Our Ethos
'I will never say give up shopping. However, I do believe we all have a responsibility to shop with greater integrity. The FairGround proves it's cool to be kind, and it's much more stylish to buy from brands that operate with clear values.'
From working at British Vogue, to styling personal clients, the most rewarding part of Ginnie's work has been to encourage people to pause, to ponder and to really question if they are going to love something long-term. The FairGround goes one step further. Brands of all sizes are represented here, because big business is not always bad and small business need not stay silent, as our assessment process shows.
Why Shop at The FairGround?
Customers want to shop better, with greater integrity. We know how confusing it can be (and how much greenwashing there is to navigate). The FairGround has partnered with B•ABLE, an external sustainability consultancy, to formally and impartially assess fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands that are “doing better”. No brand is perfect, but so many brands deserve greater recognition, and customer loyalty, for their business models that combine style with a greater purpose.
The Assessment Process
The brands at The FairGround reflect a diverse range of approaches to sustainability - from protecting human rights through supplier engagement, to reducing carbon emissions, offering recycling programmes and promoting female founders.
We know that sustainability can mean something different to everyone. Our aim is to showcase the unique ways our brands are striving to create a positive environmental and social impact.
The Process
1. Developing Our Values - We began by talking to customers and conducting
research to understand the sustainability topics most important for fashion, beauty
and lifestyle. This feedback helped us to establish The FairGround’s values.
2. Onboarding Brands – Our onboarding process involves evaluating brands against
our values, ensuring that each brand has a commitment to sustainability backed up
through actions and evidence, including certifications. Brands need to communicate
what they’re doing publicly and ensure that packaging is minimal and designed with
sustainability in mind to be on The FairGround.
3. Tracking Progress – Brands will be reviewed on an ongoing basis to make sure
they’re continuously improving, and holding themselves accountable to their commitments.
At the heart of The FairGround is a commitment to transparency and accountability – recognising that consumers need clear information from brands to make more informed decisions. Transparency (of values, practices and communication) is an important part of the assessment process.
Key Areas of Assessment
To make it onto The FairGround, each brand must demonstrate progress towards each of our key focus areas. They must also communicate clearly how they are creating a positive impact on people and planet.
As of December 2024, 3 brands did not pass the initial assessment process.
About Ginnie
‘Since leaving British Vogue, I have always ensured the message of ‘Buy Fewer, Buy Better’ permeates my personal styling work, my writing and my public presentations. If we can afford to make a choice I believe we really do have a responsibility to make a better choice. Bed-bound with Covid in December 2023, I finally had the chance to read Esha Chhabra’s book; Working to Restore. Who knew that would be the final nudge for me to begin a new business? Not a fashion brand (I’m not sure the world needs another fashion brand), but The FairGround; an e-commerce site that encourages responsible style, with a buoyant, authentic editorial voice. We’ve gone one step further. Every brand that joins The FairGround is first assessed by a 3rd party consultancy, B•ABLE. It’s not enough to say a brand is doing good. We want to see proof, audits and progress. The FairGround celebrates and endorses brands, big and small, that are fundamentally doing business better.’
Giving Back
Sharewear
When you make a purchase at The FairGround, your parcel will arrive with a postcard. We've partnered with Sharewear which works to alleviate clothing poverty in the UK. Based in Nottingham, Sharewear (Registered Charity No. 1170084) offers dignified, free-of-charge clothing choices to an average 2000 people per month, across 10 counties of England. Sharewear diverts around 80 tonnes of clothing from landfill per year - actively reducing the impact of clothing waste on the environment, whilst alleviating clothing poverty right here in the UK. Sharewear's work has won awards. They were named as one of the Top 100 Changemakers by The Big Issue. Sharewear remains unique in the UK, being the only charity that offers the range of clothing they carry, supporting the high volume of people they do, using their blend of three services. Donate any good condition, unwanted items using your FairGround packaging. Thank you.
Need help?
Frequently Asked Questions
Order
VCHRISTMAS is 15% off site wide. When you input the subscriber discount code, certain brands in your basket will have an additional 5% deducted (20% discount total). This is only valid until 23:59hrs GMT on Sunday 8th December.
Yes, you can buy gift cards here. They are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.
Shipping & Returns
If your total basket size is over £150, postage is free. If your total basket size is under £150, then the customer pays a flat rate of £5.50 postage/ delivery per vendor(s). As a marketplace, if you shop from multiple brands, your shipment comes from multiple locations, in multiple parcels, hence multiple delivery fees are incurred.
Brands always aim to fulfill the order within 5 working days. Please note some brands have much smaller teams than others but every brand is here to offer customers the best possible experience. Please lean on The FairGround team if you are waiting for an unusually long period of time for your order. You can contact us at support@the-fairground.com
As a start-up we are testing delivery to the UK only at this stage. We hope, by Spring 2025, to ship abroad, including the US.
Some brands are big enough to offer free returns. However, in general, and in the spirit of doing business better, The FairGround encourages customers to get used to placing a value on the man-power, time and energy that it takes to handle a return. Very few brands can afford to absorb this cost. We know mistakes are made, but we hope that by encouraging you to get used to paying for returns, we thereby encourage greater awareness and research into sizing, specifically. Such research will hopefully save you time and energy (and returns) in the long run. Please review our Size Guides for advice across every brand.
You must notify support@the-fairground.com within 14 days of receipt. You have a further 7 days to return the item. The FairGround must be notified first, in order to ensure a smooth returns/ refund process.
General
The FairGround is ‘Fair from the ground up’; a reflection of the brands we assess and host on the marketplace. There is also a play on the double-meaning; we believe a fairground is a place of optimism, colour, and fun. A place where everyone is welcome.
We don’t offer a Whatsapp service yet but please contact support@the-fairground.com for any queries and the team will do their best to help.
As a website we are of course able to make sales 24/7. The team is able to answer queries within 24hours, between the hours of 9am and 5pm. If you email over the weekend you will receive a reply on the next working day.
Each brand has been assessed by our 3rd party agency, B•ABLE. The assessment involves evaluating brands against our values, ensuring that each brand has a commitment to sustainability that is backed up through certifications, actions and evidence. This is free of charge to the brands, funded by The FairGround. Not every brand has made it onto the site for the launch.
Disclaimer
We take the integrity of our marketplace seriously and are committed to promoting genuine sustainability efforts. Brands are responsible for ensuring that all the information provided is accurate, truthful, and reflects the current sustainability practices and policies of the brand.
The FairGround and B•ABLE are not auditors, while we make every effort to verify information provided by the brands we rely on the brands to report correct information. We reject any form of greenwashing—the practice of making misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or brand. Any false or misleading information could lead to removal from our platform.
Sharewear is our nominated partner charity. Our Founder, Ginnie, first met the charity during Covid in 2020 when she wrote about a take back scheme run by an activewear brand, in The Telegraph.
The reality is that the UK’s clothing poverty situation is only getting worse. Many cannot afford to shop new, or from charity shops. Sharewear is in need of good quality clothing donations for men, women and children. We encourage you to use the packaging from your FairGround purchase and fill it with items, and send this to the charity. At present The FairGround is looking for a sponsor to cover the cost of FairGround customers sending these donations to Nottingham. Statistics show we are only wearing 80% of our wardrobes… so we all have items we can send to a new home.
(Sharewear Clothing Scheme; Registered Charity No. 1170084)