INTERVIEW #159 IZZY MANUEL
Name: Izzy Manuel
Occupation: Full time sustainable and ethical fashion and lifestyle content creator
Based in: London, UK
Hello, Izzy welcome! Can you please tell us more about yourself and your relationship with clothes?
Hey, I am Izzy and I am a sustainable fashion and lifestyle content creator, I suppose my content is all about showing how you can love a fun and colourful life while being more sustainable and ethical along the way. I come from a chemistry background and I remember learning about sustainability while at University, ever since have tried to be as sustainable as possible and shared my journey, tips and tricks along the way. My relationship with clothes is very much about looking after what we already own, mending them, washing them less, and when you do buy, always try and buy second-hand first before turning to sustainable and ethical clothing brands.
You have a very mood-uplifting colourful style, can you please tell us more about it? Have you always dressed this way?
Ahhh thank you! I am definitely a big believer in dopamine dressing and dressing to boost your mood and those around you! Oh absolutely not, I used to wear a lot of black and darker colours and one day my dad told me that bright colours would suit me when I was a kid and then I tried wearing more bright colours and from there I started to experiment with prints and colours more!
Can you tell us more about your closet? How does it look like?
I would love to say that I have a capsule wardrobe but that is certainly not the case, I have a lot of clothes but I know everything I own and everything gets worn. If I haven't worn something for 6 months or it is something I don't reach for a lot I always sell or give away to friends etc so that my clothes remain in the loop. For things like undies I recycle them so they can get used for insulation or turned into new fabric so again, they remain circular. I do organise my wardrobe into sections based on the item and every few months I re-organise my wardrobe so that I can see everything I own.
Where do you update your style? Any places you shop from and so on?
If I want to update something I tend to buy it second-hand either on resell sites like eBay or Vinted or from charity shops. Now and then I buy from curated second-hand and vintage stores or sustainable and ethical brands such as Lucy and Yak (or small made-to-order brands.)
When and why did you get into sustainability in the fashion industry?
Oh good question! It started during lockdown in 2020 when the Pay Up campaign arose and I found out that garment workers making clothes for brands such as H&M and Primark were not paid for the work they carried out. From then onwards I started to educate myself on the effects of fashion on the planet and on the people who make our clothes too. I then really tried to hold myself accountable for how I shopped and where I shopped from.
You also share all kinds of tips and information about sustainability, where do you get inspiration from and how do you plan your content?
I honestly think the inspiration behind my content is my background in Chemistry! I love seeing numerical facts and proof of things I found that having those scientific facts helped with my education when it came to sustainable and ethical fashion and so I wanted to find a way to share scientific facts in a way that was accessible and easy to understand.
Best tip for a more colourful and sustainable closet and style?
Ooh, I always think it is so important to look at what you already own, maybe dye a few pieces bright colours to see if you like it! and if you are new to more colourful and bright pieces maybe try buying them second-hand to see if you like styling them before investing in sustainable and ethical brands!
Anything else you want to share?
I am definitely a big believer that you can't have sustainable fashion if you don't include the garment workers. They deserve safe working conditions and fair wages, there is such a big disconnect between the clothes we buy and who makes them and I think this needs to change!