Making Ethical Outfit Choices Through Investment Pieces

Fashion Revolution Week has just begun and the question “Who Made My Clothes?” is beginning to resonate within the minds of all influencers, instagrammers and consumers alike. When 2018 first began one of my main goals was to shop more ethically and support smaller fashion labels. While I’ve already talked about one of my favourite, more affordable ethically-made brands called Stay Home Club, today I wanted to feature something a little more high-end.

If you live in Dublin and like me are a frequent wanderer of the Creative Quarter, you may have already come across Hades Wool along your travels in the Powerscourt Townhouse centre. Or if not, the brand has been sported by many of the elite in London’s high fashion world and has been seen styled many times by Alexa Chung.

What made me fall in love with this brand aside from the fact that I was completely enamoured by their adorable embroidered slogans, was the fact that such care and attention goes into the quality of the garments. Each knit is specially created by hand and made to be durable enough to last a lifetime. The knits are all made in Scotland using Italian Merino Wool and embroidered with phrases that pay tribute to interior life and the hidden sentiments that we tend to shy away from the world. A large part of the brand’s aesthetic in its designs is the contrast between hidden emotions to wearing these secret feelings in bold print and in plain vision.

The sweater I’m wearing for today’s look reads “Hello Sadness” and in my mind it gives a nod to Françoise Sagan’s “Bonjour Tristesse,” one of my favourite love stories set in France. I love playing with the irony of the slogan on this sweater, particularly as I walk around the streets of Paris with a huge smile on my face. This look really captures a lot of the sentiments of living abroad in a new city, encountering new experiences in France, the romantic aspects of Paris as well as the concept of having your heart broken. It has a lot of stories to tell and I really love that about it.

I’m not going to lie to you when I say that the brand Hades Wool is on the more expensive side of the market. However their prices can be justified with the idea in mind that the quality is made to stand the test of time. Sometimes part of shopping ethically means spending more money on quality pieces and knowing when to invest. The fabric on this jumper is so soft and so breathable, so you don’t need to worry about it ending up in the back of your wardrobe until winter.

I was lucky enough to nab this sweater secondhand on Depop. If you guys haven’t heard of this app, it’s basically like a version of instagram where you can buy and sell whatever you like. I find its particularly good for cheap designer clothes, independent labels and vintage.

And that’s it for today’s outfit. I really hope you guys enjoyed. Have you been trying to make more ethical clothing choices this year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below! The sweater I am wearing is sold out on the Hades site but you can find it in navy from Atrium Dublin here.

That’s it from me for now. Thank you so much for reading and I’ll see you very soon in our next post.

~Mandy xx