Crafted For Forever

There is nothing wrong with loving luxury or desiring beautiful things, but waste is an absolute no-no. Fashion has got a bad reputation as being something that is throw-away, yet it doesn’t have to be that way. Read more in Crafted For Forever.

Fast fashion is not a good business model when it comes to sustainability yet luxury fashion has great potential. Ida and Sign of The Times aim to allow you to feel your very best whilst using luxury fashion to express yourself without contributing to wastefulness. Whilst soon to be released site StyleSwap aims to create a platform that is specifically tailored to you so that you can have fun whilst combatting fast fashion.

New to the scene, Ida is a conscious fashion resale platform designed to make giving garments a second life easier. With a passion to change the industry, Ida represents a new future for pre-owned and affordable luxury fashion.

Providing a platform for affordable luxury brands, Ida resales the high-quality mid-market gems in between high-street and luxury brands to provide them with a second or even third life. Making reselling as smooth as possible, all sellers have to do is order a seller bag that comes with a prepaid shipping label and send in their clothes to Ida who handles the rest and ensures the sellers get paid.

Created with women who are pressed for time and love finding good-quality fashion at a reasonable price but also care for the environment in mind, Ida believes it is possible to enjoy fashion whilst also fighting the negative effects of the industry.

Coming to London as a pop-up, Ida will be showcasing a selection of their best affordable luxury brands from their website as well as providing customers with the opportunity to sell their pieces that they no longer want.

The aim of the pop up is to encourage mindful consumption by including features such as a collection of vintage furniture, repurposed hardware and even egocentric art purchased through collaborations. There will also be a series of inspiring workshops for you to get involved in, featuring everything from styling advice to nail art.

Unlock the potential of your wardrobe with help from Ida, or if you prefer to shop high-end luxury products Sign of The Times is the platform for you.

Sign of The Times is the leading luxury resale platform for preowned designer clothes as well as shoes, bags and jewellery. Aiming to help you create a capsule wardrobe that is cost-effective and good for the environment, CEO Antonia Timpany shares her top tips.

If you want to make a long-term investment in a quality piece that will last forever, think Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes, Antonia states. These big fashion houses update and release their handbags yearly whilst still holding a classic design to ensure they retain their retail price.

This means that you can safely invest in a piece that will maintain its value and also complement almost any outfit, making it a staple for your wardrobe whilst also giving the luxury piece a second life.

Antonia acknowledges that sometimes shopping pre-owned can feel overwhelming as there are so many individual products to browse, so she suggests asking the staff for help as they will have the inside scoop of the best products in-store. This can help you also get a feel for the brand as you will be talking directly to a representative who can make you feel more confident.

A big benefit to shopping preowned is the opportunity to access unique vintage designs that you cannot buy directly from the brand. However, Antonia warns that authenticity can be an issue.

Sign of the Times uses an authentication device to guarantee the product you buy is true to its label but if you want to be thorough, always check the serial codes, stitching and alignment of labels. Sign of The Times guarantees that if your product fails any of these checks, they will offer an authentication service so you can be certain the piece you are buying is authentic.

Launching on the 2nd of November the new digital conscious platform space, StyleSwap, aims to make the buying and selling of fashion a creative and collaborative experience for all whilst also making it cost and time effective. By choosing pre-loved over new, you can drastically help reduce the rate of fast fashion.

Founded by Josephine Waddington in 2019 with the vision to redistribute 10 million pre-loved fashion items by 2026 and to empower a community of women to collaborate to make a positive environmental impact, the new digital customer experience hopes to make positive change.

Through harnessing the power of technology, the platform uses innovative AI to help its users find great fashion that is matched to their body shape, style and chosen occasion. This ensures that the process is much more time effective and filters the platform’s products so that they are specifically tailored to you.

With these three platforms you can not only feel more confident, earn money for clothes you no longer need, but also give a beautifully crafted piece of fashion a second home. Treat yourself to a luxury piece, often at a fraction of the cost, whilst also helping the environment by providing it with a second or even third life with the help of Ida and Sign of The Times.

If you enjoyed reading this, read Destiny: Two Designer’s Tales here.