Eco-festive sweater wear

Eco-festive sweater wear

Christmas jumper day (Friday 10 December) is a brilliant day. It raises important funds for the charity, Save the Children, as people rock up to work and school rocking a Christmas Jumper. What better reason to go out and shop for something new to wear? But what price does this pay?

Sadly, our love of novelty Christmas jumpers is helping to fuel the world’s plastic pollution crisis.

Last year a report revealed that 12 million jumpers are purchased each year, despite 65 million already sat in our wardrobes. It will also trigger huge amounts of plastic waste. Their analysis of 108 garments on sale this year across high streets, found that 95% of the jumpers were made wholly or partly of plastic materials, putting the Christmas Jumper as one of the world’s worst examples of fast fashion.

We don’t want you to miss out on the fun of a festive fleece. We think it’s a great way to bring people together to raise funds for inspiring work and spreading some Christmas joy. But guess what? You can have your festive fleece AND be kind to the planet.

Here are some Eco-festive sweater top tips:

✔️ Refresh your memory on what is in your wardrobe before you buy anything new.

✔️ Take part in a Christmas clothes swap.

✔️ Scroll through your local selling site.

✔️ Bid on a jumper into a new home via eBay.

✔️ Take a browse through Vinted or Gum Tree. 

✔️ Rummage through your local charity shop.

✔️ Swap with family members, friends or colleagues to wear something new without the cost.

✔️ Keep hold of children’s Christmas wear for their younger siblings to use.

✔️ Upcycling old Christmas jumpers into new creations like stockings or reusable wrapping bags.

✔️ Craft with the kids. Reuse items of old clothing by crafting pom poms and cutting out felt to glue onto existing white, red and green garments.

✔️ Check out custom clothing company, ICON, who's launched a limited edition gender-neutral range of alternative Christmas jumpers, that offers a more sustainable solution to consumers. All three of the jumpers within the range are completely reversible; with one side featuring a Christmas design for when you’re feeling festive, and plain fabric on the other side for when the Christmas season ends - making it the perfect winter staple! 

✔️ Remember, it's not just about jumpers. You can do the same with hats, coats, scarves, boots and dresses!