How to upgrade your wardrobe with unique, high quality pieces, and avoid drop-shippers and unsustainable fashion
When it comes to fashion, low quality, short term clothing has become the norm. Rapidly changing trend cycles and an increased demand for masses of cheap clothing means that high quality, unique designs and true vintage pieces take a backseat in the mainstream retail world.
But as people begin to covet more sustainable wardrobes that are reflective of their true style, the ‘wear once and throw away’ culture is, for many of us, becoming tiresome.
Blondita Shop
Dresses, tops, matching sets, designed in LA by designer Angela Ruis (£20-100)
The truth is, today, sustainable shopping through independent designers or vintage sellers requires more time, more effort, and often requires sacrifices. Maybe you have to buy secondhand. Maybe you have to wait for sales or buy one piece a month instead of three. Maybe you will even have to go months without buying anything at all. But if you really value your clothing and your style, they are sacrifices worth making. This article is here to provide you with all the tips you need to change the way you shop for the better.
Why is it important to shop sustainably?
Sustainable shopping means being more intentional about aspects like materials, construction, and the manufacturing of your clothing. What materials are best for health and long term wear? How is high-quality, long lasting clothing constructed? And what conditions are my clothes manufactured in?
As a purely biased opinion, sustainable, well-made pieces generally look better and last longer. Each piece will take longer to make and will likely be constructed more carefully with natural materials. This makes for clothing that will last a lifetime, if you let them. Natural materials are also more breathable and healthier for your skin.
Caspar The Label
Independent, London based brand that treads between traditional and timeless as well as unique and innovative. These are designs that can live in your wardrobe forever. Each piece is handmade to order, in limited quantities, so you can count on the fact that nobody will have the same piece as you. (£50-150)
Ethics are a huge component of shopping sustainably and responsibly. This involves considering the conditions in which your clothing is made. Not only will the clothing likely fall apart after a few wears, the working conditions they are made in are a nightmare – often dangerous factories with no health and safety precautions and workers that are paid pennies per piece. This doesn’t make for high-quality clothing.
Lastly, one of the biggest reasons we should all care about shopping sustainably are the effects fast-fashion has on our planet.
No Faith Studios
Named ‘the future of fashion’ by Vogue, No Faith Studios started life as a denim brand in Berlin – today they have expanded into more areas of fashion, but their denim remains top of the line. (€50-500)
What are the best ways to shop sustainably?
The simplest way to shop sustainably is to reduce your consumption. Shopping vintage or through independent designers is generally more expensive, which people often take as a sign that they cannot afford to do it. But the fact is, fast fashion being as cheap as it is is not normal. There is no way a dress, which represents a whole supply chain of jobs from material sourcing to manufacture, should cost somebody 5 bucks. Clothing being this cheap normalizes over consumption – like buying 5 dresses you will probably only wear once. If you want to shop more responsibly, you have to accept that, for most people, it means vastly reducing the quantity of items you are buying. Hopefully, it also means you will value your clothing more. Buy less, buy better.
Beads by Edie
One-woman jewelry brand based in London. Edie hand beads all of the necklaces herself, creating bold and tastefully kitsch pieces. The range of designs means that there is something for everyone’s taste. She even accepts custom commissions if you have a specific look in mind! With sustainability and charity at the forefront, you know your purchase will do some good! (£20-120)
The second way to shop more sustainably is to buy from the original designers or small businesses, rather than the copies or remakes. This takes more time, and sometimes you have to do a lot of searching, but it makes for a higher quality of design, better materials and longer lasting pieces.
There is no better way to build a wardrobe made up of unique, high value items that you could one day pass down to your kids.
What are drop-shippers?
Drop-shipping is a type of online business retail in which the seller can accept customer orders without ever holding any kind of stock.
The issue with this is that these drop-shippers have no part in the manufacture, design, or shipping of the items that they are selling. They are bought from wholesale suppliers like AliExpress or Alibaba, and generally shipped from these websites directly to the customer. Aside from being ethically irresponsible and totally unsustainable these businesses have a complete disregard for their customers. There is no possible way to ensure a fairly paid supply chain, safe working conditions, responsible materials through drop shipping.
