After mentioning that I’ve managed to avoid buying from high street shops (I use the term liberally) for almost 6 months now, I’ve been asked to share my ‘tips’ as it were. All I can do is tell you what I have done and you can take from it what you will.

Why?

I believe part of the reason I’ve managed it is because of how I was feeling during the time leading up to my decision. The main reasons for me were:

• Quality - it’s “fast fashion”. It’s built to be consumed rather than last ergo, it won’t be amazing quality. If I was a trend grass hopper, then this would be wonderful as I could buy something with no worries. But I’m not. I like my things not to fall apart after 3 months.
• Ethics - on the whole, obviously high street shops are considerably cheaper than designers. It may not be a bad thing, but you do have to wonder HOW they manage to charge so little.
• Increasing prices - yes, we may be going through some kind of economic crisis right now and materials may be more expensive, but high street prices have been creeping up for the last 10 years at least and frankly, I’m not prepared to pay that much.
• Similarity - I am fully aware that this is because the clothes are ‘designer inspired’ and trend-led, but even so - a design team is employed in each company, why then is there no clearly visible differentiation going on?
• Trend overkill - I’m not sure how many people this one will apply to, but I got sick of how fast the trends moved. I know there are loads of people who love trends, but I’m not one of them. I don’t wish to look like someone who is constantly being zapped with fashion trend lightening bolts!

I think those were my main reasons. As you can see, I didn’t do it as any form of strong political statement against worker conditions/wages etc. Yes, it would be nice if ethics and environment were a bigger concern, but one person boycotting high street clothing would make little difference on their own - it’s only when masses of people do it that notice would be taken.

How?

There is one phrase which sticks in my mind: once you start bargain hunting, you can’t go back to normal prices again. And it’s true, I can testify to it. I mainly just:

• started looking in charity shops, vintage shops, car boot sales etc for secondhand/vintage treasures - one word of warning about this, is be selective. It’s very very easy to end up buying rubbish just because it’s cheap.
• started hand-making items (though admittedly, I have done little of this so far) or reworking things into something I liked - a tip would be to ask family/friends for any unwanted stuff and just go wild. I have a massive pile which I’ve still not worked through and have turned into a major hoarder!
• stopped looking at what high street shops have to offer - if you were to ask me what the latest fad was, I would have absolutely no clue whatsoever. Admittedly, shopping on your own makes avoidance much easier, but I found on the rare occasion I was in a high street shop, that I was reassured about my reasons, rather than feeling the need to buy something.
• wore what I already had - several raids of my mother’s cupboard also occurred, but wearing what you already have is a good plan (I’m sure you all do this anyway)

Difficulties

There is no point in me saying it was super duper easy because there are times when it is slightly difficult. I find that problems occur with smaller items like socks, tights, pants (as in knickers not trousers), other undercrackers (underwear) rather than actual clothes. It’s because those smaller items are tricky to make if you don’t have incredible skills and they aren’t the kind of thing you’d want secondhand! In fact, I really need to consider this point more carefully because it strikes me as the kind of thing which I may have to make allowances for, even though essentially, it’ll break my 6 month record.

Jewellery is not a problem for me because I don’t wear a great deal and what little I do wear is secondhand or made myself. It’s actually incredibly easy and much cheaper to make your own, so if you’re interested, I can attempt a mini-tutorial on the basics of jewellery making. Just let me know if you’d like one (in fact, if you want me to write anything in particular, do ask because it’s just as much your blog as it is mine).

Concluding remarks

I would say consider what you’d like to do very carefully. It may be that you don’t want to avoid the high street completely, but just cut back on the amount you buy from such shops. There are always alternatives to the high street and if you’re willing to look with an open mind, you’ll find many a great thing. Think of your budget and what you can afford because this always has an impact on what you buy (I get £10 a week pocket money and half the time I forget to ask for that, so you can see why I shop secondhand/get as many freebies of unwanted stuff/hand-make as much as I possibly can). Get crafty because I don’t think there is any better feeling than being able to go “wow, I made that!” - even if you start off rubbish, you’re making it for yourself and the only way you’ll get better is by practising. Remember, fashion trends are a small part of life and as long as you’re happy with what you’re wearing (no matter where it is from), then the rest of the world will be!