“It’s hard to believe how different my mindset is today from where I began”
ELLIE CHALK - CEO
This story starts with me as a fast fashion influencer, even aspiring to one day run my own fast fashion business. I loved posting my outfits online and encouraging other people to shop too. I had built an audience of around 10,000 followers and was proud of the community I was creating. Every weekend I’d come home with multiple shopping bags, completely disconnected from the impact behind them.
But everything shifted after losing my nan in 2019.
A short while after she passed, my family began sorting through her belongings, deciding what we would keep, donate, or discard. I saw all the clothes she had bought over a lifetime. The pile that would be donated was huge. I noticed jumpers my nan used to wear and hated the idea of them sitting in a charity shop unsold and unloved.
So instead, I kept them and decided I was going to transform them into something new. I upcycled them into clothes that would fit me, recorded the process and shared the before-and-afters online.
Upcycling led me to research what really happens to unwanted clothes that don’t get sold, and what I discovered changed the course of my life. I learned that billions of garments are dumped every year, polluting landfills and oceans, destroying ecosystems, and harming livelihoods. The glossy illusion of fast fashion shattered in front of me, and I realised I had been contributing to this industry without even realising it.
"I gave up fast fashion influencing and dedicated my voice to raising awareness about sustainability"
What started as a way to honour my nan’s memory became something much bigger than I could have imagined. People resonated with the idea of giving something old a new life — not just for sustainability, but for love, loss, and meaning. Millions of hearts connected to the story, and a much larger community began to form.
The last six years have been transformative. I’ve spent them uncovering the truths of the fashion industry and sharing them online. This mission has led to a community of over 250,000 people who care deeply about creating change.
In 2023, The Drew Barrymore Show featured my efforts on an international stage. What began with grief became a message of hope, reminding me — and so many others — that healing is always possible.
The idea for House on the Moon came to me, fittingly, during a meditation. I felt it was time for my activism to take a new form: a more hands-on approach to tackling the fast fashion crisis. House on the Moon was born.
