Ethical gifts – check. Ethical gift-wrapping? We have the sustainable solution to gift wrapping that exudes beauty, saves money and fights Fashion’s Polluting Footprint. Find out how you can add even more love to your Valentine’s Day Gift.
In recent times, Fashion’s Global Warming Footprint has worsened as fast-fashion, mass production and e-commerce retail have boomed. Low-quality clothing has become extremely efficient as tech-culture and digital living expands into most corners of our lives. We can have a new outfit delivered within a day, whenever we want.
Fast Fashion, Faster Deterioration
More clothing equals more waste. More factory usage, more fabric waste and inevitably, more clothing in the landfill. But in light of fashion’s looming future, efforts for sustainable fashion, across production, retail, consumption and disposal have increased. Recently, it was reported that charity shops donations increased after Britain was inspired by Netflix’s ‘Tidying Up With Marie Kondo’. It’s obvious that even the entertainment industry is having an influence over our efforts to up-cycle. But how is the fashion industry itself pushing for improvement?
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
H&M’s Garment Collection has encouraged customers to donate their old textiles in return for vouchers, ever since 2013. They also release their Conscious line every spring, a capsule collection created from organic and recycled materials. Vintage shopping is becoming increasingly popular as we re-visit every trend ever created, year-after-year. House of Gharats especially loves to find pieces that hold history as well as style. ‘Love Not Landfill’ is a clothing re-cycle initiative that pairs modern-day marketing (Instagram), with trendy pop-up shops and clothing banks. They work to inspire the younger generation to give new lives to their unwanted clothes – and see the ethical value in doing so.
Hot This Season: Sourcing Sustainably
House of Gharats has always been an advocate for sustainable fashion and conscious shopping and has created multiple collectives to encourage people to share these same values. Our Founder, Neishaa Gharat, created an up-cycled collection for an Oxfam Catwalk event, sourced from their many donations. The collective saw vibrantly-styled models, showcasing the lives that these pre-loved clothes still had in them. Partnering fun-with-fashion with ethical values highlighted the importance of re-using garments. As well as the treasures that can be found in Charity Shops.
We also created the British Red Cross’ Christmas window installation on Portobello Road in 2018. Decorating a tree with old scarves, we demonstrated the beauty of re-purposing the statement accessories that we all own. The tree was a perfect example of how loving you can really get with your un-wanted accessories. Silk scarves and neckerchiefs are definitely luxury accessories, but they’re even more loving when you get creative with their disposal. If you are looking for ethical gifts and wish to shop with a social echo, explore our collection both on the House Of Gharats shop and the Big Issue shop.
So, how else can you re-purpose your much-loved scarves?
During our Gifting With Love for Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day, we realised it isn’t only gifts that can be given ethically. How do you wrap your gifts?
Beautiful gift wrap, for free
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, scarves are unbelievably versatile. From around your neck, to around your bag. From an accessory to a shirt, a sarong and a skirt. From Christmas decorations, to gift wrap. Not only does this up-cycling tip provide a sustainable solution to re-purposing your pre-loved garments, it also reduces paper and plastic use. It saves costs and looks beautiful at no extra price, at all. It also saves time; we aren’t all gift-wrapping-Gods, but you really can’t go wrong with tying a knot. The bigger the present? The more up-cycling you can do! Plus, it adds even more love with the narrative that you care about the future of your loved one’s world.
Valentine’s Day gifts with history
The use of textiles as gift-wrap is actually a technique that has existed in Japan since 1603, known as Furoshiki. A strong tradition, it was originally used to transport goods, but became a sensation to decorate gifts with. At House of Gharats we love to take inspiration from culture and history, so this definitely excites our Gifting With Love season!
Get Creative
You don’t need to limit how stunning your scarf-wrap can get. Tie two together, sew a patchwork with multiple, even use craft wire to shape some beautiful bows on the top. It’s a lot easier to get it right without the scissors and tape, even if you get it wrong. The beauty in this hack is that the scarf-wrap does the talking itself. The more vibrant the scarf, the less the messiness of your wrapping matters. For inspiration, view our Instagram stories to influence your ethical crafting.
So, go and raid your wardrobes for your creative (and sustainable) gift-wrap! Love your scarves too much to give away? Charity and vintage shops always have a big stock of beautiful pieces that hold a lot of history to them. Gift your loved one, with love, in every loving way possible this Valentine’s Day.
WIN In Love
“Who would you gift a House Of Gharats Neckerchief or Pocket Square to and why?” Share the love and have the chance to win a House Of Gharats silk, luxury Neckerchief or Pocket Square. All you have to do is: Comment a House of Gharats Instagram or Facebook
Instagram: @houseofgharats
Wordsmith : Chloe Mead