I second that! - the growing craze of selling and upscaling second hand items to save the planet.

I just want to put it out there that I was the queen of secondhand shopping! I could create an entire outfit from the leftover items that had been outcast from the depths of some Remuera housewife who needed a wardrobe revamp.

Fashion can be beautiful, colourful and make you feel individual. The choices you make in terms of what you put on your body can create a sense of self, it can make you feel feel more fun, serious or sexy.

BUT the fashion industry has a LOT to answer for! it is wasteful, and is the second largest polluter in the world...second only to oil!

It is wasteful to life! In factories where they mass produce designer items in countries where they pay the workers a wage that does not even come close to covering the basics. Workers rights are of a depressing minimum standard and they work in dangerous and dirty factories.

Rana plaza was the name of the garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed in 2014 killing 1133 & injuring 2500.

The deadly collapse of this factory that made those clothes placed the spotilght on Bangaladesh and the fashion industry where the owners of these factories are under increasing pressure by fashion labels to cut costs in order to meet consumer demand for cheaper and cheaper clothing.

You can watch a Documentary HERE about the factory collapse.

The fashion industry is also wasteful its throwaway attitude, when the season is over we are encouraged to throw it away, to discard it as it is no longer current, or on trend.

And its not only the end users of the said clothes, it is the shops themselves who are too over the to in 'brand protection' to the point that brands will actually prefer to shred clothing and place brand new clothing that has never been worn into landfill, rather than send it to be sold at a reduced price, or given to the needy!

Katmandu was caught out doing such a thing and it was only exposed because they were caught doing it in view of someone who was willing to speak out about it. You can read the story HERE.

Now all the jeans and merino tops that I own are either second hand or from outlet stores. but lets be honest my 'mum uniform' is less than stylish.

I posted up on Facebook about my "mum uniform" that consisted of three pairs of $10 jeans from a seconds outlet store, Kmart singlets and an array of almost identical merino long sleeved tops sourced from second hand stores and Glassons shops.

My daughter even asked me why I wore the same pants each day.

"I don't wear the same pants" I said, "They are three different pants that just look exactly the same"

FML they may as well be the same pants!

Coming into summer I needed some new clothes and specifically some "going out" clothes too.

As you may have read in the last blog post I went to Suede Studios for a mummy makeover which pretty much turned me into a film star. You can read that blog HERE.

I managed to pick up a fantastic black dress and a 'going out top' from Suede Studios!

I also popped down to my local 'Save Mart' and picked up an entire outfit for the Vodafone Music awards, which included a top, high wasted skirt and necklace (all for $13.99!!!).

So my challenge to you is try and buy second hand where you can, don’t buy into fads.

Save the planet and buy from second hand stores like Your local Hospice second hand store and buy from wonderful places that specialize in second hand and up-scaling clothes.

Check out the clog HERE which lists a few more places that up-scale clothing.

XXX