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 £140m-worth 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 so-called “Greta” effect. (Famously, the 17-year-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, which is a lot of money, but I still wear it today, and it looks the same as the day I bought it. The most loved item in my wardrobe is a pair of David Beckham-endorsed Adidas shorts I bought when I was 14. I still wear them all the time. The elastic is gone, so I do have to be careful to make sure the drawstring is tied up! They have started to peel a bit.
My mum and dad are always trying to buy me new clothes. They are Thatcher’s children: materialism was drilled into that generation; buying stuff empowers them. My mum recently insisted on buying me a coat, but only because she was so fed up with the old Barbour jacket I had been wearing.
It was my grandad’s Barbour: he has sadly passed away, so I took it from his house after he died. That’s not the only thing I took, actually; I wear my grandad’s old Slazenger boxers. My girlfriend thinks it is really weird.
I loved that Barbour jacket. It was ancient; I kept sending it to the Barbour shop to get it repaired, but they repaired it so many times it was basically a new coat.
I never get bored of my clothes. I think that people are told that they need to buy new clothes to fit in and seem trendy, but it is only you who inherently cares what you look like. People are too immersed in their own lives to notice you only have four T-shirts. That stuff doesn’t matter. We have become so selfish as human beings. We are bred to consume. Nothing has any value any more.
Abi Jenkins, 49, dressmaking teacher from Stockport
I am of Asian heritage: my family is from India and Pakistan. I think that’s why I am really reluctant to buy clothes. It is horrible for me to know that people of my heritage are being abused by the garment industry to produce clothes for people in the west who don’t care about their wellbeing.
I remember watching the footage of the 2012 Dhaka garment factory fire. It was horrific, watching people try to escape. I don’t like to stand on a soapbox and say: “You should do this, and you should do that.” But for me personally, buying clothes isn’t something I want to do. It’s how I am.
Apart from tights and the odd bit of underwear, I haven’t bought any clothes for a decade. I make all of my clothes, myself, by hand. I learned to sew from my mum. She was always immaculate; she never had a hair out of place. Just the sweetest, most caring person. She died recently. When I am sewing, I feel close to her. She really knew how to sew.
Virtually all the fabric I use is vintage. Buying new fabric is really the same as buying fast fashion, in my book. Why do we need new fabric? There’s already so much beautiful fabric in the world. I work with a charity called Tools for Self Reliance, and they get donated lots of old material. If I see something I like the look of, I pop a donation in the collection box. I also have reams and reams of fabric that I purchased in the 1980s from a dressmaking shop: it was closing down, and the owner let me have it cheap.
Most of the time, I am a bit of a scruff. But when I am teaching dressmaking, I make an effort. You want to look nice, because you’re an advert for the clothes you are teaching people to make. I follow trends on social media, and then teach people how to make the clothes at my workshops. You get all sorts: doctors, solicitors, care workers. They all say it is therapeutic.
I don’t get bored of my wardrobe, because if I want something new I can just nip upstairs to my sewing room and make it. I can make a shift dress in half an hour; I call them my half-hour dresses. I just made a ball gown from old fabric over a few days.
I never want to buy things. I look at things in shops and think the quality is abysmal. My daughter makes her own clothes now. I am so glad she is not spending her pennies in those dreadful shops. But I really don’t want to sound like I’m on my high horse. I just want to educate people.
Jon Watkins, 70, retiree from Llangollen
Everything in my wardrobe is certainly not from this century. I have had the same ties since the 1980s. I think the last time I bought clothes was in 1984: I was on a business trip and they lost my suitcase, so I went to a shop in Rome and bought new suits, shirts, trousers and underwear.
Technically, I could buy clothes. I know where Marks & Spencer is! I just prefer not to go shopping. Ever since Woolworths closed, I can’t think of a decent shop. Shopping is so tedious. I can do a supermarket shop, because I have to, otherwise I would starve. But that’s it.
I do occasionally get marched to TK Maxx by some lady friends who buy things for me. Whatever they choose is fine. Everything else in my wardrobe seems to arrive! My brother-in-law gives me shirts and pullovers. It’s usually when people think I am looking mucky that stuff tends to turn up. I never ask for anything new. Hand-me-downs look new to me! I can’t tell the difference.
I look like a mess, but I don’t really care. It is the same with haircuts: I only get them if I have got to meet the bank manager or something like that. The only thing I buy for myself is socks and pants.
I have a woman who comes to clean my house for me and she’s not averse to throwing clothes and shoes away that she deems unwearable. I don’t mind as long as she tells me what she’s chucking out, otherwise I spend ages looking for it and can’t find it. She thinks shirts should have all the buttons on them and rubbish like that. They don’t really. As long as there are some buttons, it will work.
Athena Drakou, 59, semi-retired accountant living in West Sussex, but originally from Greece
Thirty-four years ago, I was pregnant with my daughter back home in Greece. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened and pregnant women were advised not to eat any fresh food. That experience really changed my thinking about the environment.
I moved to the UK and studied environmental science, before becoming an accountant. But my interest in the environment and how we consume clothes never went away. Back in Greece when I was growing up, everything was about consumerism. Being a Greek woman who never went shopping, people thought I was crazy!
I think I have bought one pair of jeans in the past 10 years. That’s it. My wardrobe is basically empty. It is easy to find everything in there. When I need clothes for a special occasion, like a wedding, I either borrow something from a friend, or there are platforms now where you can rent clothes.
It helps that I am the same dress size I was when I was 20. I try to keep fit and not gain weight. Everything in my wardrobe still fits. All my clothes are very good quality: I have a coat that I have worn for 24 years. I take excellent care of it and it’s still in good condition. If you looked at it, you wouldn’t believe I’d had it for so long.
Part of the reason my clothes last is because I don’t over-wash them. I have a rule that I wear everything at least twice – underwear excluded, obviously – before washing it. I can wear jeans five or six times before putting them in the machine. I mend all my clothes. If I need a new sweater, I knit something. My friends will often give me wool or yarn. Knitting helps me relax.
Never buying clothes feels liberating. I love not having to think about clothes all the time. I have a few things in my wardrobe. Everything goes together. I never worry about what I am going to wear. For me, it has always been simple.
Andrew Ledwidge, 52, public-sector worker from south London
I have a bit of a phobia about new clothes. It is about comfort; I’m very particular about things. I hate clothes that are too clingy or tight. Animal fibres make me really itchy. I think maybe I am a bit allergic to wool.
I like to wear old clothes, because I know they will be comfortable. I don’t like the texture of new clothes at all. It is a bit of a paradox, because in order for things to get old you have got to wear them a lot. If I had the choice between wearing an old item or something new, I’d always go for the old thing.
My wife likes to sneak a few new things in my wardrobe from time to time, so I am better presented. She is into fashion and is always beautifully dressed. But the new things tend to stay in my wardrobe. I don’t wear them. Probably three-quarters of the things she buys me, I never wear.
We’re at a bit of an impasse, my wife and I. She hasn’t stopped trying to smarten me up a bit and get me into some newer things, but I don’t find those things comfortable. It is a long-running battle, but we have a laugh about it. Sometimes she will drag me into a clothing store, and within 30 seconds I want to walk out.
I am not bothered about my appearance or anything like that. Clothes for me are about comfort. Occasionally I will look at other men and think: “That jumper looks nice. I wish I had something like it.” But then I think that, even if I did have it, I would never wear it.
Additional reporting by Laura Kay
