WHAT IS RECYCLED POLYESTER?

Recycled polyester is polyester made with post-consumer recycled materials. “Our eco suit is made from recycled plastic bottles,” says Jessica Harris, the Head of Product Technology here at Moss. Because plastic bottles are made from PET, the same thing polyester is made from, they make an ideal material for recycled polyester. The plastic bottles are cleaned and crushed into small pieces, then heated and spun into yarn. That yarn is passed through a machine that makes it fluffy, and it’s knitted into fabric.

WHY IS POLYESTER BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT?

“Because it takes hundreds of years to break down,” says Jessica. “But that doesn’t mean that recycled doesn’t either.” While recycled polyester isn’t the best, most eco-friendly alternative to polyester, it’s still utilising waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. It’s always better to use existing plastics rather than making virgin plastic, which is what non-recycled polyester is.

WHAT MAKES POLYESTER AN IDEAL MATERIAL FOR CLOTHING?

Polyester was invented almost 100 years ago, and it’s since become one of the world’s most popular textiles. There are several reasons for that. “It’s durable, it’s an insulator, it’s quick drying and it’s easy to clean,” explains Jessica. That’s why we use polyester in so many Moss pieces, and why we’re pushing to use more recycled polyester throughout all our collections.

HOW LONG HAS MOSS BEEN USING RECYCLED POLYESTER?

At Moss, we’ve been using recycled polyester for more than three years. “All of our recycled polyester suits have been a success, including the eco suit,” says Jessica. We’re aiming to make more clothes with recycled polyester, because we know our customers don’t just want to look good in their Moss clothes, they also want to feel good about reducing their impact on the planet.

With wedding season fast upon us, it’s time to get the best man speech sorted. We’ve paired up with the experts to get together some tips to help your best man speech shine. 

Being witty relies on showing how well you know your best mate, recognising his unique character and shaping the humour around him. The kind of jokes you’ll find on a Google search won’t cut it. 

Here are some tips from the wedding speech writing experts at Speechy on how to craft a best man speech fit for a 2024 wedding.

Be proactive and do your research, this will help give your best man speech structure. Consider emailing a few mates to provide good anecdotes. Ask the groom’s parents for help (decades of untapped material there).

Get the bride on-side to dish the dirt. What’s it like living with the groom? Surprise him with your insights into his household personality!

Also, ask yourself lots of questions – does the groom have a guilty pleasure? Is he obsessive about anything? Identify his eccentricities – his photographic memory of the Nando’s menu or his beloved cardboard cut-out of Chris Hemsworth? Find the traits that his friends and family will recognise as ‘him’.

Remember the adage, ‘It’s funny because it’s true.’

Imagine the groom is a character in a sitcom. What type of person would he be? The health freak who transforms into a kebab-eating monster after a pint? The workaholic engineer who still calls on his dad to help him with an Ikea flat-pack? The family man who has a secret life in his shed?

Once you’ve got that basic premise, use anecdotes to build on the character you’ve created. It all needs to have an element of truth but feel free to exaggerate and use a little creative license.

These aren’t the most comforting times to be living through, but watching your mate marry the love of his life should give those happy hormones a welcome boost. Infuse your speech with feel-good memories and tales of rollicking escapades you’ve shared with the groom.

Remind everyone what the man they see before them used to be like, and how in many ways he hasn’t changed a bit. End on a good heart-warming dose of optimism for the happy couple’s future.

Your speech should be more than a collection of anecdotes, one-liners and a nice bit at the end – it needs to tell a story. Building a narrative ensures your audience is hooked from beginning to end, and it’s always preferable to a cut-and-paste job.

Find a theme that will help you connect all your material. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It could just be a re-telling of your bromance (cut short by the arrival of the bride onto the scene) or it could be your personal guide to how the groom functions.

If you manage to crack a great theme, then your speech goes into the premier league.

Get a laugh in early, ideally within the opening lines of the speech. This will relax you immediately, which in turn relaxes the audience. And size matters here – even if you think you’ve got loads of great material, your speech should be no more than 1,300 words. No one ever listened to a best man’s speech and said, “If only it was longer”.

