Velvet, single-breasted jackets and lumberjack shirts were my chief reasons
for rummaging around my local Oxfam store back in 1990. Grunge is what we
all lusted after and Oxfam, with its harsh strip lighting and racks of fusty
clothes, was as grungy as they made it in suburban Surrey. The trips
dwindled, I’d pop in occasionally to donate the odd item of clothing, and
then I never went back. Partly because fashion got blingier over the
following 18 years, doing much to dampen the appeal of charity shopping.
And, call me fickle, but when the mania for vintage took off seven years ago
there were plenty more appealing boutiques to check out – seductive boudoir
decors, soft lighting and plates of sugared almonds to be devoured when the
sales assistants weren’t looking.
So what has Oxfam been doing over the past decade while the rest of Britain’s
retail chains have been incessantly revamping and rebranding to transform
themselves into sleeker, glossier high-street fixtures of international
renown? Not much, as it happens. Or at least not visibly so. All the good
charitable work has continued, but its positioning and shopfits (often prime
retail space) on the high street have remained the same: dependable, British
and a little dull.
And yet, now that you can buy a whole new outfit for less than your weekly
travel costs, making everyone wonder at the provenance of cheap clothing,
isn’t it time for Oxfam to raise its game? As one of the first organisations
to champion the principles of fair-trade shopping, how did Oxfam cease to
become so prominent in the whole ethical debate?
It’s an issue it is now addressing, and with considerable vigour. Today is
World Fair Trade Day, which the nation’s iconic charity shop is using as an
opportunity to repackage ethical fashion by launching three concept stores
in West London. From today, in Westbourne Grove (the opening dates of the
other two shops are yet to be announced) you’ll be able to browse a highly
discerning selection of fashionable yet ethical and fair-trade brands, as
well as designer-wear donations, under one roof. “There’s a lot of talk of
sustainability, but these are shops that will walk the talk,” says Anna
Thorne, Oxfam’s retail development manager. “They will offer a point of
difference.” And just in case you have any doubts about the venture’s
credentials I should also add that Jane Shepherdson, the fashion visionary
formerly at Topshop and recently appointed CEO at Whistles, was brought in
as the retail sounding board, while TV presenter and Planet Fashion’s
current crush, Alexa Chung, will be the face of the launch. It’s hard to
think of two people more qualified to convince us that stylish “green”
fashion needn’t mean resorting to hemp clichés and awkward-looking
accessories.
It’s certainly a long way from the days when Oxfam (or the Oxford Committee
for Famine Relief) was founded in 1942 as a way of bringing aid to the
oppressed of Nazi Europe. And when some of the more exotic donations
included a donkey, which was sold for £12.50. Slowly but surely, though,
Oxfam has been ramping up its cool factor. There was the Louis Vuitton Party
of Love in New York last year, which was hosted by Oxfam global ambassador
Scarlett Johansson (others include Colin Firth, Annie Lennox and Coldplay).
Last Christmas Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter and Will Young were among
those involved in a campaign poking fun at “rubbish presents”, and promoting
Oxfam’s Unwrapped gifts.
The charity has also made its presence felt at festivals such as Glastonbury,
V and Bestival, and bands such as the Killers have supported the Make Trade
Fair campaign. And it didn’t hurt Oxfam either when Posh visited its Notting
Hill branch in 2006 and purchased a cocktail dress: the shop saw a 70 per
cent increase in donations, mostly designer. There was also much brouhaha
when Keira Knightley donated a Vera Wang dress she wore to the 2006 Oscars –
mostly because many felt it didn’t sell for enough: it raised £4,300 for the
East Africa appeal after being auctioned online.
But nothing can confer as much cool on Oxfam as the success of these concept
stores because, if they take off, they will ultimately change the face of
ethical retailing. This project will also, as Shepherdson points out,
“eliminate the sentiment that ethical fashion is elitist because prices are
sometimes very high; we don’t want this to be ‘an eco-niche for the
affluent’”.
