Sustainability in a World of Fast Interiors

Recently, the demand for beautiful interiors has grown in popularity, our Instagram feeds and Pinterest boards full of gorgeous inspirational homes. This, along with the fact that more people are renting rather than buying their own homes, not to mention the links between the interior decor we live in and our mental health, means that more and more people are turning to fast interiors to make their houses feel like homes. The least expensive way for people to do this is through soft furnishings, like cushions, throws and curtains to create homely cocoons.

These items are designed and marketed to be disposable, ready to throw away to make way for next season’s must haves, or when we move house. The man-made materials used in their production mean that they usually end up in landfill rather than being recycled. There’s a mentality of not re-using, donating or selling on items that we bought cheaply, as it’s usually almost as cheap to buy brand new items. In the same way that we are moving away from fast fashion, we should also be looking to move away from fast interiors.

While it would be lovely to be able to re-purpose, re-use or buy high quality, long lasting pieces, for most of us, the reality is that we simply cannot. Budget and time constraints are what lead us to these products in the first place. For the majority of people, the convenience of being able to browse online, find something in our budget and have it delivered directly to our doors is too easy to turn down. At Stiched, we have come up with a few ideas to help towards a more sustainable interiors future.

• Be mindful in your purchases, really consider what you are buying, what it’s made from and how; how can it be used, can it be multi purposed? Can it be stored from season to season?
  
• Make investments in key pieces that can be adapted when you move. For example, investing in quality, made to measure curtains or blinds can make a huge difference to your home. Not only will custom made curtains or blinds add a personal stamp to your home, they can always be adjusted to fit other windows if and when you move house. Add to that the instant feeling of being at home as soon as your curtains are hung in your new space.
  
• Repurpose curtains that are no longer needed. While we’re not suggesting that you go all Sound of Music on your old curtains, check out our article on ten alternative uses for curtains.

• Stitched is committed to providing sustainable interiors. We provide a range of over 300 sustainable fabrics, including our Upcycled Silk, as well as our Revive range of fabrics, which are made from 100% recycled materials.
  
• At Stitched, we create as little waste as possible in the fabrication of our made to measure curtains and made to measure blinds.
  
• We are in partnership with the charity New Life, for disabled children. In doing this, we collect your old window apparel and pass them on to New Life who then find a new home for them.