It’s the same with jokes, tell them in the least number of words possible. It makes it sharper and ensures people don’t get the joke before you’ve actually said it! Challenge yourself to cut your first draft by half and we guarantee it will be stronger as a result. As Ernest Hemingway reassuringly said, “The first draft of anything is shit”.

If you’re struggling for content, it’s legitimate to hunt down some witty quotes about marriage and relationships. Two max: one near the top, one towards the end.

Unlike Googled gags, here you must credit the author, so make sure they’re relatively well known or provide some kind of context (e.g. Greek philosopher) for those rugby lads at the back.

Try this one by Socrates: “By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you will be happy. If you get a bad one, you will be a philosopher.” Then stress to everyone that if that’s the case, there’s no chance of the groom developing any profound theories any time soon.

Many weddings are now embracing smaller guest lists, which makes your role all the more important. Without the usual race to the bar and dancefloor, the speeches will have a central role in keeping people amused.

With an intimate audience, you can bend the ‘no in-jokes’ rule a little. The chances are guests who made the final cut will be more than familiar with the groom’s quirks, so feel free to assume they’ll also appreciate yours. Within reason.

A nice touch might be to include some of them in the anecdotes. Obviously, the groom is the main focus, but a good way of developing his character is to see him through others’ eyes.

We’re talking internet hits, definitely not Covid. You know that secret ambition you’ve long given up of being a Twitch influencer? Well, now’s your chance to get that streaming career started with some LADbible-worthy best man speech content.

Some newlyweds are still live-streaming parts of their wedding, so guests can join the celebrations remotely. Others are opting to share edited video footage of the day, even though weddings are getting a little back to normal. Either way, you’ll want to be camera-ready and know your speech inside out so you can deliver it confidently and avoid playback shame.

A great speech is a lot like great stand-up – funny because it’s relatable. Taking an honest look at the groom’s traits should reflect the funniest parts of the human condition. Know your audience and tailor accordingly. Everyone expects a bit of sauce from the best man, but don’t go too spicy.

Think humorous but wholesome content, not clickbait. Innuendo is fine, swearing isn’t. No mentions of exes. And nothing that will force the groom to apologise to the bride later.

So much humour relies on the delivery. Try to memorise your speech so you’re familiar with it, but it’s also fine to use cue cards on the day. Unless you’re a professional comedian, why would you give yourself the unnecessary challenge of delivering the subtleties of humour without notes?! There’s just no need.

Leave spacing where you think there will be laughter on the day to ensure you pause. Nothing worse than talking over the laughter you’ve worked so hard to get.

Sadly, liquid courage is a myth (too much alcohol will actually make you more nervous), so you’re just going to have to simulate confidence till it does its thing.

Start by smiling. Simple but effective – and scientifically proven to be infectious. Talk slower than you would naturally. This will immediately make you seem more self-assured.

Easier said than done but if you look like you’re enjoying the best man speech you’ve written, other people will too. React to any ad hoc heckles in the good-hearted spirit they’re intended, you’re all here for the same reasons!

Remember, it’s less than 10 minutes until the toast and the point that you can start attacking the wine!

Speechy is a team of ex-BBC TV scriptwriters who now specialise in wedding speeches. Make a speech to be proud of with its quality speech templates, speech reviews and bespoke speeches.

“Layer a gilet over jersey for added warmth, or choose a linen set for maximum breathability. It’s all about pairing things that work to your temperature regulated when the weather can’t make up its mind.”

– Fred

A gilet makes sense for transitional weather, because it offers a medium amount of warmth thanks to the lack of sleeves. But, if you can’t bring yourself to wear a full-on nylon gilet, enter our brand-new linen version. The lightweight fabric offers up a perfect spring twist on a cold-weather staple. Layer your gilet over a knit hoodie, or even over a T-shirt for warmer days, and you’ll be both warm and seasonally appropriate. Also, the neutral oatmeal shade will go with everything in your wardrobe.

