A year to change: Green Fashion

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Green Fashion

Picture the flashing camera bulbs, the red carpet, the microphone shoved in your face, and that all important question: "Who are YOU wearing?"
More importantly WHAT are you wearing?
Most fabrics in a person's wardrobe fall under two categories: cotton and synthetics. Although the first is technically a 'natural' fibre cotton is an extremely chemical insecticide-heavy crop. Most cotton is also genetically modified so that farmers can spray their crops with Roundup and not effect the cash plants. This has the unfortunate side effect of creating pesticide resistant surrounding weeds that are now being treated with different chemicals. There are a lot of 'green' fabrics now out there - but it is also important to check not only their beginnings (GMO? organic? fair trade?) but also their processing. (dyes, pulp processing etc.) I have taken a personal clothing oath - I will now only buy garments that have minimal or no impact on the environment and will research before I open my wallet. Here is my most recent purchase:

I got this shirt from the CBC shop and it features Canada's godfather of green - David Suzuki. I bought the shirt because of the icon (and I love CBC) but was happy to learn that it is made out of 100% organic cotton. Although cotton requires a lot of water to grow, organic means that it is free of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Cotton also does not undergo any chemical processing to change it from picked cotton to woven fibre. Finally - added bonus - this garment was made in Canada (a VERY hard thing to find!)

This is my OTHER way of being a green fashionista - go vintage! I was doing this before because I like being one-of-a-kind and finding cool deals, but it is also excellent for the environment! When I choose to re-use an item I am not asking the earth to come up with one more iota of raw materials. Reuse is the second R remember? This little green number I got from an awesome seller on etsy (where I do a lot of my shopping) called Vintage Pod. Etsy is an amazing online source for vintage goodies and the sellers are REAL people (not corporations) who either find wonderful remnants from the past or create their own pieces of art and craft. Here are a few of my favorite vintage sellers: