The challenges facing the planet can seem overwhelming as we sit and watch David Attenborough’s latest BBC documentary on a Sunday night talk about melting glaciers and struggling penguins.
What on earth can we, as a single individual, do?
Will it make a difference in the global scheme of climate change if we don’t buy a plastic toothbrush, another new sweater, a bag of disposable face wipes or whether we choose ethically-sourced tea?
Well, yes, it will – and change has to start somewhere.
That’s the view of six small Eastbourne businesses who are at Gather in the Beacon Centre until Saturday (October 15) to sell their products and talk about what they are doing.
Gather is a shop unit in the Beacon Centre which can be used for community groups, creative enterprises or small businesses.
The group of eco-minded individuals have taken the space which is set, ironically, amid the main clothes shops of Eastbourne town centre where people head to buy bagfuls of new stuff.
But the figures on clothing alone give us all something to think about.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) promotes minimising waste across all sectors along with re-using, recycling and reprocessing of waste materials.
In recent research, it found that almost 23% of people in the UK say they regularly buy clothing intending to wear it for only a short period.
It also found that the average person in the UK owned 118 items of clothing (including underwear and socks), of which 26% had not been worn in the previous year.
With this in mind, three of the businesses at Gather this week upcycle garments and materials or sell vintage clothing.
:: Naida Evans, 35, is a creative whirlwind, sewing and carrying out alterations based at home in Langney.
One particularly stunning example of her work is an embroidered tablecloth she transformed into a blouse, seen above right from her Instagram account Naidasloves.
She also runs a social sewing session at Langney Community Centre on Thursday mornings and tries, as far as possible, to re-use fabric. Curtains and bedding from charity shops offer plenty of scope for creativity.
“I was brought up altering and making clothes from a young age,” says Naida, who is now teaching her eight-year-old daughter to sew.
It is shocking to realise that good clothes, which may only have a small hole or need a minor repair, are rejected as ‘rags’ by charity shops because they cannot sell them. Naida points to a good quality red jumper (below), which has a small hole near the neckline.
This will be repaired and donated to the Matthew 25 Mission on Seaside which helps homeless and vulnerable people, benefiting someone in need and avoiding unnecessary waste.
:: Emmy Bastin, 47, from Roselands (below), carefully curates vintage and pre-loved clothes to sell online and at events through her business Flourish And You.
She buys from charity shops, online and from vintage warehouses but never as a large bundle.
“It is becoming much more widely accepted to shop like this, although there are people who will never contemplate second-hand clothing,” she says.
She notes that it is better to sell widely available high street brands in person in a market because there is such a high volume of these available online.
However, Emmy has found that high-end brands, such as Toast, can more easily be sold online.
:: Naida and Emmy have also formed Ecofashion Eastbourne for events and are the driving force behind the collaboration at Gather.
This summer they organised an upcycled fashion show at the E-Festival in Princes Park and hope to take part in more events.
:: Emmy’s mum, Felicity Payne, 66, sits in a sofa in Gather clicking away with her needles. She rustles up beautifully knitted berets and beanie hats, often using 1980s vintage wool from her days as a sweater designer.
She has even memorised some of the complex-looking patterns: “I can do it in my head now!”
Felicity, above, uses small amounts of wool to place key splashes of colour in some of the designs to completely change their look. She trades as Flissknits.
Two other businesses are focused on reducing the amount of plastic and waste in the household and bathroom products we all use.
:: French-born Karin Morrison, 51, below, who lives in Upperton, started Ecohaven last year.
She says: “It has gone from strength to strength. I started with just one item – bamboo toothbrushes – and I now have 12 items in the range.”
She decided after seeing plastic floating past her in the sea while swimming in lockdown that reducing plastic use was what she felt passionate about.
Karin sells online and at local markets. “People start with a small swap to make a difference and you find that they usually don’t go back to the plastic they were using before.”
For her, it is also, crucially, about being part of the local community and offering somewhere for people to shop so they can put money back into their area.
:: Ruth Woodhams, 60, from Hellingly, started sewing with recycling in mind a few years ago as the antidote to work-related stress. When she left her job, she pursued her hobby and now sells her products in markets.
Ruth, below, produces a range of distinctive products including bags made from hessian coffee bean sacks, washable face cleansing cloths and reusable food pouches, which she creates by coating fabric in beeswax.
“It is about making sustainable choices. Markets are great because you have the opportunity to talk to people and make those changes. They might not buy, but they may go away and think about it,” she says.
“Generally, people are very interested. It is about making them see that they can make small changes to make a difference.” Her Instagram account is here.
Making changes to what we choose to eat and drink can also make a difference to global inequality, in the case of the final business to tea growers and the environment.
:: Jon Copping, 46, who lives in Upperton, calls his company tea23.co.uk because it took him 23 attempts to achieve what he considers to be the optimum blend of English Breakfast Tea.
He launched in autumn 2019 and now has a unit in the Enterprise Shopping Centre, next to Eastbourne station. He previously worked for the Ethical Tea Partnership for eight years.
Jon, who has an environmental science degree and a masters degree in marketing, noticed a gap in the market for tea and a resurgence of interest in ethically-sourced leaves.
“I saw there were really cool brands for coffee and for beer but not for tea,” he says.
Much of his trade is selling online, at events and markets, and supplying other businesses.
He is also, as a keen advocate of men’s mental health charity Talk Club, aware of the significance of tea in our daily lives.
Jon says stopping for a ‘cuppa’ can give allow us time to think, helping us reflect on things more logically during a break in the day.
“There is a great association between having a cup of tea and having a chat. Tea can be a symbol for change.”
Jon says he drinks between six and ten cups of tea a day – mostly English Breakfast.
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