I love clothes. I love to shop. I also love human rights and unpolluted waterways. I don’t have children yet, but when I do, I doubt my hopes for them will include sewing jeans for Old Navy instead of attending fifth grade. Unfortunately, most mainstream clothing companies are not communicating that they care much about these issues and they don’t think their customers care much either.
So I’ve developed my own guidelines for clothes shopping that help me make good purchasing decisions in line with my values. If I’m considering buying a piece, I first make sure it fits into one of the following categories:
1. Do I know anything about the *person* who made this?
A real living, breathing person with hopes and dreams and a food budget helped to sew or construct everything in your closet. Most clothing companies do not want you to think too hard about this when buying your clothes as garment workers in developing countries are not likely to be protected by any kind of wage protections or labor laws. So, unless the company makes an active attempt to tell me something about the people who make them profitable, I don’t buy it. And it is very easy to tell the difference, you just have to look for a STORY.
Take the clothing company Lemlem, sold at Anthropologie, for example. If you go to any of their product pages on the site, the first half of the garment description is about the company itself- how Ethiopian women are preserving traditional weaving techniques while financially supporting their communities. This company is clearly proud of what they do and Anthropologie is proud to sell their products. If you now look at most of Anthropologie’s other products, not only will you not find an origin story but you won’t even be told the country where the product was made. It will simply be listed as “Imported”. J.Crew’s product descriptions provide another good example of this practice. When one of their products is made in Italy, they trip all over themselves to tell you about it. When it’s made in China, it’s just “Imported”.
Also, look for certified fair trade clothing which you can learn more about here.
2. I’m not the first owner
There is a national glut of gently used clothing for purchase in person and online. Along with old standbys like Goodwill and Salvation Army, there are a bunch of retailers taking advantage of rapid consumption cycles to sell clothes that look practically brand new and maybe have never been worn at all.They distinguish themselves by being picky about what they buy, only accepting clothing that’s still in good shape and fashionable. Brick and mortar examples are national chains Clothes Mentor and Plato’s Closet but a ton are also popping up online including Bib & Tuck and Material WRLD.
My new favorite is online retailer, Thredup. I’ve had to buy some new clothes recently since gaining a little weight and I just bought two pairs of pants, four shirts and three sweaters for under $200. I got further discounts from selling them a bag of my now too-small clothes that are still really nice. It’s a total win-win.
3. Made of Organic/ Sustainable materials
I don’t consider this criteria to be the most important or impactful when clothes shopping but we have to reward retailers who make the effort. And if a company is enlightened enough to use materials which are healthy for us to wear and farmers to farm than they are probably, though not always, also going to adhere to guideline #1.
Acceptable materials include organic cotton, wool and recycled polyester. Many people like to expound upon the environmental benefits of bamboo but, unfortunately, it takes a toxic chemical process to break down bamboo into a usable fiber so I don’t include it.
4. Very high quality
Is this item something that will last me a lifetime? Is it something so well designed, of high quality materials and constructed with skill and integrity that I will care for it, repair it when necessary and maybe even hand it down to my daughter? If the answer is yes, then I will buy it. I will only be able to afford it if it also fits into category #2. One day I will be able to afford to buy all of my belongings from Zady and Coyuchi but until that day, I will dream.
5. Sometimes I cheat
This should probably not be listed as a guideline but the truth is that I cannot always find a specific item that fits into my guidelines and into my budget. Probably a few times a year I will buckle and buy something from the mall or T.J. Maxx that I ultimately do not feel good about. But I believe that the more people shop according to these guidelines and communicate their desire to buy these kinds of clothes exclusively, the more mainstream companies will change their business practices to meet the demand and I won’t have to cheat anymore.
Also, Stop shopping to fill time.
The most sustainable result by far of following these guidelines has had less to do with the contents of my closet and more about the way I live my day-to-day life. Since there are so few retailers that fit these criteria, I spend less time in malls and more time sketching or reading and enjoy my life better as a result. I stopped seeing myself primarily as a consumer and started to act more like a citizen, a person aware of and responsible for how their actions affect people around the world.
As such, this one is dedicated to my old frenemies at the mall-
What are your sustainable shopping guidelines? What else should be added to this list? What good sources am I missing? Please share!
The Green Rose 