Shopping sustainably with Moo

Our Blossom award-winning style guru, Amanda, has worked in television for over 20 years with presenters including Natasha Kaplinsky, Kirsty Young, Kirsty Gallacher and is now a personal stylist to our Blossom ladies, sharing all the inside tricks of the trade.  We wanted to know more about how Amanda shops.

Hi ladies. Im Amanda and I want to share a little bit of me with you. Lets start with how I shop these days and why. Today we are much more aware of sustainability and the impact of fashion on the planet. I like to encourage my clients to shop sustainably and ethically. Your fabric choices can have a bigger impact than you think. One of my favourite brands I’ve come across that embraces this but still at a great price point is Vero Moda & I love that Blossom is one of the few places in Lancashire you can actually shop it. Don’t worry you can shop online too if you can’t make it in to the Boutique. I love that they have an amazing curvy range too, up to size 26, and the Vero Moda Curvy range is really made to flatter not simply resizing.

I always check the fabric prior to purchasing a garment – not simply to check how it needs to be washed. Let me take the Vero Moda organic cotton jeans as a classic example. The heavy use of chemicals in cotton farming is causing diseases and premature death among cotton farmers, along with massive water pollution and soil degradation. Organic cotton is grown without harmful fertilisers and pesticides. So not only positively impacting on the land it also isn’t harming the farmers growing and picking it. It’s also much more gentle on our skin when we wear it. On top of that the cut of these Shape Up jeans are SUPER flattering. They have darts to lift and sculpt. I would buy no other type of skinny jean. And as a pear shape skinny jeans are not my best friend…but with this cut, they are. (Click here to shop our Shape up jeans)

Also Vero Moda make a lot of their clothing out of Tencel. This fabric is made from eco-friendly wood pulp and with a system that recycles 99% of its water and solvents. This ensures reduction of the amount of the earth’s resources that are used. Super clever. Also it is incredibly soft and washes well. It’s the perfect choice for clothing and I’d highly recommend especially if you haven’t tried it before. (Click here to shop our Vero Moda T-shirts)

Let’s also bear in mind the price per wear. We want to ensure that each garment we buy we wear as many times as possible. This lovely Vero Moda grey coat is £90 and uses recycled wool saving on landfill and energy. As it’s in a neutral colour you can wear it for years. Perhaps one year with a fabulous teal scarf and the next with a strong purple. Let’s imagine you wear a coat for 6 months of the year (we know it’s much more really but I’m not wanting to appear too biased!). And if you wore this coat half the time – in all honesty if you’re like me you wear the same coat all winter. In year 1 that would mean every time you wore the coat it would cost you £1, when you did the same in year 2 it would be down to 50p per wear. And in year 3 it would be 30p each time. Although I keep wearing my coats for a lot more than 3 years!

Knowing your own style can bring so much more confidence and ease of dressing every day, as well as saving you money in the long run. I’m here if you need any more advice at www.moostyle.co.uk or please find Moo Style VIPs on facebook for style short cuts and tips. I’ll also keep popping up at Blossom Boutique both in person and in line – so keep an eye out for me. I’m the one with the red hair!