Leeds and West Yorkshire was built on the textile trade.
And the textile trade was built largely on the back of slavery.
Ive discovered the joys of exploring charity shops over the past few years. much more interesting than the high street or the internet. And probably a little more sustainable.
I was sorry to see that donations are significantly down as more folk choose to sell unwanted items via Vinted or similar apps.
Do you think the ease with which we can buy and sell items is good from a sustainability perspective? or is this just capitalism extending its mitts into the recycling business?
Yes that's an important point Mike - and one that I would have liked to have explored more if we'd managed to get Leeds Fashion Futures beyond a shoestring six month pilot. I think it'd be a really interesting piece of work to do in Leeds - as you say like so many places - few moreso than my home city Liverpool - are built on the riches people made from the slave trade.
On your other point, yes the way the second hand market has evolved isn't without its challenges. In that other post I've linked to above I talk about the many happy hours I had buying good quality, British-made clothes from Bradford charity shops - no doubt including clothes made in Bradford. Now I hardly buy anything from charity shops - I don't have the time to put in the effort involved to try to find the odd decent item that someone hasn't chosen to sell on Vinted. So yes I'm sure you're right to an extent that easier avenues for selling your clothes may well stimulate some more buying of new things (to then sell on once worn a few times) - but I also can't ignore the fact that my son's default first choice for buying clothes now is Vinted. I'd never have imagined it could become so mainstream (and whilst I obviously hope and believe he's influenced by me, he's not really doing it for environmental purposes - he's just a smart shopper who wants to make his Saturday job money go further.) So on balance I'm positive - but I think you're right to ponder on it.
Leeds and West Yorkshire was built on the textile trade.
And the textile trade was built largely on the back of slavery.
Ive discovered the joys of exploring charity shops over the past few years. much more interesting than the high street or the internet. And probably a little more sustainable.
I was sorry to see that donations are significantly down as more folk choose to sell unwanted items via Vinted or similar apps.
Do you think the ease with which we can buy and sell items is good from a sustainability perspective? or is this just capitalism extending its mitts into the recycling business?
Yes that's an important point Mike - and one that I would have liked to have explored more if we'd managed to get Leeds Fashion Futures beyond a shoestring six month pilot. I think it'd be a really interesting piece of work to do in Leeds - as you say like so many places - few moreso than my home city Liverpool - are built on the riches people made from the slave trade.
On your other point, yes the way the second hand market has evolved isn't without its challenges. In that other post I've linked to above I talk about the many happy hours I had buying good quality, British-made clothes from Bradford charity shops - no doubt including clothes made in Bradford. Now I hardly buy anything from charity shops - I don't have the time to put in the effort involved to try to find the odd decent item that someone hasn't chosen to sell on Vinted. So yes I'm sure you're right to an extent that easier avenues for selling your clothes may well stimulate some more buying of new things (to then sell on once worn a few times) - but I also can't ignore the fact that my son's default first choice for buying clothes now is Vinted. I'd never have imagined it could become so mainstream (and whilst I obviously hope and believe he's influenced by me, he's not really doing it for environmental purposes - he's just a smart shopper who wants to make his Saturday job money go further.) So on balance I'm positive - but I think you're right to ponder on it.