Oxfam urges cosumers to avoid ‘throwaway festive fashion’ and buy second hand

British shoppers are being urged to buy second-hand festive fashion amid concerns around waste and carbon emissions.

Research from Oxfam released on Tuesday suggests that a quarter (26%) of consumers plan to buy novelty clothing for Christmas this year that they will barely wear.

The OnePoll study, which surveyed 3,000 shoppers who celebrate Christmas, found that 72% of those planning to buy festive fashion expect to wear their purchases less than five times while 15% said they will only wear them once.

This means more than 12.7 million items could be cast aside after just a few wears, Oxfam warned.

Data from the survey also shows that people spend an average £17.20 on novelty attire, with 18-24 year-olds most likely to be the ones purchasing.

The charity calculated that if all UK adults planning to buy festive fashion items this Christmas bought them second hand, it could prevent 66 million kilogrammes of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere – equivalent to a plane flying from London to the North Pole 822 times.

Lorna Fallon, retail director at Oxfam, which has 550 charity shops nationwide, said: “Throwaway festive fashion is devastating for the planet as the fashion industry is one of the worst offenders for greenhouse gas emissions.

“By recirculating festive fashion items – buying, wearing and donating second hand – we can help to reduce the demand for new. And this could in turn help to reduce the damage to our planet.

“Our research shows that many Christmas-themed clothes will be forgotten about after just five wears so we really hope that people will consider buying their Christmas jumpers and festive fancy dress second hand this year and then donate them to Oxfam when the New Year novelty wears off.

“Shopping and donating second hand is one step we can all take towards building a better, safer, fairer world, not just at Christmas but year-round.”

Strictly professional dancer Katya Jones, who is backing Oxfam’s campaign, said: “There’s no need to splash out on a brand-new Christmas jumper, or festive pyjamas when you can extend the life of some pre-loved gems. It’s a great way to save money and is better for the environment.”

Other statistics from Oxfam found that 24% of seasonal shoppers will buy a secret Santa present this year, with more than 51% saying they would be happy to buy the gift in a charity shop.

Ms Fallon said Oxfam is encouraging shoppers to buy pre-loved presents, which make “the Christmas budget go that little bit further and has the added good cheer of helping to support people and communities around the world, including those hit hard by the climate crisis”.