Secondhand September

Time flies so fast and we are in the third week of the Australian spring, and still, the weather feels like the winter couldn’t let us move on.

Hence, I am still wearing warm clothes most days, and it is something that I enjoy.

Have you heard about secondhand September?

During September, the Secondhand September campaign puts pre-loved clothing in the spotlight, as people pledge to only buy secondhand clothing for the month. The pledge was started by Oxfam, who wanted people to rethink the month that’s usually associated with Fashion Week and encourage them to shop second-hand rather than the latest trends for the approaching season.

My years of experience in shopping for secondhand clothing give me a lot of ideas on how to maximize its potential in my daily style and prevent the throwaway culture. Each piece that I have speaks volumes to me, and of course, gives me joy whenever I wear them.

Australians are now leading the ranking and import around 1.4 billion units of new clothing per year, and each Australian buys an average of 56 items of clothing every year, not to mention that around 200,000 tonnes of clothing go to landfills in Australia annually.

RELATED ARTICLE: Upcycling Vintage Tea Towels into Summer Dress

Each time that reality comes to my mind, I make sure that I will care for my clothing and give it a new and longer life, and not contribute to these unwanted statistics.

Just like when I saw this old plush toy from the op-shop for $4.00 I knew exactly that I wanted to turn it into a cute handbag!

@blair.villanueva DIY puppy bag using secondhand toy I bought from #opshop #sewing #diy #fyp #upcycling #melbournefashion #secondhandseptember ♬ Cute - CLOUDEE

Kidding aside, I always wanted to have one when I was a kid.

Glad that I got the skills to turn old things into prettier ones, now this puppy handbag is included in my growing collection. It might not be Thom Browne’s famous doggy bag (super expensive btw), but mine only cost me lots of love!

I bought this kilt from the op-shop for $15 and paired it with the knitted top I got years ago from another op-shop. As much as I love op shopping, I limit myself to NOT buying underwear and socks from secondhand shops.