TO START...

About two years ago I came to be aware of the negative effects we are having on our environment, sure a lot of people recycle and cycle to work or use public transport rather than driving, but it is going to take a hell of a lot more than that to make a difference. For me it is the corporate giants and the governments of our world that really bear a responsibility, in terms of how they run huge businesses that provide goods for large percentages of the world and how they run countries. The more I began to think about how much these corporate minds feed off power and money the more angry and frustrated I became. I am only one person in a huge world, and there isn't a lot that I can do, but I strongly believe in the saying 'every little helps' (even though one of those huge corporate companies have coined that as their slogan)

I have tried a lot of different approaches in the past, including writing to the mayor of London, but my attempts seem to have been ignored continuously, which is why I have decided to attack the problem with a louder voice. .

As a teenager I was obsessed by fashion, I thought the fashion industry glistened with sophistication and elegance, and always thought it was the dream world to be in, so I followed this path through my eduation, and the further down that path I went, the more I came to realise how vacuous the industry is. I still have an appreciation of beautiful design, but I don't believe that many people have as much of a love for clothing, design and style anymore, it seems to be more of a consuming compulsion that takes over, and leads to bursting wardrobes full of low quality products. The message of consumerism has been pushed on to our society through celebrity endorsements, and fast fashion, straight off the catwalk on to the high street, creating a need within us to consume, and emulate those celebrities and models in the beautiful advertising campaigns.

I despise value retailers, I think that everything they stand for is morally wrong, they don't care about where they get their products made, or what harmful materials/chemicals have been used in the process to create the garments. The founder of Primark, Arthur Ryan supposedly told a factory owner that he wasn't interested unless they could find a product that cost £3 to make and would sell for £7, saying “I don't care how you go about it – just do it.” That is exactly my point, these huge companies just want to make money, they make cheap products and sell cheap products, but sell a hell of a lot of cheap products.

I am starting a campaign, Consumed, to raise awareness amongst all the clothes hungry consumers in the UK. I want people to step back and think about what they are doing with their money. Think about where the products that they are buying have come from, who has made them, and in what conditions. Think about where that product is going to go once they've finished with it, and what impact that is having on our environment.