When you open your wardrobe, what do you see? For many of us it’s a mix of well-loved favourites, a few forgotten impulse buys, and pieces that could use a little care. Sustainable fashion invites us to look at that collection differently. Instead of asking what’s missing, we can ask what more can I do with what I already have?
This year, Sustainable Fashion Week is happening across the UK, bringing communities together to explore creativity, sustainability, and mindful wardrobes. Oxfordshire joins the movement with events and exhibitions showing that sustainable fashion can be accessible, creative, and fun for everyone.
SFW: a National Movement for Change
Sustainable Fashion Week (SFW) is showing that changing the fashion industry starts at the community level. Now, in its fifth year and running from September 27th to October 5th, SFW brings together makers, designers, brands and local groups in a celebration of creativity, climate action, and collective effort. It’s not a traditional fashion week focused on runways and retail, it’s a community-led movement built around the belief that people and nature should come before profit.
Each year, the programme centres on a new theme. This year it’s “Fashion, Reclaimed”, an invitation to reclaim our style, our wardrobes and our relationship with fashion itself. Events across the UK, from sewing workshops and visible mending circles to clothes swaps and bold catwalk shows, explore how we can rethink fashion in ways that reduce waste and reconnect us to the clothes we wear.
This national effort is made up of dozens of local “hubs”, clusters of activity that anchor the movement in different communities. Here in Oxfordshire, Cherwell Collective runs our local hub, connecting the county’s creativity and community spirit to the bigger national picture.
This week, together with CAG Oxfordshire, they hosted a clothes swap at Tap Social, with people swapping 248 items (66kg) and another 61kg donated to local charity the Gatehouse.
A highlight of the week’s programme was Wednesday’s Ripples of Change Sustainable Fashion Show at Blenheim Palace, where designers transform upcycled and unconventional materials into striking new looks. Oxford United football players Naomi Bedeau & Lucy Trinder even modelled unique designs designed from replica kits.
Learn about the Carbon Cost of Fashion
There’s still time to check out Cherwell Collective’s Carbon Cost of Fashion Exhibition, which is at Oxford Town Hall until 18th October (Monday to Saturday) before it returns to their WISH shop in Kidlington.
It’s a one-of-a-kind interactive exhibition chronicling the impact of our fashion choices and sharing inspiring ideas for change, helping us reduce the UK fashion industry’s carbon footprint.
Feeling inspired?
If SFW 2025 has left you inspired, there are lots of ways to enjoy Sustainable fashion and local groups to get involved with!
Second-Hand, First Choice!
Our Secondhand September blog has tips and hidden gems for stylish, sustainable shopping. Shopping second-hand isn’t about settling for less; it’s about discovering more. Each piece comes with its own history, and finding it feels like uncovering a secret treasure.
Exploring these shops is not only about style. It’s also a way to support local charities, independent businesses, and community initiatives. Each purchase helps to fund valuable work while giving clothes another chance to shine. It’s shopping with stories attached.
Repair with Care: Learning the Joy of Mending
A missing button or small tear doesn’t need to spell the end of a garment. In fact, repair can be surprisingly rewarding. It’s not just about fixing; it’s about deepening your connection with your clothes and gaining the satisfaction of keeping something useful and loved for longer.
Oxford has plenty of opportunities to discover the art of repair. Repair cafés across the county add a friendly, social dimension too. They’re places where people gather not just to fix, but to share skills, swap tips, and cheer each other on. A mended jumper becomes more than clothing, it becomes a story of care and community.
And our next one is 19th October which you can book here.
Upcycling: Giving Clothes a Second Life
There’s something magical about looking at an old garment and imagining what else it could become. A shirt doesn’t have to stay a shirt forever, and a pair of jeans can carry many more stories than their first chapter. Reuse and upcycling invite us to see clothes not as fixed, but as materials for creativity. It’s about finding joy in transformation — whether that means a small tweak to refresh a favourite piece, or a bold redesign that turns scraps into something completely new.
Over at Orinoco, with their motto of “play, create, decorate” you’ll find sewing machines, fabrics, and all sorts of quirky offcuts and embellishments to experiment with. And if you don’t own a sewing machine, SHARE Oxford’s Library of Things lets you hire one whenever you need (see the catalogue here).
And the best part? Upcycling isn’t about perfection. It’s about experimentation, play, and putting your personal stamp on your clothes. Whether you patch a pair of trousers, add a statement trim to a jacket, or turn offcuts into something entirely new, you’re giving garments a second life. and creating pieces that truly belong to you.
Small Steps, Big Change
Repairing, reusing, and rethinking fashion doesn’t require a complete lifestyle overhaul. It can start with a single action: sewing on a button, swapping a jumper, or visiting a second-hand shop with a friend.
If you’ve been inspired by Sustainable Fashion Week, our volunteers are always keen to help you take your next steps, whether helping with a repair or upcyling project or recommending a group near you to get involved with. You can always get in touch at hello@shareoxford.org
