GUILT-FREE
SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING
STORM IN A TEACUP
With the aim of taking the ‘fast’ out of fashion, this Kingsland Road concept store champions a green approach to luxury clothing by buying and selling rare vintage. Stylist Joe Miller and model girlfriend Claudia Raba fill their boutique with pieces that have history sewn into every thread, from vintage Chanel handbags to Vivienne Westwood Pirate boots. There’s also an old-fashioned sweet shop in store to sweeten the deal.
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366 Kingsland Road, E8 4DA.
020 8127 5471
LOWIE
Geared towards Herne Hill’s yummy mummies, this eco-conscious boutique creates clothes with an easy wearability and minimal environmental impact. Ethically sourced cashmere sweaters and organic cotton sundresses are the brand’s bread and butter and founder Bronwyn Lowenthal regularly visits her hand-selected manufacturers to ensure fair working conditions.
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115 Dulwich Road, SE24 0NG.
020 7733 0040
DANAQA
Danaqa means ‘pleasantly surprised’ in Amharic, which accurately sums up this humble shop in Notting Hill. Partners David and Nadia source unique items directly from women’s groups across Africa and the Middle East, from beautiful Iranian embroidered jewellery to the handwoven Zambezi baskets. Amazingly, the pair can often recall the names of the women behind each creation.
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Unit 21, 281 Portobello Road, W10 5TZ.
No phone.
MINNA
Above a church on Brixton Road, you will find Minna Hepburn’s eco-luxe vintage bridal boutique. Using antique lace and organic fabric to craft her gowns, the Finnish designer is as scrupulous about zero waste as she is bespoke design, employing the off-cuts for embellishments and accessories. In 2009 she launched a cute kidswear collection with each piece made entirely from end of roll textiles.
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90 Brixton Road, SW9 6BE.
020 7735 3270
GANESHA
Trading in ethically-minded homeware for over 20 years, this fair trade boutique is one of the best loved in London. Sourcing goods from local co-operatives in India, Bangladesh and beyond, Ganesha’s offering includes Bangali handloom bed linen, lamps made from recycled tin and leaf-wrapped organic soaps made in Pondicherry.
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3-4 Gabriels Wharf, 56 Upper Ground, SE1 9PP.
020 7928 3444
THE THIRD ESTATE
Best known for its selection of vegan leather shoes, this popular Camden boutique has an emphasis on cruelty-free and ethically-traded fabric and manufacture. The Third Estate also champions socially-conscious brands including sweatshop-free denim label Monkee Genes and eco-fabric brand Komodo alongside its own printed t-shirt line, which fittingly uses organic inks.
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27 Brecknock Road, N7 0BT.
020 3620 2361
69B BOUTIQUE
Situated amid the hustle and bustle of Broadway Market, this beautiful boutique shows just how far ‘green’ has come since the days of sludgy hemp. Owner Merryn Leslie – a talented stylist and former fashion editor at i-D Magazine – brings together some of the best labels with good intentions including Riyka, Beaumont Organic and East London label Here Today Here Tomorrow.
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69B Broadway Market, E8 4PH.
020 7249 9655
TRAID DALSTON
Traid (which stands for Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) is an initiative dedicated to stopping clothes from reaching landfills, with eleven charity shops across London. Unmistakable for its quirky window displays, Traid’s latest outpost in Dalston is also the largest, stocking a wealth of pre-loved threads, homeware and haberdashery, plus its own waste textile fashion label Traidremade.
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106-108 Kingsland High Street, E8 2NS.
020 7923 1396
URBAN OUTFITTERS
It may be one of the biggest names on the high street, but Urban Outfitters is ahead of the mass-produced-pack as far as sustainability is concerned. Its successful Urban Renewal range champions upcycled vintage, while its Oxford Street flagship has introduced an in-house brand Rework, which includes stylish, British-made collections crafted from remnant fabric.
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200 Oxford Street, W1D 1NU.
020 7907 0800
MARY’S LIVING & GIVING SHOP FOR SAVE THE CHILDREN
When retail doyenne Mary Portas opened her first charity shop for Save The Children in 2009, she single-handedly spearheaded a charity shop revolution. Now with eighteen shops in the capital, each with its own unique design, the community-based boutiques have built a reputation as the place to uncover luxury labels – often donated new by generous brands – at silly prices. The store in Chiswick, with its Jackson Pollock-style paint-splattered floor, is a good place to source works by local artists, while the picturesque Primrose Hill outpost is the best place to plunder cast-offs from the area’s well-heeled residents. Victoria Beckham famously donated 25 of daughter Harper’s outfits when the shop opened. Note: the best time to visit is late on Friday or first thing Saturday morning, when extra stock hits the floor in preparation for the weekend.
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109 Regent’s Park Road, NW1 8UR.
020 7586 9966
