It turns out that Prince Charles is, in fact, just like the rest of us. Well, in the sense that he is a bit more thrifty than we might imagine for a monarch in waiting.
The heir to the throne was spotted by the Telegraph this week wearing a jacket with a clean but clearly visible recovery. The royals possibly not the best figureheads of frugality, but three cheers for Charles to make do and mending. Tailored suits of this type costs around ￡ 3,000-4,000 so it is heartening when he – or perhaps his lackey – discovered a tear in the fabric, rather than popping out to the shops for a new suit, a repair was in order.
A Clarence House spokesman told the guardian that although they sure like the tear, it was more likely that through the "wear and tear" due to age of the suit. They said that the temporary patches will be fully repaired with an invisible patch.
But what about the rest of us? With high-street fashion so cheap to buy, few of us would bother with a repair. It is often cheaper and easier, bin the damaged item and pop to the shops. But this fast-fashion culture cost us more than we might think. Estimates from the Office for National Statistics show that men spend on average ￡259,20 and ￡453,60 women a year on clothing (underwear excluded). This is 2 m tonnes of clothing bought each year in the United Kingdom, leading to averages of adulthood to 16,200 lbs and ￡ 28,350 respectively. Many people also buy clothes they will wear not ever.Although it is financially sustainable for the production of cheap clothing, environmental and ethical costs is undeniably great. There are problems combined with low wages and child labour; the highly polluting process for the production of clothing dyes; fueling the planes, trains and trucks supply chain and bad working conditions – to name a few. The deaths of over 500 low-paid workers after the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh this year has brought the true cost of cheap clothes over stark.
If most of us don't have the luxury option tailored Savile Row suits, we're stuck with fast-fashion, right? Not enough. There are options. Learn to sew so clothes will last longer. If this is a step too far the next option is to recycle. So-called swishing parties have become popular in recent years, where people swap clothes they can become bored with wearing. Lucy Shea, responsible for coined the term Swish, calculated that by 2009 hiss had saved over 200,000 kg of clothes from going into landfill, an estimated total of 1 m tonnes of clothing that is intended in the United Kingdom there every year.
Or you can donate unwanted clothes to charity – even down to the underwear. Oxfam set-up the great hunt Bra after reporting that British women accumulate ￡ 1 billion of unwanted bras. Bras are a highly desired item second hand clothing for women in many parts of Africa and when sold in the United Kingdom can be used to fund charity projects. If you have other suggestions please share in the comments below.
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