Craft of Use
Photo gallery
Adapted from Kate Fletcher’s work in post-growth fashion, learn more at www.CraftofUse.org
“What if we pay attention to tending and wearing garments? What if we favour their use as much as their creation? The Craft of Use – the satisfying and resourceful ideas and practices associated with using clothes – changes the way we think about care for the future in unprecedented, profound ways. For what the craft of use represents is compelling possibilities and practicalities for fashion mainly within the clothes we already have. Use is not dependent on producing and consuming more. It takes its bearings from the skills, practices and ideas of tending and wearing, in the context of real lives. The craft of use is a glimpse of fashion not dependent on a growth economy or rising consumption alone.” – Kate Fletcher
The most sustainable item of clothing is the one already in your closet
In order to foster a deeper connection to our clothes, we’re telling the stories about our connections to them.
We ran a photo shoot day in March 2024 to kick off the project and the second photoshoot day at the opening night of Fashion Revolution Week 2024. Ginny Koppenhol photographed the participants at the first two events. Images below are hers unless otherwise noted.
Join in by adding your Photo + Story to the Gallery
Enda
I’ve had this jumper for more than 30 years. Bought new, it cost a lot at the time. I loved the vibrant colour, the fabric – 80% Silk/20% Cotton – and the feel of the yarns to wear, the silk giving it a weight which is both light and felt on my body.
It lay dormant for many years, but I could never quite be parted from it.
A few years ago, rediscovered, it somehow fitted even better with how my body has changed and with this the kind of clothes I like to wear, for ease and a sense of freedom of movement. It is roomy and feels like an old friend to wear.
I’ve had these linen trousers for over 20 years – bought second hand, a quality garment made from 100% linen. Unworn for years but now rediscovered, too, and flowing and easy to wear. Love it with the jumper!
The jumper is threadbare in places and has been mended both visibly and invisibly in many places. Always handwashed. I think this gives it a feeling of being cared for, as an old, loved companion should be.
Ryan
This outfit was special to me, not because of anything sentimental about most of the pieces, but because it represented a shift in how I saw myself. I have always been into fashion. I was frequently “accused” of being “metrosexual”, which I never quite saw as a negative thing. However, I was always conscious of looking like I was trying too hard or aware that I may be perceived as flamboyant.
About two years ago, my partner got me some secondhand Christian Dior sunglasses for Christmas and it kind of sparked me leaning into my desire to be more fashion forward. I went through some experimentation, until I converged on a style which was flowy, somewhat gender non-conforming and aligned with how I always wanted to dress but was too shy for it.
This particular getup was my fit on a night out in Liverpool last year. Unprompted, 3 completely unrelated strangers came up to me during the evening to say: “You are so fashionable”, “Wow, you’re lovely!” and “You’re drippy as f^ck” (Just quoting :D). Leaning into being standout and different really spiked my confidence and prevents me from trying to fit into what others want of me. It makes me much more comfortable in my own skin and that apparently shows.
Nomi
I have been interested in natural fibres, reusing clothes and slow fashion for years. I get most of my items from Ebay or Vinted, and add wool or good quality basics: ‘fewer better things’. I am not interested in fast fashion at all and find the synthetic fabrics they often use very uncomfortable against my skin. Since my style is quite constant, I own items that I have had for decades and still wear.
Today, my outfit is a very typical representation of what I tend to wear: a second hand linen dress from OffOn clothing, a wool coat from Arket, and wool M&S tights. The Aurora shoes which I found new on ebay too are also slow fashion.
Last year I read a bit about mediaeval clothing and how the people then used wool to stay dry, so when my raincoat gave up the ghost, I decided to try and see how far I would get with just a pure wool outer layer. I walk everywhere and raincoats can get you just as wet on the inside if you are busy. So, I found this wool coat, which is unlined, and for a year it really did serve me well, in all weathers (however, I have bought a raincoat since, because… well, Lancaster!).
The oldest item I am wearing today is my bag, which I have had for over ten years. I saw it in a big chain store when I was teaching a workshop in London, but didn’t buy it then. However I kept thinking about it and Googled the name, found the maker on Etsy and got it after all. It has been brilliant, just big enough to fit my entire life in, but not too big to carry daily. I love how the leather has taken on a patina over the years. Twice I lost the buckle strap—it is a bit of a design flaw that the hole gets too stretched and the strap can fall off—but I managed to replace it, once a cobbler helped me out, and the second time I cut off a bit of the shoulder strap. Long may it stay with me!
