Are You Past It Or Sustainable
.... her new BFF was her Brabantia kitchen bin and whilst I was still slightly reeling from this comment, another dear friend asked me if duct taping her most treasured sheets together was a sign of losing it? After gathering my scattered thoughts amid these two revelations I began to ponder sustainability and what it encompasses. These days we’re constantly questioned via various mediums what we are doing in the fight to protect the place we live and how we consume.
By consume I mean, what we buy and from where. For example, we can now buy fish that has been farmed sustainably ie bred in an environment that doesn’t damage their natural evolution and fished in quantities that avoid the fish becoming an endangered species. This has to be a good thing, regardless of you views on climate change and global warming, just in terms of excess waste alone.
Being sustainable doesn’t mean something as grandiose as saving a rain forest though. Just the other day I was changing out our bath towels and retrieved from our linen closet a set of towels from Harrods that I had bought when I was 21! Now I lurrve Harrods’ towels and in fact I pretty much love H.A. Rods too, as we affectionately call it. These towels are, I am a tad embarrassed to admit, are old. They are still fluffy, still soft, faded yellow although they weren’t bright yellow to begin with, still holding all their threads together, no pilling or unraveling – in fact this is why I lurve Harrods’ towels. They are just brilliant.
However as I stood there marveling at their longevity, yes I know perhaps I need to get out more, it occurred to me this is a perfect example of sustainability. Buying good quality, a little more expensive goods and keeping them forever is one way of doing your bit towards the environment.
Just the other night we went out for dins and as I slipped on a pair of leopard prints heels and reached for my leopard handbag, I realized again I had bought this handbag just a few years after my towels from another wonderful emporium, Russell & Bromley.
I gaily told my finance I was holding what is considered in the US as a “vintage” handbag! Which made me pause for thought as the realization I hadn’t bought vintage, but had owned it so long it had become vintage, which meant I was so old, which begged the question was I was now vintage ….. Always a nasty shock.
When I created SoffiaB beauty, quality and comfort were at the forefront of my mind, however sustainability also played into it too. Silk worms can be sustainably harvested and if you’ve ever had the pleasure to attend a Hermès scarf demonstration that is exactly what they do to ensure the quality and growth of the silk worms.
Whilst we don’t have our own silk worm farms (yet) it was important that our luxury silk robes were not the throw away tatty terry robe or the cotton spa robe that falls to pieces after a few washes. We hoped our customers would buy more than one robe during their lifetime, but because they liked them so much and wanted to have them at all their houses and for all seasons, not because they needed to replace it due to shabby quality! Even if they only bought one, they would love it first and foremost, but secondly they would appreciate the quality and know this silk robe would stand the test of time and remain in their closets for a while.
So tell me do you have items like these? Do you have certain pieces of clothing that are vintage or items around the house that you’ve used forever?
Look Gorgeous, Feel Fabulous - Sophie