Shepherdson spent a year sourcing ethical and fair-trade brands that Oxfam
will sell under its sustainable fashion umbrella. The 15 or so labels she
has chosen will typically make up half of the store’s remit, the other half
– because the store wants to raise as much as possible – will comprise
carefully selected donations that will most likely include designer-label
cast-offs. “It was harder than you think, finding all these labels,” says
Shepherdson. “We looked for about a year. You imagine it’s going to be easy
because there’s so much hype about ethical clothing, but it was actually
quite tricky finding appealing things to wear that were both good value and
good quality.”
The labels were chosen following Shepherdson’s selection criteria at Topshop:
“If you loved the pieces and you’d wear them yourself, then they were
definitely worth including.”
Among the 15 brands are well-known names such as People Tree, a label that
offers affordable, design-led, fair-trade items (hip designers Richard
Nicholl and Bora Aksu have recently collaborated with them); Aura Que, a
label by Laura Queening, an accessories designer whose leather and knit
products are made in Kathmandu; and the relatively unknown company, Amana,
which offers classic tailoring and smart-looking dresses.
Safia Minney, People Tree’s CEO, is just one of those involved who is hoping
this initiative will make a big difference to the perception of ethical
clothing. “All items will be labelled as belonging to one of five
categories, which will hopefully help consumers understand the benefit of
the product and where it has come from,” she says. “Loved for Longer”
indicates donated items; some clothes will carry the Fairtrade mark or an
IFAT tag (the International Fair Trade Association); the “Reinvented”
category comprises restyled or reworked garments and accessories made from
unsold Oxfam stock, and will include reproduced one-off dresses in
collaboration with Henry Holland, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders and
Jens Laugesen; “Made with Love” covers accessories made by volunteers such
as Gabrielle Miller, a graduate of the London College of Fashion, who is
currently an intern with Alexander McQueen. Finally, some items will carry
the label “Good Fashion Sense”, indicating that while they are not
necessarily Fairtrade, they do at least incorporate organic, recycled
fabrics and are produced by companies working towards some form of
fair-trade certification. Ones to look out for are Seasalt, Ascension Jeans,
Junky Styling, Poppy Valentine and Kitty Cooper.
So who is all this aimed at? According to Minney, they might be “caring
fashionistas or opinion formers”, while Thorne ventures that, “This idea is
going to appeal more to a way of thinking rather than a specific age group,
namely consumers who are interested in the kickback against fast fashion.
It’s about making people who wouldn’t normally come into an Oxfam store
check us out.” Or, as Frances Weeks, the Westbourne Grove store’s manager,
puts it, “changing our perception of Oxfam from grubby shop to an umbrella
of credible design and eco-fashion. There has been an increase in couples in
their thirties and young families who come here out of choice, not
necessity. It’s also going to attract fashion-savvy customers who are
perhaps still not comfortable with the idea of buying second-hand; this shop
will bridge that perception.”
Snappy interiors courtesy of Creative Resources, which did the shopfits for
M&S (and who came on board for free), will do much to dispel the association
between second-hand clothing and its shabby surrounds. “It’s going to look
much more contemporary,” explains Shepherdson, “but we’re also using
sustainable materials – it’s the shopfit to put shopfitters out of
business.”
You do wonder why these shops are only in West London – that in itself seems a
touch elitist. But, as Weeks points out, “You need the footfall, and
designer donations are more common here.” If it takes off, similar concept
stores will hopefully be rolled out around the country.
So, have Shepherdson and co found the solution to guilt-free, stylish
shopping? It’s a little early to tell yet, although it’s hard not be swept
along by Shepherdson’s enthusiasm. “You just want to delight people,” she
says. Delight is not the first word that springs to mind when you think of
an Oxfam store, but if anyone can change that, it’s undoubtedly her.
The new ethical-fashion Oxfam stores are at 245 Westbourne Grove, London
W11 (020-7229 5000), 190 Chiswick High Road, London W4 (020-8994 4888), and
123a Shawfield Street, London SW3 (020-7351 7979). www.oxfam.org.uk
On my high street we have a few charity shops, which have reallly awsome clothing and acessories inside. I find it fun rumaging for the clothes and finding beautifull things at such cheap rises. Its eco friendly and helping out a charity, and cheap. Everyones a winner.
Sarah, London,