Bye Bambi
Based in Australia; guarantee their pieces were made in fair working conditions and locally sourced fabrics. Work closely with local artisans, suppliers and technicians to create the pieces. They ensure fair wages and safe working conditions. (£50-200)
They will rarely disclose their methods and often attempt to give the illusion of being small, independent retailers. Customers may feel that they are buying from a small, independent retailer, maybe with the intention of avoiding fast fashion, when in fact, the opposite is true. Additionally, they will mark up their prices by vast percentages, buying items for pennies and sometimes reselling them for huge profits.
Tips for avoiding fast fashion and drop-shipping when shopping online
It is something of a canon-event for people who are making an effort to buy independent or vintage to, eventually, fall for a drop shipper. It is easily done! Many of them go to lengths to appear like legitimate designers and curators, using socials like Tiktok and Instagram to share perfectly posed images of their clothing. They always seem to have those products that are trending that particular week. But there are ways to identify the real designers amongst the cash grabbers.
Just imagine – there is a specific type of clothing that you have decided you would like; a dress cut in a certain way or a skirt with a specific design on it. Maybe it has been on your Pinterest boards for a while, or some of your favorite influencers have been wearing it. You do some research and you find a brand selling exactly what you’re looking for – you’ve never heard of it before but they seem legit. They have a social media presence across platforms and everyone in the pictures look perfect. The pieces are pretty pricey, but you figure it’s a small brand, they probably make small batches or design the pieces themselves.
This is where the first tip comes in: take a screenshot and slap it into google for a reverse image search. If you then see a bunch of similar websites selling the exact same piece or even the original listing on AliExpress or something similar, then you have your answer – they’re a drop-shipper.
Access Axis
The shop sells edgier, unique pieces fit for a crazy rave or all-night party. A range of accessories and clothes that will have you standing out from the crowd. Each piece is handmade to order. (£45-400 depending on the pieces)
The second tip is a simple one. If you’re looking for the original designer of a piece, they will usually be pretty transparent on their websites. The owner of the brand will usually be easily findable and the website will have sections discussing their sourcing, manufacturing processes, working conditions, and even supply chains. After all, if a business has no reason to hide this information, they usually will not.
Another way is to utilise the images and material information to assess the quality of the pieces. This can often take a more trained eye but once you get the hang of it, you will never not check.
Avoid unnatural materials like polyester, faux furs or leathers. Look out for natural materials, like cotton, wool, silk or linen. Often, when fast fashion brands steal designs from independent designers, they will remake the pieces cheaply. They may look similar in images but will usually be constructed haphazardly and with cheaper, synthetic materials.
Bailey Prado
Bailey Prado is an LA based knitwear brand creating handmade ready to wear or custom crochet clothing. Each piece is one of a kind.
Also, is the brand using its own images? The original designers will always have their own original images, shot in a consistent style, maybe all in the same location or using the same model. Low quality images can often mean they have been taken from another brand and reused – they don’t have access to the original image and are instead using screenshots or images saved from another website.
Some dropshippers and fast fashion websites such as Shein will use images from a range of different sources and as a result they will differ in style vastly. Images not taken in the same place or using the same sets is a huge tell that there are inconsistencies in sourcing. Maybe the brand doesn’t have physical stock and therefore have to use images from elsewhere. The drop-shippers images are also often edited; different colours or patterns will be photoshopped onto the model. No reputable seller would ever do this.
Another huge tell is if the brand has an outrageous quantity and range of items available. No independent brand or responsible vintage seller will have thousands of different items available, all with different color and pattern options. Look out for brands with a smaller range and limited drops. They may be harder to get hold of or sell out faster, but at least nobody will have the same outfit as you.
Is it real vintage?
Websites like Depop or Vinted can be great places to find vintage clothing at a more affordable price. Sadly though, they are becoming increasingly infected with drop-shippers. Many are adept at hiding that they are drop-shipping – taking their own pictures, styling pieces well etc…
One obvious tell is if they have a range of sizes or styles available. Usually, if somebody is a real vintage seller, they will have one of each piece. It is incredibly rare to find more than one of the same vintage pieces in different sizes.
Again, look out for image quality, materials, and utilize the reverse image search function. Often items on sites like Depop will be tagged as vintage, but a simple image search shows the exact piece is being sold wholesale.
