BIG WARDROBE

Fashion is hardly an industry where ethics spring to mind but thanks to bigwardrobe.com the devil can wear prada and save the world all for the price of postage.

Courtesy of BBC

 

“We were getting fed up!” explains Jamie Hutchinson, one of three founders of bigwardrobe.com, “fed up with the expense of constantly replacing clothes!” This is why bigwardrobe.com was born, “we developed the Big Wardrobe idea in response to the frustration of our partners and girlfriends who were constantly replacing their old clothes with new ones”.

According to last year’s Fashion Sustainability review over 1.2 million tonnes of clothing were disposed and only 10 percent of this enormous sum ended up being recycled or resold in 2007. Bigwardrobe.com offers an alternative, not only can you swap sell or buy you can even combine these options to secure an item. Just imagine Ebay if Carrie Bradshaw was allowed to change the settings.

Of course this isn’t something new altogether, Jamie explains, “There are other swapping websites, but all have some way of charging, be it fees for listing items or joining, and we also had trouble finding any that catered for men, women and children”. The website has caused quite a storm in the fashion press, Vogue, Cosmopolitan have all commented on the swapping craze whilst Marie Clare said, “It’s everything we want to be right now- ethical, environmentally friendly and fabulous!” With its roots firmly planted in all things ethical the site is also set to branch out into a new celebrity/charity initiative in May.

Joining up with the likes of Russell Brand, Peaches Geldolf and the Kaiser Chiefs, bigwardrobe.com is offering it’s users a chance to bid on items donated by these celebs with the funds going to a number of different charities. Finger’s crossed Russell washes the jeans he’s donating prior to auction.