#GoneGreen2016 | Day 97 / 365
‘2hand shopping’, as Fashion Revolution calls it, has always my main source of ‘new’ clothing for my closet. It’s the best and most budget-friendly way to update your wardrobe with something spectacular and intercept clothing on their way to the landfill taboot.
Here in Paris, my main source of second-hand finds comes from a store called Bis Boutique Solidare, a gorgeous and airy little second-hand shop with reasonably priced used clothing. Stopping in this shop makes you feel like you’re shopping in a chic Parisian boutique without all the fast fashion guilt. So, I dragged my friend Monique Pantel along with me earlier this week to film a little #Haulternative for Fashion Revolution Week on Second Hand Shopping in Paris.
I’ve posted a VLOG post we filmed at Bis Boutique (below) and also continued this blogpost below:
*below is a re-written repost of day 48 on the same subject!
My love for second-hand shopping started at a very young age, I’ve never been much of a saver and growing up without sugar in my diet diverted me from candy shopping at the corner store, so instead, I spent my hard earned cash from selling femo figurines at the market, babysitting and the few little acting parts I got at a second-hand store which was about a ten minute walk from my house.
At first, I spent my money on trinkets for my bedroom. I was continuously ‘re-decorating’ which when you’re ten consists of asking your mum for a new bed set every birthday and ripping out colour coordinating posters of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Leonardo Dicaprio and the other handsome dudes which graced the covers of the various Teenie Bopper magazines I borrowed from Cornish Library and promptly defaced to create my wall of ‘inspiration’. By the time I was 16 I owed the library $200 for my selfish acts of vandalism, but my collage skills were so bad ass by that point I managed to make it up in bonus grades given for creativity at my High School (thanks Mr Bergen!).
Back then there were no fast fashion stores catering to teens, so if you wanted to look like anything other than the daughter of Eddie Bauer you had to get creative, and the only way I knew how to do that was to shop second hand.
I remember finding a Guess jacket perfect for emulating Sarah Michelle Gellar’s style in Buffy The Vampire Slayer for $10 and feeling like I won the lottery, that feeling didn’t change when fifteen years later I found the Cowichan Sweater (pictured in my last post), perfect for emulating The Dude from The Big Lebowski. It was like a free ticket to Disney Land for me. So much so I never felt the need to go to that wretched place.
Back then I had no idea shopping outside the mall was ‘Green’, to me it was just an avenue to a sense of independence and individuality that I couldn’t find elsewhere, and it’s a type of wardrobe procurement has stuck with me since. Though I tend to see more fast fashion brands lining the colour coated collections at charity shops these days, I’m happy to see even those items of F21 evil that would have otherwise ended up in the landfills given a second life in someone else’s wardrobe.
As I mentioned in my previous posts this week, Americans alone send 10.5 million tons of clothing to landfills each year, so whether you’re buying upcycled, vintage or second hand, you’re helping to reduce these numbers tenfold.
Bricks and mortar second-hand stores are my preferred source of preLoved garment gathering, especially here in Paris where the ladies buy quality stylish goods worth trying to intercept on their way to the landfill. Bis Boutique Solidaire is my favourite spot in Paris to do this, but the online world has joined in the fun too, making some of those pinned or instagrammed items you’ve been lusting after but a guilt-free click away.
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Bohemians unite, the relatively unknown but thriving Byron Bay community is alight with beautiful creations. Though very few (if any) are ecologically or ethically produced, there is a one lovely lady among them who have gathered their discards to distribute to new homes and that’s Second Love Byron Bay. If you’re a lover of Spell And The Gypsy Collective, Arnhem or any of the other brands coming from that little piece of paradise but can’t ethically purchase from them because their production and material use aren’t as conscious as their collections.
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