Caring for Old Faithful

Buying sustainably is good for both planet and pocket – and it creates a bond with your clothing that fast-fashion aficionados could never understand

- MARY SKIPWITH

Whether it be while beating through gorse, clambering over stiles, or pushing through gaps after hounds, a rural lifestyle can wreak havoc on attire. Blackthorn, barbed wire, and fish hooks snatch at threads like a homesick child clinging to departing parents. Wearers are likely to have invested – often emotionally as well as financially – in the clothing required for their pastime. What other folk would keep patching up great-grandpa's first ratcatcher despite it being held together by more safety pins than Liz Hurley’s dress? Yet while ‘make do and mend’ may already be an established way of living for many country-oriented people, how much more sustainable can and should our kit be?

For worn, torn favorites, be realistic over whether the repairs are worth it. As John Sugden from Campbell’s of Beauly advises, “Like with a car it can be more work stripping something down completely and rebuilding it than it would start from scratch.” The company no longer offers a repairs service but Sugden can understand why people restore clothes. “When my father died, I was desperate to wear his plus-fours, which I loved, but they didn’t fit. I found a tiny amount of matching cloth left from a cap and asked my seamstresses to work their magic, which they did by swapping in plain material where it wouldn’t be seen and incorporating the patterned cloth elsewhere. They said, ‘You do realize it would have been cheaper to have a new pair made?’ but for me, it was all about the huge sentimental value.”