'I wear my grandad’s old boxers': meet the people who haven't bought clothes for a decade
When the former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq told the hosts of Loose Women that she had not bought any clothes in a decade, she was met with consternation and shock from the show’s famously forthright panellists. “You’re not still wearing Blue Peter clothes!” exclaimed Janet Street-Porter. Huq acknowledged, sheepishly, that the lilac cardigan she was wearing did in fact date from her days on children’s TV.
Huq’s decision to step away from consumerism and wear the clothes she already has is to be commended, given that the UK sends around £140mworth of clothing to landfill every year. And, as the public becomes increasingly aware of the social and environmental impact of the fashion industry, it is likely that more will do the same. Already consumers are turning away from fast fashion. New research from the Fashion Retail Academy finds that 51% of Brits are opting to purchase expensive but longer-lasting clothes, rather than cheaper throwaway items, up from 33% a year ago. Many attribute this move towards more sustainable consumer behaviour to the socalled “Greta” effect. (Famously, the 17year-old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, doesn’t buy new clothes, telling Democracy Now that she shops secondhand, or wears other people’s hand-me-downs.)
Huq’s no-clothes purchasing policy made headlines across the UK. But away from media scrutiny and bemused TV hosts, many ordinary people have been quietly wearing the same clothes day-in, day-out, for the past decade, too. We spoke with Guardian readers who never buy clothes, to ask them how they stay presentable, stop things from wearing out and where they would be if their loved ones didn’t buy them socks come Christmas.
Alfy Fowler, 29, chef from Cambridge
I used to care about clothes when I was younger. But then I went to university to study product design and I realised that consumer culture really didn’t sit well with me. We were being trained to design want and need in people. It didn’t feel right.
The majority of my clothes are well over a decade old. Some of them do look a bit tatty, I’m not going to lie. I do understand that your first appearance counts for something in society, and that people might look at my clothes and think about me in a certain way. But for me personally, it is more important to be true to what I believe in than care about what other people might think.
I last bought a Paul Smith jumper about nine or 10 years ago. It was £140,