Guilt Free Fashion

You are not alone if you have ever had a little doubt about where your fashionable items came from and what the impact of your purchase is on the planet.

Well, think of outlet shopping as part of the global solution to fast fashion. It's basically like thrifting, but just first hand items and not pre-loved items.

Fast fashion and the mass production of clothing is something that we will be living with indefinitely and somewhere, somebody needs to make a difference ... that's where fbo comes in ;).

fbo is transparent when it comes to where our clothes come from. We use a method called Parallel Imports to purchase all our fashion pieces from abroad. Parallel Imported goods are genuine products that we purchase from authorised sellers (mainly based in Europe).

fbo focusses on purchasing all the end-of-season stock from all the international fashion brands that you love. We imports brands like Missguided, Boohoo, Zara, Pimkie, Stradivarius, Steve Madden, Michael Kors, Lascana, S.Oliver, Jack & Jones, Diesel, G-Star Raw and so much more.

At the end of a season these brands will take out all the items from their stores that they no longer wish to sell, so that they can make space for the new items that will be coming in for the next season. Unfortunately, these items usually end up in landfills and it created a bigger global crisis than we already have.

fbo is the hero of the industry, because we come in and purchase all those items from these brands before they end up in a landfill, we import it to South Africa and we give you the opportunity to purchase these highly loved branded items at an amazing price. We cannot save the whole planet, but we do what we can to make a difference.

The cherry on the cake is that we try and do even more. We try our best to purchase brands that also focus on animal free items, and brands that are conscious about their impact on the globe.

S.Oliver has taken ownership of their global footprint and they have started to make beautiful and styling Puffer Jackets that do not include duck down feathers. Just look for the little bubble that will be attached to the tag stating that it is Animal Free.

There is a very famous Swedish Brand that has also started a Conscious Collection, their apparel is made of environmentally-sensitive materials like organic cotton and tencel (a material made from the pulp of eucalyptus leaves). Looking for the Conscious Collection tag on the items in fbo will also assist you with making a greater effort to decrease your own personal global footprint.

The clothing label Footwear produces shoes that are handmade in a small factory in Mallorca, Spain. Natural materials (wood, cork, leather) are used to create every part of the shoe, from the heel to the last. Cue open-toed slingback sandals, slides and platform sandals in an array of neutral, easy-to-match colours. Another way it shows how committed it is to caring for the environment: After tracking its annual in-house carbon usage, that amount is offeset by investing in renewable energy projects. This is an amazing brand to invest your money in to proudly walk around with their shoes.

Levi Strauss & Co. Levi’s is fighting the fashion industry’s notorious waste with a line of jeans made of recycled water bottles as well as partnerships with other eco-friendly clothing brands. fbo also imports Levi items, but as soon as these items hit the shelves in our stores out loyal customers run to get their pair for an insanely incredible price.

Every so often we receive Nike shoes and Nike has strengthened its connections with environmentally friendly suppliers around the world and has a line of sustainable products made of recycled materials. They are doing their best to give us the best sneakers and trainers without us feeling a sense of guilt about it.

The fashion industry has recently upped its emissions reduction pledge at the COP26.

The overarching goal is the same, net zero by 2050, but this commitments has been made by 130 retailers and 41 organisations, including companies like Burberry, H&M Group, Intitex, VF & Nike, and these brands are meant to bring the industry more in line with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, known as the 1.5-degree pathway.

If everybody, does just a little bit, we as a planet can achieve success. The independent brands have committed themselves to reduce their global footprint, we as fbo are doing our best to avoid that perfectly good clothing items land up in landfills.

The rest lies in the hands of the consumer to do their own research and choose where they want to invest their hard earned money, to stay fashionable and reduce their carbon footprint at the same time.