5 reasons it's better to not shop on the high street/in contemporary shops

For the majority of my life, I have spent my time shopping in New Look, H&M and Topshop because it was a) the easy option b) what everyone else did and c) all I ever thought there was. A few weeks ago I shopped on a car boot sale for the first time in my life and there were many reasons why I realised it was better than shopping in a large contemporary store, which, of course, I am going to tell you shortly. There are many alternatives to shopping on the high street, for example: charity shops/thrift stores, antique/vintage stores, car boot sales, smaller less established businesses and second hand websites to name a few. So, without further ado, here are my reasons to shop in these kind of places:

1) It is so much cheaper (most of the time)

If you shop second hand clothes, majority of the time you are going to spend less money! For example, I once bought a Ted Baker dress for only £6 in a charity shop because that is naturally the expected price in a second hand store

2) You're money is going somewhere useful

When you shop somewhere other than a contemporary high street store, you are supporting an individual/a charity where your money is valued because it is going to help someone's life either to pay bills, help a child or feed someone for a night, rather than going into a large business where the money is just an insignificant amount of profit amongst other people's insignificant donation to the business which is already established, already rich and your money really serves no purpose. It will give you a sense of helping someone and you will feel much more valued.

3) You are helping to save the world
Large clothing manufacturers are one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases for many reasons, for example: transport, factories, as well as washing, tumble-drying and ironing. When you shop in a charity shop, you are helping to recycle which means less goes to the landfill, roughly one million tonnes of textiles are  thrown away each year!!
When you shop in smaller less established stores, you are (probably) supporting hand made items, which means less pollution from mass-production factories and there is a guarantee of no child labour, which is a large part of the mass clothing-manufacturing industry.
4)You develop an individual style 

For as long as I can remember, I have craved an individual style where I stand out from everyone else. I have always wanted a style that represents me, my personality and my attitude to everyone else. Recently, I have started shopping in antique and vintage stores as well as charity shops, and my style has become more diverse and a lot more varied as there are many different influences to the way I dress. High street stores only sell what is trending - trends are constantly changing and morphing with the young generation, but when you shop in smaller places you are constantly morphing at your own pace, your style reflects and moves with you, rather than the general population. This leads me on to my next point:

5) You get a creative rush and it's really fun!

Shopping amongst junk is seriously the most exhilarating and exciting experience (sky diving and dolphin swimming aside). I love the feeling of finding something beautiful or perfect in the midst of piles of utter crap. Often the things you find won't be perfect, which gives you the inspiration to fix it, for example me and my mum had to alter a handmade dress from the 1960s that was made for a girl with a waist 3/4 of the size of mine, because people were a lot smaller. The clothes you own have a story and are suddenly an interesting conversation topic! It's fun to go to these places with mates as well as it's an inspiration to them too, plus, you can dress up like old women and have a laugh or just have fun doing something new!

So, tell me, have I persuaded you? I would LOVE to hear your views so please comment below and join the discussion!!!

Jeani xxx