SHOPPING THAT DOES S OME GOOD
We’re changing how we splash our cash this year, says Stephen Doig
There’s a reason that the news of bookselling website bookshop. org, an online platform for independent book shops – launching this week as an alternative to the internet’s big boys – was so pleasing. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this year has been the most destabilising since wartime.
How we choose to spend our money is already dramatically changing. And this winter, mindless buying is going to take a back step, with brands focusing their efforts in promoting change.
British-based e-tailer Matches Fashion, which went from a humble shop in Wimbledon to an online giant, has turned its attention towards smaller designers who need support after the devastation caused to their businesses this year. The Innovators Programme is no lip service nod but a whopping £1.8 million investment into emerging new talent. Tom and Ruth Chapman, the co-founders, have pledged a year of support in stocking off-the-radar, independent labels from British brands such as Stefan Cooke, Bianca Saunders and Wales Bonner.
Iconic British house Alexander Mcqueen has long been a fertile training ground for talent and, in a bid to support young fashion students, the brand now runs workshops. This year also marks a decade of its Sarabande Foundation, which offers scholarships and subsided studio space for emerging artists, designers and craftspeople at a spot near where the designer grew up in east London. The label also announced a fabric donation scheme this year to supply up and coming talent with exceptional materials, one of them being rising menswear talent Steven Stokey-daley, himself a designer devoted to upcycling.
Smaller brands are likewise shifting t their focus; artisanal a accessories label Alice M Made This, which specialises in elegant cufflinks, lapel p pins and jewellery, has partnered w with an initiative t that supports black teenagers in south-east London. T The AMT Youth Programme gives the youngsters mentoring and experience in the t creative industries. Sales of its new Change b bracelet will go towards t to fund to provide e equipment and training for the applicants.
Even labels who t themselves have been hit hard want to help: in what Josh Lewis, founder of new pyjama wear label Sleep Society, calls “incredibly tough” times, the company has still donated antibacterial, temperature regulated pyjamas to UCLH.
The Prince of Wales has long been a vocal advocate of sustainability and buying better. To mark 10 years of his Campaign for Wool project, which celebrates the importance of the British wool industry, Prince Charles has designed a scarf, which has been crafted by historic mill Johnstons of Elgin, with profits going toward his Textile Foundation charity and apprenticeships at Johnstons.
Yes, the economy needs us to spend, but it’s time to buy better.