Made to be Worn Stories
Andy
Savoie, France
Tell us about your week in the jacket
Having discussed this project with Gav and Stu I wanted to wear the jacket for the stuff I do anyway. I’m lucky enough to live in the Alps so my regular activities are a bit different than my old life in Leeds, but they’re accessible and open to anyone.
What activities did you do this week?
I wore the jacket for things as mundane as being a dad taxi and as exciting as seeing lynx footprints in the snow while with my cross country skiing group. It was the first time I’d ever seen evidence of lynx’s in the area and very cool to see.
On the “everyday adventure” side of things I was wearing the jacket to walk the dog and get a bit of fresh air away from my desk. Seeing squirrel tracks in the snow was less exciting than the lynx but still provided a reminder that we share the natural environment and have a duty to protect it.
As a member of the One Tree team I am duty bound to have at least one patched item of clothing on at all times.
Lynx tracks! A first for me and many of the group I was with. The snow here is incredibly light and fluffy, I can’t quite believe how lightly it was treading.
A bit of fresh air on a grey day. It’s not all gnar.
Squirrel!
What do you think of the project?
Unsurprisingly, I’m totally on board!
We are bombarded with commercial messaging telling us that we have to wear the right thing to fit with a certain activity or that we’ll have more fun in this jacket or those trainers.
The truth is that it’s the doing of the activities that counts. I was cross country skiing in mis-matched mountain biking gear when I saw the lynx tracks. Did the fact that I wasn’t dressed like a Norwegian winter Olympian matter? Did it make me less joyful as I took in the view above?
Not on your life.
Has it made you think differently about clothing?
It hasn’t changed my view, just reinforced the importance of our mission at One Tree. Like many of the garments we repurpose and sell, without the shop and our patching, there wouldn’t be a way of this jacket seeing the light of day. We’re a single shop in a small geographical area. When I think about how much gear is out there, that’s made to be worn but languishing in wardrobes or cupboards, it blows my mind.
Telling these stories might just encourage people to think differently about the clothes they wear and more importantly, the clothes they don’t.
Find out more about the Made to be Worn project
More about the project, the organisations who helped to make it happen and the stories it’s creating.