Caroline Garland

Fashion overconsumption is driven by algorithms, rapid trend cycles and cultural pressure to keep buying, contributing to textile waste and environmental damage. Aja Barber advocates slowing down, reading, buying less and building wardrobes through reselling, gifting and secondhand purchases. Educator Stine Hedegaard emphasizes fashion’s effects on biodiversity and the need to examine the responsibilities of governments, brands and consumers. Amanda Charles’s Made of Water promotes slower, community-based clothing made with regenerated nylon, while RE&UP is developing textile-to-textile recycling for blended fabrics, including through a partnership with Puma. The article argues that individual behavioral changes and systemic innovation must work together to create a more circular fashion industry.

Fashion commentator Caryn Franklin, Fashion Revolution executive director Sarah Jay and Loom founder Daisy Harvey argue that consumers need greater visibility into the labour, environmental costs and human stories behind clothing. The article highlights fair-trade production, second-hand shopping, repair and upcycling, while stressing that brands and governments—not consumers alone—must reduce overproduction, support living wages and move away from fossil fuels. Loom is presented as an example of a more personal, collaborative and circular fashion model.

Hotel Telegraphenamt is a stylish, centrally located Berlin hotel in a former 1916 telegraph office, blending Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus and industrial design. The review praises its warm service, comfortable rooms, extensive gym and strong accessibility and pet-friendly provisions. Its dining options are a major attraction, particularly the Root restaurant, while nearby hotel-owned venues Petit Bijou and Dieselhaus offer riverside dining and traditional German food. The hotel is best suited to adults seeking an atmospheric base for exploring Berlin’s museums and central neighbourhoods, though it may not suit travellers looking for a quiet location.

British Pasture Leather, founded by Sara Grady and Alice Robinson, produces leather from pasture-fed cattle raised on regenerative UK farms. The company works with Bristol tannery Thomas Ware & Sons Ltd to use traditional vegetable tanning, positioning its fully local, traceable supply chain as an alternative to factory farming, hazardous tanning chemicals and opaque global production. Its MADE WITH collection brings together British makers including Beorma, Francli Craftwear, Been London and OTZI, while farmers and Pasture for Life emphasize biodiversity, soil health, animal welfare and use of the whole animal. The collection is available for October pre-order, with products made in November and delivered in December.

Scottish multidisciplinary designer Owen Edward Snaith argues that fashion’s climate-conscious future depends not only on new materials but also on human connection, traditional skills and slower methods of production. Through the Interweaving Threads residency linking Scotland and Norway, he explored regional identity, heritage textiles, collaboration and relationships with landscapes and makers. Experiences in Norway and at Cove Park reinforced his belief that cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural exchange can preserve craft knowledge, strengthen communities and inspire more sustainable fashion.

Social media has accelerated fashion’s shift from seasonal trends to algorithm-driven micro-trends, intensifying fast-fashion consumption, waste and psychological pressure to belong and pursue novelty. Fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna uses Instagram to expose greenwashing and organise accountability campaigns, while journalist Tamsin Blanchard and psychologist Dion Terrelonge advocate sewing, clothing repair, personal style and greater awareness of the emotional motives behind consumption. The piece concludes that social media can either reinforce exploitation or support solidarity and systemic change, depending on how people use it.

The Zetter Bloomsbury is presented as a quietly luxurious 68-room boutique hotel in a Georgian townhouse near Russell Square and the British Museum. The review praises its antique-filled, richly decorated interiors, homely atmosphere, attentive service, comfortable rooms, Orangery breakfast and afternoon tea, and atmospheric Parlour bar. Facilities include a 24-hour gym and complimentary electric bikes, while the hotel offers two accessible bedrooms, dog-friendly rooms for a fee, and interconnecting rooms for families. It is recommended for romantic escapes and travelers who enjoy historic glamour and elaborate interiors, but not for minimalists.

Fashion designer Benedict Lamb uses British wool, traditional Saori weaving and collaborations with Norfolk-based weavers to promote slower, lower-energy, durable clothing production. As an ambassador for Balance.eco, he advocates moving beyond conventional carbon offsetting toward the restoration of forests, biodiversity and local communities. Balance founder Dan Morrell describes an integrated model combining emissions measurement, reforestation, wildlife corridors and sustainable livelihoods, while Lamb argues that fashion can help reconnect consumers with materials, landscapes and craftsmanship.

Central Saint Martins’ Makers Camp: The West Africa Project is helping fashion students confront the industry’s extraction, pollution and waste by connecting design with farming, local fibres and traditional manufacturing. Students’ documentary work on British wool highlights the environmental and cultural value of domestic materials, while Fibreshed promotes regional fibre systems linking soil health, agriculture and textile production. Designers and activists including Joe Corré, Safia Minney and members of The Light House argue that small-scale craft, local supply chains and heritage techniques can reduce consumption, support rural communities and create a fairer, more transparent alternative to fast fashion.