Two for one

Hybrid dressing

Suit up

We asked the Speechy team for their tips on how mums can write a memorable, witty and unique speech. And if you’re the groom reading this? Do something nice for your mum and pass it on.

These days, we might not be able to remember what we went into a room for or where we left our car keys but we can recall our children’s milestone moments as plain as day.

Who better to describe your offspring’s journey from childhood to grown-up than the person who’s been mopping up tears and doling out fivers throughout?

Look back over old pictures, letters and school reports, and turn your treasured memories into anecdotes that’ll leave the crowd howling with laughter one minute and pretending they’ve got something in their eye the next.

Remember those early years of snuggling up with fairy tales together? That’s a lifetime of storytelling skills honed – now it’s your turn to write the narrative and your wonderful son is the protagonist.

Like all the best stories, yours should have adventure, romance and plenty of humour. A theme can help with the structure here – base it on something people will recognise in your grown-up child, whether it’s their vocation or their notorious party animal personality.

If they’re a teacher, for instance, go for ‘lessons my child has taught me’, and use a few anecdotes to illustrate how they taught you patience (arriving two weeks past their due date), generosity (the rustle of a chocolate wrapper had them by your side in seconds), and courage (watching them graduate convinced you to go back and get that degree you’d written off).

Belly laughs shouldn’t be saved for the best man’s jokes. Why not show the crowd where your offspring got their wicked sense of humour from?

A few rules here – original comedy only, ditch the clichés and nothing recycled (except for the eco-friendly wedding favours).

It’s easier than you might think to craft authentic humour. Ironies and contrasts often work well… The chef who refused to eat anything that wasn’t beige as a child. The musician who gave you a headache with their endless banging of wooden spoons against pots and pans. You get the idea.

You needn’t perform a flawless stand-up routine – warm humour is great but feel free to express your heartfelt joy too. Lockdown will have made everyone that little bit more sentimental, and mums are well placed to ensure there’s not a dry eye in the place.

Many a promising speech has failed the ‘leave them wanting more’ test. With a line-up of speakers and fidgety guests who’ve been locked down for a year, it’s best to recite three rolling-in-the-aisles anecdotes than six weaker ones which might inspire only polite titters.

And don’t feel it’s your place to offer any thank yous – that’s mostly the groom’s job. And besides, if there’s one person who deserves a big old gratitude bomb on this occasion, it’s probably you.

Focus instead on celebrating your grown-up child for all their wonderful quirkiness. Delight them with as many funny memories as you can in five minutes – which is about the length of this blog, or between 900 and 1,000 words.

Whether you’ve had a turbulent ‘getting to know you’ period with them, or they’ve fit right in like an old piece of furniture, it’s always appreciated if you make an effort to pay tribute to them in your speech.

Avoid platitudes and make it bespoke. Maybe tell them how nice it’s been to see your son lovingly supported through his ambitions, or tease your new child-in-law with a story of how they originally spoke like Prince Harry to impress you before you finally realised they’re much more Danny Dyer.

If you don’t have a particularly close relationship, opt for giving them some irreverent guidance on living in harmony with your child; for example, ‘never try and outwit them on Mandalorian trivia and put their record collection back in the wrong order at your peril’.

Mums are often the glue that holds a family together. A warm tribute to someone your offsrping loved who couldn’t be here to enjoy this moment with them is perfectly acceptable in a mother of the groom speech.

Keep it brief and stay in tone with the happy occasion by pointing out something sweet or amusing about your lost loved one – had they been here, they’d have heckled their way through the speeches and been first up to the dancefloor. Maybe raise a glass of their favourite tipple to honour them.

Whether you’ve loved and lost, are battle-scarred from dating or are still happily married to your childhood sweetheart (who also happens to be the groom’s dad!), you’ve lived enough to offer the happy couple some gentle guidance on successful cohabiting.

Keep it light – this love-filled day doesn’t call for heavy-duty relationship counselling. Try offering some sweet words about the importance of teamwork or feel free to make a jokey reference to compromising on Netflix boxsets.

It’s perfectly acceptable to borrow the marriage advice of famous wordsmiths to make a fun point here. Dame Julie Andrews is a good choice: “Marriage is like a graph – it has its ups and downs, and as long as things bounce back up again, you’ve got a good marriage.”

