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The Culture of ‘Wear-It-Once’
“Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them.” Marc Jacobs Music festivals have become one of the biggest contributions to cultural life since the 1970s. With annual events, such as Glastonbury, Coachella and Burning Man, popular throughout the USA and UK, it has established an experience that people anticipate towards. A stage that they need to prepare for. People willingly invest in outfits that extend far beyond their daily wear, with the value of importance placed on these occasions. As a result, 350,000 tonnes of outfits end up in landfill every year, equating to the cost of £140 million in total. This increase the carbon footprint of the already eco-anxious…
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How Single-Use Festival Looks Are Taking a Toll on the Environment
The British charity Barnardo’s discovered “That single-use outfits for music festivals, such as Glastonbury and Coachella, alone, account for approximately $307 million worth of items per year, or about 7.5 million outfits worn only once.” Modern wardrobes have adopted a ‘wear it once’ mentality, wearing an outfit one time, only for it to be considered old and unfashionable to wear again, and undoubtedly damaging the environment. For many, the impact of throwing away one outfit has gone unnoticed, resulting in an unnecessarily high carbon footprint. So why does this mentality still exist? Why does a ‘wear it once’ mentality exist? Why do we wear something once at a festival, and…
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#InstagramMadeMeDoIt: How influencer festival aesthetic is killing our planet
Festival season is upon us, meaning approximately 23,500 tonnes of waste will be shipped to landfill sites, including your sequin trousers and bucket hats that you bought on a swipe-up link from your favorite Instagrammer, a week before Coachella. You’ve guessed it, it’s time to talk about how Instagram is killing our planet. The mindless promotion of fast fashion is exacerbated through festival ‘lookbooks’ and edits, and we, as mindless buyers, are responsible for the 10,000 items of clothing being sent to landfills every five minutes. Mindless buying goes into the sea As a mindless shopper myself, who has only recently started to reflect on the impact indulging in fast…
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How Sustainable Are Your Festival Wellies?
It’s coming up to summer, so you know that what that means. Festival season is fast approaching. Because of the pandemic it is looking less and less likely that we will be allowed abroad this summer. So if you are fellow Brit like me, I wont torture you by talking about the sunny festivals in more desirable places. Let’s focus on British festival culture. When attending any British festival it is essential to prepare yourself for the weather. Those sunny skies can quickly turn into heavy rainclouds. Which is why wellies are an essential at any British festival. Trust me. I have been outsmarted by British summertime before. Imagine ankle…
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Do You Need a Guide to Guilt-Free Festival Fashion?
The impact of festival fashion It is approximated that single-use clothing equates to $307 million per year. That’s 7.5 million outfits worn only once for occasions such as festivals and weddings. Often seen as a place for experimentation, festivals provide the opportunity for freedom and expression. Unsurprisingly, fashion plays a central role amongst the mud and mayhem. For many, deciding what to wear comes with much thought and deliberation. Festival fashion throughout the 20th century continues to influence the way people choose to dress for festivals today. It all began on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York in the late 60’s. Attracting hippies who felt alienated by the materialistic society they inhabited, Woodstock gave younger…
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What Is Fast Festival Fashion? Why You Should Care!
We’ve all heard of fast fashion. But around festival season when the sun comes out, along with the glitter box and eye sequins, we seem to ignore it. After the past year, everybody is itching to get out in their best outfit and fill up their empty Instagram feed. But what are the reasons and consequences of this lapse in environmental awareness, and how can you change for the better? The Harmful Mental Reasoning for Fast Festival Fashion Over the past few months, we’ve all been locked inside and want to go out, show off, and have fun. So the social pressures to emerge from a self-isolated winter in your…
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Woodstock to Once-Stocked: The Rise of Fast Festival Fashion
It’s August, 1969. The electrifying sounds of Rock ‘n’ roll – Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead – wash over you as your head spins under your flower-crown and your feet dance on the muddy ground. Hypnotised, you gaze around at your friends, at the sea of people surrounding you: thousands of hearts beating as one, high on peace, sex and psychedelics. It’s the summer of love. The mystical Woodstock Festival of 1969 has earned its place in pop-culture history as the era-defining moment that catapulted festival culture into the mainstream. In the 50 years since Woodstock, the number of people making their annual pilgrimage to music festivals…
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How To Style Sustainable Festival Fashion
After Covid-19 putting our lives on pause, it is understandable that we are eager to return to festivals and hear music live again. As we wait in anticipation to know if festivals will take place, you may have already started to plan your festival looks. But how sustainable are they? Festivals are notorious for fashioning the latest trends, but this often comes from fast fashion. Many materials used to make festival fashion outfits are not sustainable and contain lots of plastic. Most fast fashion garments are plastic based or contain mixed fibres. These cannot be recycled and will not naturally decompose in landfill. In 2019, Britons were expected to spend…
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Festival Outfits are Often Unsustainable. So are Festivals.
The end of lockdown is in sight and summer festivals are just on the horizon! Many are already dreaming of what their summer of festival freedom might look like. You may be planning to spend your festival weekends sipping vino and dancing the night away with your friends at your tent. Boogying to the sweet music that plays from the main stage from afar sounds like a safe option! You may be planning on pushing your way to the front of a heaving crowd, covered in glittery sweat (and goodness knows what else), ready to hear your favorite band up close. You may even be preparing to attend a Pride…
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Why Festival Outfits are Destroying our World
Yes, that right it is that time of year again, the festival season, which means only one thing festival fashion. Or, as many would say, the pressure to buy an over the top outfit that you will never wear again after the festivals finished. This fashion style is damaging our planet by contributing to fast fashion. What is a fast fashion? Well, fast fashion is cheap clothes created to support the idea that you should buy a whole new wardrobe for that one occasion. But what happens to that item once you are finished with it? Well, generally, people tend to throw it away, contributing towards our never-ending landfills. Did…
