An unconventional fashion blogger trying to find her place on the internet

Here we are again to talk about yet another shopping challenge I’ve set myself, but this time it’s for a longer period of time and I’m going solely secondhand. That’s right, I made a vow in August that I would only buy secondhand clothing for three months. I’ve been meaning to get this post rolled out to everyone, but first wanted to make sure I could manage two before tooting my own eco-warrior horn – I can’t preach about this shit if I can’t follow it myself and needed to know for my readers’ sake that I could do it.

Now how have I managed so far? Well, I’ve reduced my purchases significantly (my lower temp income has obviously helped me out with this one), I’ve shopped my own wardrobe and I’ve been scouring the charity shops and Vinted app for treasures I could keep or wouldn’t have wanted to spend a fortune on anyway. In order to highlight this point, I’ve put together a list of my purchases in the last two months below;

• Hollister bikini from Vinted (you can read all about the unwarranted “ick” factor in my last post)
• Cream leather Bally bag (featured in another previous post) from a charity shop
• Vintage denim Levi shorts from eBay
• Topshop tropical print strapped top from the Willow charity shop in Letchworth
• Black loose knit jumper from Willow again (same trip)
• White slouchy tee from the White Company at Willow (again, same trip lol)
• Black cotton shorts from River Island at the Scope charity shop in Letchworth
• Topshop white floaty top from Scope (same trip)

And that’s it! That’s everything that I, Gabrielle Anne Albon the shopaholic, have purchased in the last two months. To give you an idea of the outfits I’ve worn which featured secondhand items over the last couple of months I’ve popped some examples for you below;

Now for those of you considering a secondhand lifestyle, you might be wondering what the pros are for shopping secondhand fashion and I’m here to give you a few;

• Saving money
• Reducing the amount of water used in producing more clothing
• A reduction in carbon emissions from clothing production
• You can find old season clothes that may have sold out
• THE BARGAINS! I can’t tell you the amount of designer bargains there are lurking out in your local charity shops, finding them is like a treasure hunt!
• If enough of us band together and have an impact on mass clothing production, manufacturers won’t be polluting the land and water around them, meaning locals don’t have their water as polluted as it is today

There are so many benefits to shopping secondhand and I will continue to keep banging the drum on this movement to reduce the footprint fast fashion has on this planet. Nobody needs to have a new dress for every weekend – it’s not sustainable and we’re killing the planet with this attitude.

This whole challenge is making me consider whether this kind of life is one I could make a go of full time – although I know I couldn’t completely rule out buying brand new (I draw the line at secondhand swimwear – a girl needs brand new knickers after all), I’d like to consider how I feel about it all in a month’s time when my challenge is over.

Let me know what your thoughts are and if you’re fully invested in a full time secondhand fashion life I’d love to hear how you made the transition.

buying secondhand fashioncharity shoppingclothesfashion blogfashion bloggersecond hand fashionsecondhand fashion findssecondhand shopping challengesustainable fashionsustainable shoppingVinted