We don't need to hark on about why we should all be thinking more sustainably – there's enough news about the climate crisis to clearly tell us that – but even for the best of us, we still need a nudge in the environmentally friendly direction to make the changes that'll better our planet.
In this day and age, a reusable coffee cup is no longer your get-out-of-jail-free-card for acting sustainably in other areas of your life. Now more than ever, we need to be putting our green thinking caps on and addressing how we can buy more sustainably with the clothes we wear, the beauty we put on our skin and the ornaments we place in our homes. So, this September, we're doing exactly that.
Our new 'Sustainable September' series will be highlighting the best sustainably-minded products and brands that range over fashion, beauty and homeware, everyday throughout the month, showing that there are earth-affable options that you can opt for. Today, we're looking at the capsule collection from Collina Strada, that's launched exclusively with Browns, which is made of upcycled deadstock from Ghana’s Kantamanto Market.
Those who've been championing sustainable fashion will be fully versed in the ethos of Collina Strada. Founded by Hillary Taymour, the brand has since been fashion's sustainable staple on the NYFW calendar, recently solidified by the opening look of their Autumn/Winter 2020 collection being accessorised with a reusable water bottle – who said mundanities couldn't be made fashionable! 
This summer, they've been working in collaboration with the OR foundation, a US based organisation working to improve the fashion industry, on a project that gives new life to unwanted clothes. After collecting data through the foundations 'Dead White Man's Clothes' project, which explores the secondhand clothing trade in the context of Accra, they found that a minimum of 15 million items of clothing pass through Kantamanto, the world’s largest second hand clothing market by volume of goods, every week. They've also uncovered, that 40% of the clothing entering Kantamanto Market from the Global North in the name of reuse and recycling is ending up in Ghana’s landfills, open dump sites, and the ocean within two weeks of its arrival. This waste represents between four and six million items of clothing every week.
With this in mind, Taymour created a capsule using only the unwanted stock that was left from the Kanatamanto market, which is exclusively stocked at Browns. The brand will also be donating a percentage of their wholesale cost to the OR Foundation, which will also be matched by the London retailer.
As well as being the earth-friendly addition to your wardrobe, we love the tie-dye pattern and asymmetric cuts, as they show that sustainability needn't come at the cost of style.
Shop the collection here:
More More More!
+ The Plastic In Our Oceans That's Not Polluting it...
+ Off the Grid with Gucci...
+ Surprise Me!
