OT: socially conscientious clothing

Submitted by Rodriguesqe on

Is this a consideration to you when you buy your clothes? 

For me, it hasn't been but I'm looking to make a change. I've been a frequent shopper of namebrand retail, especially via deep discount factory and clearance sites. While its nice to get fashionable, quality clothing for low prices no one can pretend they don't know who is losing out in the process.

Last night I bought a hemp hoodie of etsy  for 40 dollars. Its handmade in America ( I have to wait 3 weeks for production before I get it) made from sustainable materials. If I like the feel I plan to buy more hemp clothing.

I've done a bunch of research and have learned some interesting stuff. For example, bamboo was in vogue but now is considered unsustainable, but still is sometimes marketed as such. I also learned that the fair trade / sustainable market is no where near as deep as the rest of retail. Its going to be hard to build my wardrobe if most sites seem to carry only a handful of items.

So, open disussion. Is this something you care about? Do you have any hints about shopping consientiously? 

MGoBoard

George Pickett

April 12th, 2016 at 7:07 PM ^

Is this a consideration to you when you buy your clothes? 

For him, it hasn't been but he's looking to make a change. He's been a frequent shopper of namebrand retail, especially via deep discount factory and clearance sites. While its nice to get fashionable, quality clothing for low prices no one can pretend they don't know who is losing out in the process.

Last night he bought a hemp hoodie of etsy  for 40 dollars. Its handmade in America ( he has to wait 3 weeks for production before he gets it) made from sustainable materials. If he likes the feel he plans to buy more hemp clothing.

He's done a bunch of research and has learned some interesting stuff. For example, bamboo was in vogue but now is considered unsustainable, but still is sometimes marketed as such. He also learned that the fair trade / sustainable market is no where near as deep as the rest of retail. Its going to be hard to build his wardrobe if most sites seem to carry only a handful of items.

So, open disussion. Is this something you care about? Do you have any hints about shopping consientiously? 

Joined: 03/27/2016

MGoPoints: 9928

Abcd1234

April 12th, 2016 at 7:00 PM ^

I commend you for sticking to your values, but that's honestly a factor that has never crossed my mind, let alone something that I'd let dictate my clothing purchases. Reminds me a little bit of that story about throwing starfish back into the ocean.

If it's something that's personally important to you, great! Do it when you can, and when it doesn't work out, that's on the system. If not, if anybody holds you purchasing normal clothes against you, that's on them. It's not worth doing it to appease a select few who may judge you for it, in my estimation.

Joined: 04/12/2016

MGoPoints: 339

East German Judge

April 12th, 2016 at 10:43 PM ^

My question was trying to understand his views and practices as a consumer of all products.  For some items, like probably cell phones, it may not be feasible to make these type of choces, but for clothing there are more options.

Not sure why you are jumping to conclusions and making assumptions, because when you assume you make an ass out of you not me.

Joined: 10/05/2014

MGoPoints: 190406