Children’s presenter Konnie Huq hasn’t bought any new clothes for 20 years. And she’d like nothing better than everyone else to follow suit. But her avoidance of fast fashion isn’t because she doesn’t care about her appearance, it’s because she cares about the planet, and doesn’t want what she wears to negatively affect it, as 85% of textiles end up in rubbish dumps, and 10% of the world’s greenhouse gases come from those dumps ( UNECE ).
“I am essentially a bit anti-consumerist, so I don’t buy things,” declares Huq, author of the Cookie! children’s book series, and the longest-serving female Blue Peter presenter. She buys food, of course, and items that might need replacing such as leaking wellies, but stresses: “I haven’t bought clothes in, say, the last 20 years – all those years I did on Blue Peter, you get clothes for the job anyway. “The older I get, the more comfy I feel in my own skin.
So now, I’d rather be really unfashionable, but know people like me for me, rather than the clothes I wear. I’m much happier opting out. “Most of the stuff in our house is furniture that’s come from my mum’s house, a bit of a set they were chucking away, and so on.
My kids will be in hand-me-downs often – I don’t really do shopping as such.” And the mum-of-two’s eco-friendly stance is one she wants to share with the future generation, so she’s teamed up with around 80 other children’s book authors, illustrators, environmentalists, ca.