Fashion is being reshaped by artificial intelligence, wellbeing-focused consumer experiences and the rapid mainstreaming of resale, particularly in the UK. AI is changing supply chains, product discovery and customer service, while shoppers increasingly value belonging, emotional connection and lifestyle experiences over constant microtrend consumption. Resale platforms such as Vinted are growing rapidly, and retailers including Selfridges are developing circular-sales strategies. Despite tariffs, rising costs and weak consumer confidence, shoppers remain willing to spend on meaningful, durable products, suggesting that brands offering emotional, ethical and financial value will be best positioned for 2026.

A documentary led by director Julia Parnell examines fashion’s apparent retreat from body diversity amid the popularity of Ozempic and Wegovy. Interviews with curve models Isabella Moore and Hannah Janes describe falling demand, reduced representation on catwalks and shoots, damaging casting practices, fatphobia and the mental-health costs of maintaining a thin body. The series also explores how race, culture and Western beauty standards shape opportunities, including Moore’s experience as a Samoan New Zealander. Its central argument is that the renewed thin ideal reflects deeper cultural and commercial pressures, making sustained inclusion difficult even after the body-positivity movement gained prominence.

Safia Minney, founder of People Tree and Fashion Declares, has launched Indilisi, a slow-fashion label and traceable fabric initiative designed to support artisans, fair wages, regenerative farming and lower-impact production. The article contrasts the brand’s organic, handwoven and hand-tailored garments with the waste and emissions associated with ultra-fast fashion companies such as Shein and Temu. Indilisi works with Chetna Organic in India and Swallows, a fair-trade social enterprise in Bangladesh, while Fashion Declares campaigns for UK regulation addressing tax loopholes, textile waste and environmental labelling. The initiative reflects growing interest in second-hand, handmade and made-to-order clothing, although Minney acknowledges that producing ethical garments at fair prices remains commercially difficult.

Fashion is presented as a possible daily ritual for healing, reconnection and resistance to fast-fashion consumption. Karishma Singh Kelsey advocates intuitive, nature-connected dressing; artist Ben Edge highlights British folk customs as sources of community, creativity and ecological awareness; and farmer-knitwear designer Katie Allen demonstrates how regenerative agriculture and limited, hand-made production can give garments greater meaning. Together, their approaches frame clothing as a relationship with land, labour and identity rather than merely a commodity.

Bioregional fashion seeks to replace globalized, extractive fast-fashion systems with clothing made from locally grown fibres, salvaged textiles and community-based skills. Activist Sara Arnold advocates “defashioning” through shared workshops, clothing swaps and textile commons, while Fantasy Fibre Mill develops low-cost machinery for processing British flax and wool. Designers including Laura Basevi and Justine Aldersey-Williams demonstrate urban textile reuse and fully homegrown garment production. The approach is presented as environmentally regenerative, socially fair and creatively viable rather than merely austere or utilitarian.

Nature, community and craft are presented as ways to transform fashion from a cycle of consumption into a practice of participation and accountability. Kate Fletcher argues that time spent in the natural world can reshape clothing habits, while Tina Wetshi links fashion’s dysfunction to alienated supply chains and promotes collaboration, knitting and visible mending. Georgina Gould emphasizes nature’s benefits for mental health and reconnection with personal values. The feature concludes that slower consumption, repair, ethical materials and stronger relationships with land and makers could make fashion less exploitative and more sustainable.

A white paper from Fashion Declares and Bates Wells urges the UK to overhaul fast-fashion regulation through three measures: ending the de minimis import-tax exemption, introducing textile Extended Producer Responsibility fees, and requiring Digital Product Passports. Campaigners argue the reforms would prevent overseas ultra-fast-fashion retailers from undercutting UK businesses, make brands accountable for textile waste, improve supply-chain transparency and help the UK compete with regulatory efforts in Europe and the US. The proposals will be shared with MPs and other stakeholders as campaigners seek broader legislative change.

Manon Les Suites is a Bali-inspired, five-star hotel in central Copenhagen, known for its tropical Junglefish Pool, colourful interiors and relaxed luxury. The review praises the efficient service, stylish suites, organic breakfast and Chapung restaurant, as well as the hotel's long-standing environmental practices. Drawbacks include limited accessibility, the absence of a spa and bathtubs, and a minimum guest age of 15. It is best suited to travellers seeking laid-back luxury rather than traditional Danish design.