This is a collaborative post.
Ok, first things first. Being green and ethical as well as wearing things you like, make you feel comfortable and good looking as possible. And it’s not a bad thing wanting to look good and being picky with the clothes we wear. In fact it’s good. Here’s why.
Winter is always a tricky season as a parent because everyday school drop offs have to happen, no matter the weather. If it rains, we put wellies and rain coats on. It would be nice to stroll around with stylish umbrellas, but our hands are mostly full. If it’s cold, we need extra layers. Often, it’s cold in the morning, rains at pick up, and you just need a lightweight jacket in between – so the front hall is covered in outer wear and shoes on an ongoing basis. Sounds familiar?
When you’re picky with the quality and the ethics of your clothes it automatically means you are moving away from fast fashion. As you might know already, one of my favourite pet hates is fast fashion. Fast fashion embodies a lot of things going to the wrong direction in our days: promoting over-consuming, endangering the environment, harming people’s self-esteem and creating dangerous addictive habits and fuelling unethical practices in the process of manufacturing. Good news is: we DON’T have to feed the monster. There are plenty of good brands doing good things providing us with choices.
There’s more and more information available online now and brands cannot hide dirty secrets anymore. So my advice is, when you are looking to buy an item, go online and check out the brand’s online presence: the website, the online shop and news about it. Brands, that have nothing to hide will do so and will be proud to their green and ethical achievements – a lot of time this is work in progress and any brand or shop who works towards a more ethical and sustainable future highlights the goals and the achievements on their page. Like Orvis, they not only sell fashionable yet quality clothing that lasts long years, but they also donate 5% of pre-tax profits every year to protecting nature, supporting communities, and advancing canine health and well-being.
We all have the power to make difference and the good news is we can start by using our buying power.