Endar
Interestingly, most of [my outfit] comes from a dear friend. We often do this, we often swap and share clothes. So, my friend, Gina, had given this coat to another friend, Gisela, and then I had another, a cord, green cord coat, and we swapped…because I think it was thought after I’d been wearing it for many years, the green coat was probably a bit too big for me. It didn’t matter because I enjoyed wearing it. It was the right softness and weight, if you like, for certain weathers. Those in-between days, you know, before a season hits proper.
Coincidentally, the trousers I’m wearing have also come via circuitous route from my friend when I said, ‘I’m short of trousers’, and she said, ‘well, here, have these’. And my jumper, has also come from the same friend, and I’ve had that for years and years and years. The scarf was a good find from somewhere, a charity shop, I think. And the hat’s from my friend as well.
I buy very little new, if anything. I avoid buying new clothes. So, yeah, mostly I’m kitted out. My wardrobe is turned over through friends, and because I’m usually, being quite slight, I usually get people’s casts off as their figure changes. I have a whole wardrobe. My house is full of everybody else’s furniture, and what I wear is full of the stuff that comes my way.
Tom
This jumper is a lovely relaxed fit and very warm and comfy to wear. The contrast stitches and yarn adds really good texture. Stripes have always been a favourite and it seems to be for the rest of the family too. Katrina wore it for many years and we even have a faded photo of her wearing it on Christmas Day complete with tinsel round her neck in 1989. Our eldest daughter then took a liking to it, wearing it regularly throughout her teenage years. Although thinking back, that was probably due to her very cold attic bedroom, rather than the style of the jumper– it’s very warm and comfortable to wear. Some years later it was unearthed from under her bed, when I spotted it and have been wearing it ever since.
It was purchased in 1988 from a shop in Stockport called Caine Clothes a legendary seller of French Connection samples and over-makes. It was always an extremely exciting place to visit and you could often come away with a high quality garment for very little money. The jumper is made of 100% wool and was manufactured in India. It’s been carefully mended many times but now bigger holes have appeared so it’s time to move on to some bolder and more visible techniques and possibly adding on freshly knitted cuffs. It’s definitely got many more years of wearing ahead. Whose turn next?
Fariha
I have a friend who goes round charity shops and she finds items that are slightly damaged and that would probably just get thrown in their shoddy bin, or, you know, they’re a markdown and she takes them and then she gets fragments of fabric, soft cuts of fabric, and she magically combines them into looking fabulous.
She does leggings, she does dresses, she does skirts, and that’s really her business, that she makes these things and she sells them on.
And it’s brilliant and it all just kind of really spreads through word of mouth. People see something and they go, that’s amazing, where did you get it? And you go, you can never find it again. So they’re all one-off pieces, but I think that’s what’s so good about it, that it’s all pre-loved stuff that would have been thrown away or ragged and instead it creates fabulous outfits.
So it’s Mischievous Markets if you want to search on Facebook. It’s just amazing what she does… Quite often she’ll find something that she thinks, oh, so-and-so would like that. So she always kind of contacts me and says, no pressure, but I saw this and I thought of you or I made this and I thought of you. So yeah, it’s like having your own personal designer.
Ellen
Everything I’m wearing today has a story and I love the clothes for their connections.
My Gran loved the walking in the hills in the Lake District and always bought good quality things that she looked after well. The black fleece is a Rohan one and my Gran always bought Rohan clothes. This feels like a strong connection to her as she gave it to me probably about 25 years ago!
My Mum made me the skirt, so I always keep it for special occasions. The jumper is a maternity one from when I was pregnant, so it reminds me of that special time and just thinking about my daughter makes me smile!
When my Gran died last November aged 96 I realised I was from a line of strong women. This outfit sort-of brings together four generations and feels like it stretches from the Langdales to a hopefully peaceful, nature-filled future!
Andy (my partner) bought me the purple wool and my lovely friend Beccy knitted it into this scarf.
I don’t usually pay much attention to what I wear any more, but these reflections have left me feeling snuggled up in connections to family, friends and landscapes.
Judy
I just got into this decorative mending and decorative darning and prolonging the life of clothes. And I stopped buying new clothes, because at my age I don’t need new clothes anymore. So, and I happened to like this shirt when I sat on something and it made a stain on the back side and I didn’t know what to do with it. So I started patching it with flowers on. Various flowers in various patches, where the spots were. And that’s what I ended up with. This was the first attempt at doing decorative mending. And so I was fairly proud of it. I thought, well, let’s wear it and go get a photo of it.
Rory
All of the layers are second hand except the jacket and the backpack. It’s all from Vinted.
