As retailers approach their busiest time of year and Christmas shopping reaches a near frenzy, students at St.Vincent's school took part in a campaign to reduce, re-use and recycle clothes. The ‘No Buy November’ scheme encourages people to buy and consume less products, in particular non-essential items such as clothes, shoes, bags and to introduce awareness and thought into our spending. The campaign was the brainchild of teachers Bernadette White and Michelle Kelly.
Bernadette explained ‘Fast fashion is one of the biggest polluters in the world today. Our desire to stay on trend is placing huge pressure on the world's resources. Our teenagers own four times the amount of clothes that their parents owned at the same age. We asked students to make a pledge to buy no new clothes for the month of November, instead focusing on what they had in their wardrobe already and repair, repurpose or swap clothes. These small changes can help to reduce the amount of pollution created from the clothing industry.”
A school wide awareness campaign was launched with the support of many teachers and students. Class groups attended talks, given by Sustainable Fashion Dublin, on sustainability, the origin and manufacturing of clothes and the enormous effect waste from these items has on the planet, Students investigated the impact on the environment of transport and manufacturing techniques used in the clothes industry. A swap shop was organised for 6th year students, to avoid sending clothes to landfill. Students also collected dozens of bags of unwanted clothes to donate to National Council of the Blind, ensuring clothes will be resold or recycled rather than dumped.