Barley was appointed by the retail arm of children’s charity Barnardo’s to help launch their Summer Campaign. The aim was to get Brits to think ‘pre-loved’ before buying new and check out the gems to be found at their local Barnardo’s store.
Summer is the season for weddings, festivals and holidays – often perceived to require new or specific kinds of outfits. We wanted to shine a spotlight on the acceleration of fast fashion consumption over the summer season, so we commissioned a poll by Censuswide to find out how much the UK is spending on single-use summer clothes.
The results were astonishing. Brits spend £2.7 billion on 50.3 million summer outfits that will only be worn once; nearly £800 million of which goes towards single-use wedding outfits alone. But by far the biggest indulgence is outfits for holidays: Brits spend over £700 million on 11 million outfits that are bought purely for a holiday and never worn again.
The story achieved phenomenal pick up in the media, including ITV News, Channel 5, Sky News, BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, MailOnline and Press Association. As a result, Barnardo’s was put very much on the map in the fight against throw-away fashion, and the polling results continue to be quoted on an ongoing basis in features and articles about sustainable fashion.