Ben De Lisi’s Stained Shirt To Be Auctioned For Charity
A WHITE stained shirt is set to raise a fortune for breast cancer research.
International fashion designer, Ben De Lisi, has created a bespoke piece of couture fashion, covered with everyday stains, in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October.
Ben has created the one-off art-piece in collaboration with laundry care expert Dr. Beckmann, to highlight the problem of throwaway fashion and raise much needed funds for charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
The couture shirt, worth £1000, features stunning organza fans created by Ben De Lisi especially for his couture gowns, laced with Swarovski crystals in his signature intricate design, and finished off with grosgrain detailing and French cuffs.
But this is a one-off design with a difference. The piece is covered in everyday STAINS, including red wine, pesto and make up, all designed to highlight how many clothes are thrown away unnecessarily by women every year just because they get a mark on them.
The shirt is worth a minimum of £1000 and will be auctioned for Ben’s chosen charity, Break Through Breast Cancer, on ebay.
Steven Simpson from Dr. Beckmann comments:
“Ben de Lisi and Dr. Beckmann are hoping to raise lots of money for the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity with the auction of this very unique shirt.”
Dr. Beckmann, the stain experts, surveyed over 1000 women* and found that 38% of them would throw a garment away if it was stained without trying to remove it first. Potentially costing the nation an amazing £8.74Billion a year.**
Simpson continues:
“There has been a recent trend to show that we are moving away from obvious consumption and are choosing to invest in garments that will last. This was shown over the summer with Gok Wan’s motto that women should ‘buy less and wear more’ and now we are continuing this idea through this collaboration with Ben de Lisi.”
Ben De Lisi comments:
“We have a fantastic high street in the UK but often we are encouraged to buy something new rather than look after what we have bought. This is not the most practical solution especially during the current economic climate, so Dr. Beckmann and myself came up with this inventive way to illustrate the problem and what can be done about it.
“I am keen to encourage people to invest carefully in pieces that will last and to take more care of the clothes they have in order to make their wardrobes work harder.”
The Ben De List shirt is stained with the most common stains found on UK clothing – red wine, pesto, make up and tomato ketchup.
Research statistics at a glance
- 37% of women surveyed would throw away an item of clothing if it was stained
- The average content cost of a Brit’s wardrobe is £1,327
- 30% of Brits have wardrobe contents worth over £1,000
- Two thirds of Brits keep clothes they will never wear again
- 63% of Brits use less than half of their clothes on a regular basis
- 88% of men know exactly what is in their wardrobes
- According to Government census data, there are 17,568,407 women aged between 20 and 65 resident in the UK having one wardrobe worth an average of £1,327 – this equates to 23 billion.
- And for men it’s 17,111,044 equivalent to 22.7 billion