I think one of my pockets was broken on my over shirt and I stitched it back up myself before going out with friends because I wanted to wear it but I was like ah the pocket looks like it’s a little bit torn, so I quickly stitched it up with the wrong colour thread but no one will ever know because I did a good job even though it was a little bit messy. It’s pretty hidden. The jacket is Salomon because I am a Salomon athlete and the bag is from another marketing gig by Red. Yeah, everything is second hand.
Alice
I do tend to become attached and never want to throw my clothes out. My partner tells me that’s a painting shirt now, but I will be wearing it till it falls off my back.
James
My t-shirt, so first it was a gift, it’s not the kind of t-shirt that I would buy myself. A friend called Jessam, Brazilian guy, very amusing, and he, so it was a present, and so I wouldn’t buy it myself because it’s kind of kit—sort of touristy, the kind of thing I’d like to imagine myself that I’m not, but I like the fact that… reminds me of, it makes me think tropicality—our stereotypes, prejudices, perceptions of the tropics, etc… and I guess also desires for the tropics, so I’m wearing it in sort of semi-ironic way, but it’s something I can’t be fully without, because I’ve obviously desired the tropics and been in the tropics, have a tropical wife… so I like it because it reminds me of… my connection with the tropics—and not to take it too, obviously not taking it too seriously.
[I wear it] like quite a lot, I’m starting to wear it less now because it’s getting old and faded, so, but I’ve worn it a lot, but mainly for very mundane things like cycling, like running, like not to be seen out in.
Kiki
While I hardly ever wear them out, these dungarees are one of my favourite items because they remind me of the things that make me the most ME. They are by no means stylish—or even flattering—but I wear them doing my favourite things like to warm up after going for a swim. These dungarees remind me of the things I never thought I could do but ended up doing really well once I got past myself and just tried.
I made them from a very oversized jumper I’d taken from my friend’s grandfather’s basement in Germany. I spent a summer helping her clear the basement after he passed away, and have fond memories of the time I spent with her and the things we discovered like 20 buckets of honey he’d harvested from his hives (I was gifted one before moving to the UK). I didn’t know very many people when I lived in Germany, I felt quite alone, but the various projects I got up to while living in the attic apartment of are what got me through those days. One thing I did was buy an old tailor’s sewing machine which hardly ever worked properly. I never really knew if it was machine error or operator error. I spent 2 years taking it apart and putting it back together. No one ever saw most of what I made, I just wanted to work out how to transfer things in my head into functional, 3D things in real life. I used all upcycled materials like tablecloths and old jumpers.
The original jumper was massive, and I managed to use everything from it, apart from the seams, to make these dungarees. The front and back panels became the legs (you can see the buttons down one side – still waiting to be turned into a pocket), the arms became the front and back vest portion. The collar became the straps. The only addition is the thread!
Vanessa
The socks say ‘donut worry’ and I wore them to a house viewing and took off my shoes to go inside. The estate agent kind of looked at my socks and went, haha. Anyway, the house was beautiful. I loved it. And I made an offer on the spot because he said they’d got seven viewings that day and five of the seven were cash buyers. So I then went to a cafe and discussed it with my sister. He said he’d phone me two days later at lunchtime. He didn’t phone me, so I started getting a bit stressed because I’m keen on this house. So I texted him to say, just don’t want to hassle you, just want to know, have you heard anything about, you know, what offer they accepted? And he sent the text back, ‘donut worry.’ There were five cash offers and they’ve chosen you.
Victoria
I love the colours of this blouse, it cheers me up every time I wear it! I got it for my mum donkey years ago from a fast fashion brand, and over a decade after I’m still wearing it, I haven’t had to mend it even once! I wash it by hand though, because I want it to outlive me.
Judith
This jumper is really tatty now, it’s green and black, it’s quite graphic and it’s got quite a punk aesthetic to it. My mum knitted it for me in 1985, about the time, well just after the time of the New Romantics and I used to go clubbing a lot and when I was at university here in Lancaster and I wore this jumper virtually every day, the jumper, you know, and I used to have this, I don’t have a lot of designer clothes but I did have this designer skirt from Joseph in London, it was a leather skirt, a leather mini skirt, I used to wear this jumper with this skirt and these big earrings and a shirt and fishnet ties and I thought I was the business.
And yeah, it just brings back really happy memories. But the reason I came down today specifically was because my mum died five weeks ago. She was 94 and she’d been declining for quite a while and it was her funeral this week. So I saw Ginny’s post on LinkedIn and I knew that she’d done some pictures for colleagues of mine, professional business pictures and I just thought, you don’t get a chance to get a professional picture done for nothing in the week that you’ve had your mum’s funeral, wearing the jumper that means such a lot to you, so that’s why I’ve come.
