Tent: verified. Check for sunscreen. The next step is to decide what to wear.
Festival season has officially begun with Glastonbury 2023.
How do attendees plan their outfits sustainably? The festival takes pride in being environmentally friendly.
Event planning now includes a significant amount of consideration for festival and concert attire. A quick scroll through TikTok will reveal that the concert attire for Beyoncé and Harry Styles was cowboy hats and feather boas.
With her online second-hand clothing business, Cardiff native Jess Potter, 36, will attend Glastonbury.
She will host the festival's second-hand style awards, where attendees will be judged on their best weekend-long sustainable looks.
Jess acknowledges she hasn't always been a reliable person. She indulged in her former "retail addiction" during her first Glastonbury in 2014, purchasing everything brand new. She met her future husband and business partner Davey there, and the two of them are currently "on a journey to sustainability together.".
During a sleepless night, Jess came up with the concept for UsedandLoved . com, a search engine tool that allows you to search for used goods all under one roof.
She asserted that secondhand shopping was "all about finding your own style" and that the key to changing people's perceptions of buying secondhand clothing was to see how content creators styled the clothing. .
In her free time, Jess wanders the streets of Cardiff collecting bags of clothing that have been abandoned by the side of the road, which she sorts through and gives new life to.
She claimed to have discovered items from Ralph Lauren and Zara, all in excellent condition.
She intends to display the garments discovered on Cardiff's streets at Glastonbury with the belief that "clothes can live on for so long if you let them" and that "they are free again and their destiny has changed because they are going to get another life.".
For the In It Together festival in Margam, Neath Port Talbot, Swansea resident Bethany Lewis planned her entire festival wardrobe using thrift stores and online clothing retailer Vinted.
She vowed she would not purchase any new items when she made her reservation for In It Together.
As she explained, "I've never performed at a festival in that kind of heat before, so I kind of took all the basics out of my wardrobe, so I mostly managed to use things I already owned.".
But if I needed something specific, like a mesh top to wear underneath a garment, I would go to Vinted and specifically search for that item.
"Rather than buying it new, I knew that I got it cheaper. By purchasing it, I was also lessening my impact on the environment. ".
Cost plays a part too, with tickets for festivals not cheap.
This year's Glastonbury tickets cost £335, and that's before you buy your camping necessities like a tent, wellies, and alcohol (if that's your thing). Because of this, many people try to use second-hand sites to get their attire.
Caitlin Smith, a fashion blogger from Church Village, Rhondda Cynon Taf, who's based in London, said: "I don't tend to buy anything that doesn't work with at least five pieces in my wardrobe. So, if I'm looking for a festival 'fit, I'll only buy items that I know I'll wear again.
"I blame being a Capricorn for my frugality, so I don't like feeling like I've wasted money on something I'll wear once. ".
"I also have a tendency to search for layered accessories or foundational pieces.
Rachel Cosgrove-Pearce, the head of retail operations for Oxfam, said shopping second-hand was a great way to express individuality.
"For the festival season, a lot of the (Oxfam) shops will pull together festival-style windows to help people choose their outfits for going. They'll have festival displays inside and the beauty of shopping second-hand with Oxfam is that you can be your own stylist. ".
"You can go in, you shop in a variety of brands, you're not being influenced around the latest trends, and you can literally go and choose the pieces and create your own look unique for you.
"Everyone is more conscious than ever now about sustainability and by shopping with Oxfam not only are you going to look fabulous, and you know you're going to feel fabulous. ".
So that's the fashion advice. But what to do about the weather?
With Glastonbury predicted to be a scorcher, the advice is to try and pack for the heat - and if it does rain, trusty wellies and a raincoat will always be in style.
. Accessorising and layering are such fun and easy ways to change up your look without having to buy a completely 'new' outfit. "
