I wrote this feature for the amazing Elizabeth Stiles’ blog.

One of the highest contributing factors to the future of retail is the growing sensitivity towards sustainability and pollution. Consumers continue to fall out of love with fast fashion companies such as Primark due to its inability to adopt a more ethical and eco-friendly strategy towards manufacturing. Yet, these ethical items are often paired with a significantly higher price point and therefore pose the question: is sustainable fashion strictly for the wealthy?

Unfortunately, the pace of fast fashion has begun to warp our idea of value. Although we are all prone to purchase that £5 t-shirt, it has a huge cost, both socially and environmentally. According to the WWF, one cotton t-shirt can use up to 2,700 litres of water, with jeans using approximately 11,000 litres. If fast fashion didn’t satisfy the general consumer’s needs of purchasing little and often…