I’ve always been one for sartorial impulse buys, as my 10-foot wide behemoth of a wardrobe will attest, but not anymore thanks to bigwardrobe.com …
I read somewhere that most people only wear 20 percent of their clothes 80 percent of the time. My stats are probably nearer 10/90. Country shirts, dark jeans and a threadbare pea coat in winter. This is exactly how I’ve dressed since I was four and will probably remains so until I have to be dressed by the meals on wheels lady.
Why then, amongst countless unworn items, does my wardrobe contain: one near-priceless Paul and Joe suit (beautiful on the boutique pipe-cleaner who press-ganged me into buying it / too tight, too white and too daft on me), a Harris Tweed shooting jacket (honestly, it did look quite stately when the buttons could still be done up) and three green polo shirts (when someone tells you a colour’s not your colour, move on).
This hoarding of never-worn garments reached a head though the other day. After sauntering into a charity shop, thinly masquerading as a cool vintage store, I spied leather driving jacket that even Jeremy Clarkson would have considered “just too manly”. As I handed over my credit card I heard the growing knot in my stomach screaming, “Why don’t you just throw £40 in the bin, it will save you carrying it home.” Subsequently my return journey was spent staring forlornly at this tan wardrobe breakdown nestling limply in a recycled Kwiksave carrier.
The ‘Wicksy’ as my girlfriend named it hung in my wardrobe for a week while I pondered its fate. Should I try my luck on eBay or perhaps I should just drop it back at the charity shop like an embarrassed first-time dog owner returning an uncontrollable hound to the pound?
But then, by chance, I read in the The Observer about bigwardrobe.com, where you can upload descriptions and images of clobber you want to get shot of while perusing the virtual clothes rails for items you might actually want.
What’s more, with the UK condemning over 900,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill every year, sites such as bigwardrobe.com are doing their bit to save on waste while potentially cutting down on the huge environmental and ethical issues tied up in the manufacture of new clothes.
Within minutes ‘exhibit a’ had had its mug-shot taken and its details plastered on the internet – and although it took over two weeks to sell and only went for a fiver, I got to put the money towards a natty pair of APC jeans and James from Bournemouth landed the piece d’resistence of his Alan Partridge fancy dress outfit.
Please visit bigwardrobe.com to find out more
