The autumn edit – five durable essentials from Buy Me Once

September is an invitation to slow down, clear out and reset. As the noise of summer fades, we return to structure and decide what metaphorical  ‘new pencil case’ we need.

But with so much available and budgets tight, how do we decide which products will stand the test of time? We speak to Tara Button, founder of Buy Me Once, on how she’s come up with an ingenious way to help us make those good choices.

As first world problems go, it’s a pretty common one: that moment of sheer frustration when a toaster fizzles out or the heel comes off your shoe and you think, oh for pity’s sake, I only bought that a year ago.

And that’s what made advertising executive turned eco-campaigner Tara Button get angry. ‘All you want from a kettle is for it to heat up water and not break,’ she says. It’s no secret that some companies build obsolescence into items like phones, fast fashion and appliances. The history goes way back to the 1920s, when a cartel of electrical firms made a pact to deliberately shorten the life of their lightbulbs. But as Tara researched, she found the problem went even deeper than that.

Under pressure to keep costs down, companies were using shoddier materials. Other brands were offering long guarantees – seven years for example – knowing that if something breaks after three not many customers will follow up on it. Others were farming out their production to factories abroad, and then the factory would quietly whittle away at the quality to increase their own profit margin. ‘It used to be that you could tell the quality of the manufacturing by the brand, but that’s not true any more,’ she says.

People want to make a change but get bogged down in all the information thrown at them,’ Tara says. So, she bought herself a url, bymeonce.com. The idea was to create an online shop where people could buy reliable goods which are built to last: actual bags for life (and bedding and mugs, and blankets…) ‘This was back in 2013. I didn’t really know what to do with it at the time – I had a full-time job in advertising and was struggling with IT.

And perhaps it might have stayed a part-time venture ( as a blog) but in early 2016 a journalist from The Telegraph found Tara on X and expressed an interest in the site. Tara agreed to do an interview – then spent the next few days frantically uploading new content just in case she got some extra hits. She wasn’t prepared for what happened next. ‘It went completely viral. The Telegraph article was picked up by other news outlets too and within a few days we went from three or four hits to over six hundred thousand.’

Today, a baby, a book and nine years later she has full-time staff working at a sustainable business centre near London Bridge – and a huge chunk of their time is spent researching. ‘We get our data from everywhere – from calling up cobblers and asking which shoes are best quality to trawling through Which? Reports, online reviews and personal testimonies,’ she explains. ‘Sometimes it’s about the materials things are made from and sometimes it’s about construction – for example some washing machines are built with the drum and bearings sealed inside which means that if the bearings go – which is a common problem – you have to replace the entire drum. I’ve gained a lot of random design knowledge through this process.’

Even then the choice can be mind boggling – do you prioritise durability or sustainability? ‘We try to balance the two,’ she says. ‘It might be that one brand is more durable and another is more sustainable so if we can’t decide we’ll put them all up and explain why so the buyer can choose. We do the research so people don’t have to.’

Buy Me Once now offers hundreds of built-to-last products and Tara’s book, A Life Less Throwaway: The Lost Art of Buying For Life, offers a practical and accessible plan for deconsumerising your lifestyle. She calls it ‘mindful curation’ of the things in your life – as opposed to just blind buying. And one of her core principles is buying vintage. ‘In terms of value for money and quality, vintage is the way to go. Choose solid wood, check the interior of drawers and look for traditional joints. I was lucky enough to be given my grandmother’s old desk as I’m the writer of the family It’s a beautiful solid piece and sitting at it inspires me.’
The thinking behind all her efforts is to make greener living a simple and obvious choice for everyone.

With only long-lasting products that Tara and her team are happy to stand behind, everything is examined: the products themselves, their manufacturing story, and meaningful relationships with the makers are developed. So you can be sure that you won’t be buying that kettle again in two years time.

Our autumn edit – all pictured
Bed Linen:  Cosy in the winter and cool in the warmer months, this luxurious linen duvet cover by Piglet only gets softer with age.
Pair of mugs: British made, robust and manufactured to last
Sweatshirt: Made from long-lasting hemp and organic cotton
Blanket: 100% natural Turkish cotton in an iconic pattern
Coffee maker:  Manual espresso maker uses no pods and no electricity; simply add hot water, and pull down the levers.