Do someone a favour for fashion

Vinspired.com has teamed with up with top British designer Ben De Lisi and T4 presenter Miquita Oliver to call on every 16-25 year old in England to join Fashion Favours – a unique fashion collection being created by volunteers purely from recycled and customised clothing. The initiative aims to highlight some of the socio-environmental issues around the fashion industry.

UK households throw 900,000 items of clothing a year and are living in a culture of disposable throwaway fashion. The campaign aims to raise awareness of these issues, as well helping people learn skills to save, and make the most of their clothing. Recycling clothing has social, environmental and economic benefits for society at large. The campaign calls on volunteers to help us make that difference. The collection will also raise money for HIV charity Body & Soul.

The initiative is part of a new ‘Favours’ campaign to transform negative perceptions of volunteering and show that volunteering is as simple as doing a favour.

Ben De Lisi is leading a collection of fashion items called ‘Fashion Favours’, customised and recycled by volunteers. The collection will form the world’s biggest ‘virtual wardrobe’ online at vinspired.com. People can download a fashion tips kit created by De Lisi to help them change their clothes, and sign up for the customisation workshops being held across England with leading recycled fashion designers – Kesh, Traid, Goodone and Junky Styling.

Key pieces from the collection will appear in a fashion show in December, as well as showcasing in Debenhams window displays across England. All garments will be auctioned off to help raise funds for HIV charity, Body & Soul as well as a selection of exclusive celebrity-customised clothes also up for grabs.

Ben De Lisi added: “It’s a shocking how many clothes we throw away each year. The ‘Fashion Favours’ collection represents the difference doing a small favour can make in collectively benefiting society. I’m excited to be working with young volunteers to pass on my skills so they can help reverse some the bad ‘fast fashion’ habits we’ve all adopted. Get onto vinspired.com and get involved.”

Miquita Oliver commented:

“Fashion Favours’ is a great chance for people to work with some of the best people in the fashion business, either learning from them at the workshops on online at vinspired.com – all while doing a favour. I can’t wait to see the outfits that the volunteers create.”

The workshops for the Fashion Favours collection will take place over the weekends of November 8-9 and 15-16. They can be found at:

November 8 & 9, Manchester - Kesh
November 8 & 9, Bristol - Traid
November 15 & 16, London - Junky Styling
November 15 & 16, Nottingham - Goodone

For more ideas on favours you can do, go to visit vinspired.com. Recruitment for the Favours fashion workshops is open now at vinspired.com.