Small photo provided by Judith of her with her mum circa 1990 wearing the jumper.
Maysaa
This is not a piece of clothing to me, it’s beyond that. It’s the link between me and my ancestors, it’s the connection to the land that I admire and I belong to. It’s my grandmother’s prayers, dreams and tears. It’s our grandmothers’ woven stories of heritage, pride and dignity. It’s a love letter to a land that runs through my body.
This piece is a gift from my family that I haven’t seen for a very long time. Every time I wear it, I feel the warmth of them that I’m longing for.
Detail of Palestinian thobe, photo provided by Maysaa.
Katrina
On my first trip to Shetland in 1989, I was so impressed with a type of jumper that seemed very popular with the local population. Despite their thickness they could be regularly seen, even in August, worn in place of a coat.
On a return trip, in the early 90’s, I found the shop where they were sold and looked longingly at the rail. The colours and patterns were so beautiful and I was fascinated at the subtle colour blends. Sadly the price was totally off limits for me at that time.
I returned home with visions of those jumpers firmly printed in mind. With my birthday approaching, it dawned on me that I could use any money given and also ‘borrow in advance ’ any Christmas money I might receive. Ofcourse, this was before internet shopping but I did have a phone number of the shop and they were happy to post.
Even to this day it’s probably the most expensive item in my wardrobe. 30 years on it’s in great condition, rarely needs washing and its colours are as bright as the day it was purchased. Thinking of ‘cost per wear’, it has been an absolute bargain.
The jumper has also acted as inspiration for my own knitting, showing me how you can achieve subtle and gradual colour changes using 2 strands of yarn at one time. It is also knitted in the round and has virtually no seams which makes so much sense.
Virginia
The dungarees were in a skip at the university. Green Lancaster were sorting out abandoned student bedding and clothing during lockdown. All the students had had to go and I was helping, looking for white cotton for the dying project and good bedding for refugees. I found a pair of denim dungarees which fit me. I didn’t like the pattern on the front. It was a little sort of Alice in Wonderland girl which didn’t really suit me. But my granddaughter who was then five or four had done some scribbling, early, early art on a piece of paper. And she’d said to me, Nana you can do some sewing with this can’t you? Because she’d seen me use patterns and draw pictures and sew. And I did. And I used various threads and just did running stitch all over a piece of denim according to her design. And then I sewed it on. And I’ve been very happy with it ever since. I love it and she loves it too.
And my cardigan I made myself but it’s Jacob Sheep. I made a sweater from the wool and I loved it when I saw it in the pattern book. And I knit it and it looked fabulous. And I put it on and I realised that although I’d knit it perfectly it wasn’t going to make me the Torfinn woman in the pattern book. I have this problem a lot in short and I think quite stout. So I was really, it looked like I was wearing a barrel. It had horizontal patterns on it in texture. And I did, I just looked like a Michelin woman. So I undid it all. I made a cardigan and put just various different buttons that I’d got from my stash. And again I love it. I hardly ever don’t wear it. And my gloves, I just make gloves and socks all the time. And these were just some yarn that was left over from someone’s socks. And that’s me, that’s my story.
Ginette
Well, the hat I’m wearing is knitted with, I hand knitted it myself, and it’s made with chunky baby alpaca, which is just gorgeous. It keeps your head warm. The reason I like this hat actually is because of my hair. I don’t normally like wearing hats because you get the flat hat thing, so when I take the hat off, my hair is flat on the top and frizzy underneath, and I hate that. This one, I made it like this because it’s nice and loose, so it’s like a cloche hat. So that’s why I like it, and it just keeps your head lovely and warm. It took me an evening to knit. It takes about a couple of hours because it’s so thick.
And also the scarf, which is a silk scarf, which I dyed with cochineal, madder, and logwood, which is a purple. And I sprinkled cochineal on to get that kind of colour. And again, the scarves, I like wearing silk scarves because they keep you really, really warm. And on a day like this in the market stall, it’s getting a bit chilly, it’s good to have, I can put my stock on, I can wear my stock.
Of course, it’s dyed with natural dyes. So this is dyed, so to get the purple, I’ve dyed it with cochineal first, which comes from a beetle. I buy the beetles from a farm in Lanzarote, get the dried beetles, grind them up into powder, and then I boil them up. You don’t need many because it’s really, really strong. So I dye it pink, and then I over-dyed it in indigo, which is the blue, just a quick dip to get the purple.
It’s never a solid color. Everything’s special. Every single skein is different. Yeah, every single one’s different, and that’s what I like about it. So it’s a non-repeatable, you know, it’s just whatever comes out of it.