Speechy is a team of ex-BBC TV scriptwriters who write bespoke speeches for weddings worldwide. They’re offering Moss Bros. customers a unique 10% off all their products and services throughout May and June. Visit speechy.com and use MOSSBROS at checkout.

With yet another lockdown at the time of writing, we’ve got the chance to reset after last year and consider what comes next. What’s changed? What’s important? Will we ever wear formal shoes again?

Here’s our take on what’s new for now – and for the rest of the year.

When 2020’s first lockdown happened, we all made lots of adjustments. Work, home life, routines, meals, socialising, health – everything about life as we knew it took a hit, in good ways and bad.

And how we dressed was just as affected. Suddenly, priorities were flipped and we were all faced with a choice. Embrace full-on comfort but feel awkwardly underdressed for Zoom meetings. Or dress as you used to for work but feel awkwardly overdressed for being at home.

Fast forward almost a year to now and we’ve landed on an easy hybrid of the two. Even if we do end up going back to the office, the things we’ve learned about at-home dressing will linger. Our days will likely be much more flexible and so, then, will our wardrobes need to be. From solitary work at the kitchen table to meeting a client in town to (here’s hoping) socialising afterwards, our days will be varied and our looks will need to multi-task for our new way of living.

While the style lessons we learned from lockdown will last, we’ve also all been starved of places to go and the opportunity to sharpen up. What we wear is, after all, an expression of ourselves and we’re all craving the feeling of putting the prime version of ourselves out in the world.

So, after so long with no real reason to don our best, we predict an enthusiastic return to getting properly dressed up again when the time comes. We’re talking three-piece suits, out-there patterns, polished shoes, and cufflinks. Even the small but unique joy of a brightly coloured, artfully folded pocket square.

And where will we wear them? Nights out. Weddings. Dinner with friends. Your uncle’s birthday. Your first visit to the pub in months. All of them, any of them. They’ll deserve your finest. And it’ll feel great.

Another lesson we’ve learned in the last year is that we can all get by on less than we thought. Life before meant a constant thirst for new and throwaway culture. Now, we’re far more aware of how our buying habits impact the environment. And we know it’s important that what we do buy goes the distance.

Timelessness is, funnily enough, a sustainable route to new for now. While trends may change, great style is a seasonless constant that you can build your own look around. It’s not only more ecomical to invest in timeless pieces, but clothing you can come back to again and again means less waste too. Learn to take care of your seasonless staples and they’ll last even longer.

There’s also a feeling of stability in things we know and trust. And after a year that was relentless in its unpredictability, many of us will happily tap into the comfort of classics that have endured through it all.

Yes, we’re backing investing in long-term pieces that never date, but sometimes you might still feel the need for a fresh look – like for a big event, or an interview, maybe, or that thing you’re going to on the weekend that your ex is also going to.

However, over-zealous shopping habits are not the answer. With an estimated £140m worth of used clothes thrown away every year, our overconsumption has already permanently damaged the environment. That’s a high price for a shortlived newness-high.

Instead, more of us will scratch the itch for something new through one-off outfit hires or clothing subscriptions. Both extend the lifecycle of clothes by circulating them and increasing their wear. In other words, that standout suit you’ll impress in at your pal’s wedding will do the same for someone else, rather than languishing at the back of your wardrobe. And that feels like a step forward for everyone.

As it sounds, garment dyeing is when a piece of clothing is dyed after it has been made (i.e. as a whole garment) rather than it being made out of pre-dyed fabric. But why?

Instead of the pristine, uniform finish you’d get with fabric dyed by the roll, garment dyeing lets the dye settle in different amounts in different spots. So it might be deeper at the seams or around the collar, and a little more faded in the body, giving it that gently worn-in feel from the start.

A side-bonus of a garment being dyed after it’s been constructed is that it’s already been through a washing process by the time it gets to you, meaning it’s less likely to shrink when you wash it yourself later.

So that just-so, lived-in look lasts for longer. Win-win.