Once upon a time, long before I moved to London, I used to enter Oxfam with a heady sense of adventure about the the delights I was sure to discover. And discover I did, knocking aside the elderly in my greedy quest to rifle through the rails, gathering great swathes of questionable but utterly brilliant items into my arms.

Thrifty shoppers across the UK are turning more to charity shops since the economic downturn. In my local area of Clapham, I found that charity shops including Trinity Hospice, Cancer Research UK and Ace of Clubs have seen a rise in sales since the recession.

Every eco-fashionista knows that one doesn't have to sacrifice style for green cred. Gone are the days of ill-fitting garments made of itchy hemp and amorphous silhouettes.