Janet
So I’m wearing this jumper which is very special because my mum knitted it. My mum has just recently passed away and so it’s just, at the moment I’m every day wearing something that she made because she was just an amazing knitter and she made hats, she made gloves, she made jumpers, so yeah I’ve had quite a lot to choose from and this particular jumper is about 30 years old.
I think it must be wool with nylon to have so much staying power and not have had any moths in it because I’ve lived in some mothy places and I chose the colours and at first she was like, you know, and then because of all the work, because it’s Fair Isle she, you know, protested somewhat but I think she grew to love it as much as I did and in the 90s I was, you know, very bright and breezy and it kind of fitted with me and but I think I can still be bright and breezy even though I’m a bit sad at the moment.
I feel like, you know, her fingers have poured the love into it or at least yeah put the time in that, you know, she wanted it to be finished. She always put time in to anything that she did so she was a big singer as well like me and she, you know, put time in to learn the lyrics in Italian or whatever and then she also put time into, you know, learning how to do so many different, so she could also do, as well as Fair Isle, she could do, what’s the one where they twist around each other? Cable netting, like fisherman’s jumpers and crocheting and, you know, she would follow really complicated patterns and to me that’s like a really big part of her that people tend not to think of her, tend not to associate with her because, you know, she was a mum and she didn’t have a profession or anything. Yeah, she could easily have been forgotten by history but this amazing woman that was prepared to put this time and effort into learning and then making these beautiful things.
It feels like she’s still laughing at me and I hug her. Mums are special, aren’t they?
Roger
But for the fact that my wife decided she was going to wash all my jumpers, [my outfit] would have been all green. [I have] green, red and blue trousers and jumpers to match and shirts to match… sometimes I wear monochrome. Particularly yesterday when it was voting for that young woman at Castle Ward, because they had a Green councillor who left. I assume she got in…
My wife will get the [tailor] to put the collars round the other way. And then I just keep mending them when they go in the elbows and around the collar. I just keep mending them. If you get a nice shirt that you like, you keep it.
I’ve always liked wearing a hat particularly at work, because it gave my clients a chance to avoid me. If they could see this black hat appearing, they could nip into an alleyway and avoid me. But I think you should wear a hat, because it keeps your head warm. You lose a lot of heat from the heat. So I’ve always worn a hat.
Now I wear a flat cap, because I’m involved with a farm in Cumbria. It’s near Sedburgh, they farm Swaledale sheep. And we’re very keen to [support British wool]… Because, you see, it costs £1.50 to shear a sheep. But you only get 50 pence for the fleece. So it’s not economic, but they have to do it, otherwise they boil. And we’re very keen that the wool should be used either locally or somehow in insulation for houses or duvets or whatever. Very keen that it should be used. It hasn’t got miles or anything. It’s not brought in from New Zealand or something.
Melanie
I’m going to give you head to toe. Head to toe. Today I’m wearing… Toe to head. So, I’m wearing some trainers from the local running shop. Because I have problems with my ankle. And a very nice man that works in the independent running shop, Ian, took the time to do a gait analysis and find me a pair of shoes that fit my very large, skinny feet. Cost a bomb, but totally worth it.
My jeans, I purchased yesterday in the sale at Marks and Spencer’s. And were far more expensive than anything I would ever ordinarily buy for a pair of jeans. But they look absolutely gorgeous. So, at the moment, I’m a bit fatter. I’m rocking a size 20. And I walked in and there was a 20 long in Lancaster. There is never a 20 long in Lancaster. In the sale, no less. 65 pounds down to 27. Don’t go to length. They’ll get on my tushy. That’s what I say.
That is topped by an H&M polo neck that I bought about 7 or 8 years ago. A black polo neck is a staple, or turtleneck as we say in America, in my wardrobe. And whether I’ve got some that are from The Gap that are probably 20 odd years old. And then more recent ones that are usually picked up when I’m travelling and go, ‘Oh crikey, I’ve run out of black polo necks.’
…Then we get to the scarf. The scarf is one of the first things I crocheted for myself. It is using a skimpier swirl from the wonderful Ethel and Em shop that I happen to own. And it is a gradient green yarn. Green is sort of my signature colour. And it was a crochet along. It was something that we did, I think, either during the pandemic or as an offshoot of the pandemic. Where me and my knitting community came together. My crochet community, we made things together. And I made the scarf with my girls. And it was ludicrously easy. I could have done it in a week, but I did it over five weeks because it was about the community.
Rachel
Story coming soon
Candy
Story coming soon