Village Sustainability Newsletter October 2025
SUSTAINABILITY – WORKING TOWARDS THE COFE’S CARBON NEUTRAL TARGET 2030
Sew What?
I promised you would hear about Greenbelt festival. It is always a huge source of learning and discovery for me. This year was no exception and a highlight was listening to Patrick Grant of Sewing Bee fame. His book is called Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish — How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier and is proving a fascinating read.
Patrick talks about the difference between clothing and fashion; in the past we would buy clothes from Mark and Spencer or wherever, and we might have a few extra pieces of fashion to liven up our wardrobes. But now all clothes retailers sell “fashion”, trying encourage us to buy something new and different, when actually all we need is a replacement jumper or a pair of trousers. And don’t get me started on social media “influencers” persuading the young that they cannot wear the same outfit on more than one occasion! Less – less to buy, less to launder, less to decide between in the morning, less to dispose of when we move on from batwing sleeves, huge collars, low rise jeans, flares, whatever. That sounds like a good solution to me! More time and resources to get on and enjoy life. I love clothes – I get that from my late mum – but increasingly I enjoy a smaller, better wardrobe.
Patrick’s “Community Clothing” company sells wardrobe basics, fairly (not cheaply – there’s a difference) priced, made to last, and they introduced just four new product lines last year. That compares with online cut-price retailer Shein who release 300,000 new AI designed products every year, within weeks of conception. There are questions about their manufacturing supply chain ethics. It is claimed in a BBC article that a worker earns 11-22p to make a t-shirt; their low prices persuade consumers to buy more products; reliance on inexpensive, hard to dispose of synthetic textiles is heavy. But “cheap” is very attractive to many, especially during a cost of living crisis.
Patrick’s company’s clothes are made from natural materials of which he knows the precise provenance. He knows the farmers who farm the sheep that provide the wool to spin for yarn to weave for tweed! He has even created a collection of plastic free sportswear. It’s not easy to source suitable materials, it seems. But the result is no nasty microfibres being shed into our waterways for us to consume again in unthinkable ways. His small scale operation alone won’t change the world but it proves what could be achieved.
While I’m talking about natural fibres, I recently decided I could usefully replicate a cardigan I have had for a few years in another colour which I basically live in at certain time of year. But at the last minute I thought of where all those lovely soft fluffy fibres would end up when I washed it, and put my credit card away. It is harder – and pricier - to find interesting, durable clothes made from more sustainable fibres. One of Patrick Grant’s recommendations is to look in detail at a supplier’s ethical and provenance info. These days it is not enough to say “organic” on a swing label – consumers want to know the details. Don’t tell me, show me, as my former boss used to say.
In my hunt for a cardy I went to a favourite - Seasalt. I was delighted to see the whole section of their website dedicated to Impact Reporting. They are honest about where they are on their sustainable and ethical credentials journey. It is two decades since they became the first fashion company to achieve Soil Association certification to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). And they are still moving towards greater sustainability of their production and retail processes – not easy when they do not own their manufacturing locations. So I urge you to look out for accreditations on the swing tags of the clothes you buy - and read up on them to ensure they are truly meaningful.
If you’d like to hear more, you may be lucky if there are still tickets available for Patrick Grant’s talk at the Wantage LitFest where he is speaking at The Beacon on 28th October. And yes, he’s even better in real life…
Julia Hoaen