compared with the same period in 2021.

On high streets it was up by 44.1%, in shopping centres by 40.4%, and in retail parks by 25.9%.

Central London, which has been hit hard by industrial action by transport unions, saw footfall more than double on Boxing Day. The figure for London was just 7.8% lower than the same day in 2019.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said a likely factor in the increase was that Boxing Day 2021