Since finding complete balance in inner happiness myself, which then allows me to teach others the same, I never have ups and downs or mood swings because when you’re satisfied inside, desire loses its allure and shopping needs to be an amazing experience if retailers want my hard earned cash.

As an ex shopaholic designer driven and status anxiety junkie, I sometimes, if there is some spare cash to splash, go into my home town Leicester to indulge in a little window shopping with an open mind and prepared financially if I have a relapse and shop till I drop.

Yesterday was one of those rare times this actually happened. I was a really looking forward to a fashion fix without being sucked into the big brand vortex known as the aspirational shopping mall subconsciously steering its visitors into buying a life most cannot afford; it was something unique for me. Within 30 minutes of arriving in Leicester town centre I was forced into the big brand vortex known as Highcross, the local mall simply because I’d failed in finding an independent store open selling something unique enough to buy. And that's what’s happened to the independent High Street shops, all put out of business by big brands and bigger shopping malls.

I am not naming and shaming, I couldn't really distinguish between these brands in reality many selling the same stuff, made in the same overseas factories just with different labels and prices depending on the brands profile. Yes you can pay more for the same exact item across different stores, something exposed on Channel 4 Dispatches with Shop Direct selling the same stuff across their various brands, Littlewoods, Very, Isme and K and Co.

I am sorry to say this but I have never seen such a load of cheap, disposable, badly made rubbish clothing in my life. I am a child of the 60s so fashion for me has spanned over 5 decades making me without a doubt, the expert eye for quality. I am always on the look out for stylish, timeless, affordable pieces but not this time. I came home empty handed even after visiting my when all else fails favourite, TK Maxx a casualty of supply chain as high end fashion production declines.

The big fashion brands have tried to kill off UK manufacturing, (Leicester at one time the manufacturing capital of Europe) swapping Made in England quality garments for cheap made in the Far East disposable fashion, created in sweatshops by under age, under paid, slave labour and fashion trends have all merged together. Seasonal collections have become fast fashion with new garments turned around every two weeks, high street brands have all greedily followed one another over the cliff and the people at the bottom of the food chain in the fashion industry have suffered.

I ended my day coming to the conclusion after such a dismal shopping experience, all I must do is let the world know, feel the quality of my material, see the hand finished workmanship of the Venus Cow pieces and  feel really good about helping to revive sustainable UK clothing manufacturing in Leicester.

I said it a million times before if I, one woman alone, can make clothes ethically in the UK and still make a profit then so can the likes of Marks and Spencer and Next.