Glastonbury fashion: Festival fans turn to second-rate clothing

Tent: Check Sun Cream: Check. Next thing: What am I going to wear?

With Glastonbury 2023 all set to kick off, the festival season is well underway.

The festival prides itself on being eco-conscious, but how can fans plan their costumes in a sustainable way?

Jess Potter, 36, from Cardiff, travels to Glastonbury with her online second-hand clothing business.

At the festival, she hosts the second-hand style awards, where festival goers are judged on their best sustainable looks from the weekend.

Jess says she wasn’t always sustainable. In the year During her first Glastonbury in 2014, she was a “retail addict” and bought everything new. That’s where she met her now husband and business partner, Devin, and they are now “on a journey to sustainability together.”

The idea for UsedandLoved.com – a search engine tool to find second-hand goods under one roof – came from a sleepless night’s thought, Jess says.

Shopping second-hand is “all about finding your own style,” she says, and seeing content creators decorate the clothes is key to changing people’s attitudes toward shopping.

In her spare time, Jess goes around Cardiff picking up bags of leftover clothes from the roadsides, which she recycles and gives new life to.

“I’ve got things from Ralph Lauren and Zara, everything’s in really good shape,” she said.

She plans to put the clothes found on the streets of Cardiff on display at Glastonbury: “They are freed again and their destiny is changed because they get another life. Clothes can live on for a long time. You let them.”

Bethany Lewis, from Swansea, planned her entire festival wardrobe through second-hand shops and online clothing website Vinted for the In It Together festival in Margham, Neath Port Talbot.

When she booked In It Together, she was determined not to buy anything new.

“I’ve never done a heat festival like this before, so I pulled all the basics out of my wardrobe, so I was able to use mostly things I already owned,” she says.

But if I’m looking for something specific, like a mesh top to wear under a dress, and specifically looking for things, I go to Vintage.

“I knew I was getting it cheaper than buying new, and by buying it I was reducing my impact on the environment.”

Cost also plays a role, tickets for festivals are not cheap.

A ticket to Glastonbury will set you back £335 this year – and that’s without buying camping essentials such as tents, wellies and booths (if that’s your thing) – so many people try to use second-hand sites to get their outfits.

“I don’t tend to buy anything that doesn’t work with at least five pieces in my closet,” says fashion blogger Kathleen Smith of Church Village, London-based Rhonda Cynon Taff. So if it’s me looking for festival wear, I only buy items that I know I’ll wear again.

“I blame being a Capricorn on my thriftiness, so I don’t like to feel like I’ve wasted money on what I wear once.”

“I also tend to look for accessories or statement pieces that I can already layer over my own stuff. Accessorizing and layering are really fun and easy ways to change up your look without having to buy a whole ‘new’ outfit.”

Rachel Cosgrove-Pearce, Oxfam’s head of retail operations, says second-hand shopping is a great way to express individuality.

“During the festival season, many (Oxfam) shops put up festival-style windows to help people choose their go-to outfits. They have festival displays inside and the beauty of buying second hand with Oxfam is you can be your own stylist.”

“You go in and shop different brands, you’re not influenced by new trends, and you can actually go and pick the pieces and create your own unique look.

“Everyone is more conscious than ever about sustainability and by shopping with Oxfam you know you’ll not only look fantastic, you’ll feel fantastic.”

So it’s a fashion tip. But what to do about the weather?

With Glastonbury forecast to be blistering, the advice is to try and pack warm – and if it does rain, trusty wellies and raincoats are always in order.