This book was written by the co-founder of Fashion Revolution who has also been a lecturer at Central St Martins. Some of the facts and figures may have been updated in more recent years but the purpose of the book is to encourage readers to mend and re-wear clothes for a more sustainable lifestyle. She gives many practical tips to help look after your existing wardrobe in order to lengthen its lifespan and to reduce the need to buy more.
The style of the book is to encourage and not to preach or condemn. Although I am not the greatest needlewoman nor inclined to wear embroidered patches, there were certainly some ideas I will copy such as putting woollen jumpers in the ‘fridge to get rid of moths. Inevitably denim gets a whole chapter to itself but if you want to turn old jeans into a skirt, then this is the book for you!
The section on the need for transparency in the fashion industry was thought-provoking and made me want to check the labels in the clothes I am wearing. Who made them and where, were the garment makers paid adequately and working in safe conditions and from what materials were the clothes made??? The book did not send me on a guilt trip but I was left searching the extensive resources list in order to explore further.
Jean Wilde
Loved Clothes Last by Orsola de Castro, Published by Penguin Life in 2021