Green Living Stores

Knit pullover in Hemp and Flax fabric will set the tone for your new Green Living way of looking at how you choose and wear your clothing.  www.NaturalOrganicClothes.com also has A Knit Cardigan, Knit Hooded Sweater and Drawstring Pants in 100% Hemp.  For the person who does not want to wear clothing made from animal hair (wool)  this will be a perfect solution.  Clothing made from organic cotton is also available to dress yourself in eco friendly fabrics that are classically fashionable without the waste of buying cheap and throwing away for the next season of your clothing choices.

Escaping the trappings of novelty t-shirts, more and more companies are beginning to start selling wares that are fashion forward.  Take, for example, Natural Organic Clothes, who are currently selling a great-looking spaghetti-strap dress.

Organic dresses that are look hot and flattering seem like they’re a bit hard to come by and with summer fast approaching, this dress is perfect for hitting the farmer’s market, the beach, or curling up with a book in the park.

My daughter has eczema and generally sensitive skin, so typically menial things like laundry and skin care are tempered with the usage of scent-free detergent and lotions.  We’ve also taken up to buying organic children’s clothes.  This is very imperative since she spends so much time at school, as a precautionary measure, we do not want her to start scratching and have her bleeding as a result of the kind of chemically-treated cotton-based clothing that you can find at most retailers.

Organic clothes are great environmentally and in terms of business practice, but they’re especially helpful for kids with sensitive skin.

I’ve been vegan for a number of years but I didn’t temper my dressing habits until recently.  Up until two years ago, I wasn’t even aware that finding animal-friendly, organic clothes were so easy.  For example, I had a rather difficult time finding vegan shoes that weren’t expensive or uncomfortable (I realize that Converse and Vans are canvas, but they are murder on my feet).  Then I made a trip to my local skateboard shop and found a pair of ridiculously comfortable skate shoes that I’ve been wearing since then.

Now my lifestyle is completely vegan and environmentally healthy and I though the transition took a bit longer than I would’ve liked, I’m finding that my lifestyle seems far more plentiful than before.

Wearing organic clothing isn’t about attaching yourself to a movement or, to some, a popular trend; it’s also about being aware.  Chemically-treated cotton contains several pesticides and can be harmful to both adults and children alike.  Also, you have to wonder what becomes of the chemicals that aren’t full absorbed by the cotton.  They’re found in our air, water and soil.  Destroying this planet for fashion seems rather counterproductive, if not a tad bit selfish.

Finding eco-friendly clothing isn’t difficult nowadays and it’s even more common that you’ll find textiles that haven’t been in a sweatshop environment.  The next time you’re thinking about buying a cheaply made shirt from a store, think about all the harm that that article of clothing may have caused and think about the benefits – both environmentally and to your personal health – of buying an organic counterpart.  You may feel a little bit better about it.

The Amish are successfully joining the twenty first century with their own brand of technology.  Donald Kraybill is focusing his attention on this new facet of Amish survival.  He states that there are 2,000 Amish-owned and operated businesses in eastern Pennsylvania, and many of their products are produced by machines.  (Quote from the Dallas Morning News, Saturday, April 26, 2008 in an article by Mary Jacobs.)  What is interesting about the Amish form of technology is that they choose to focus on how their technology benefits the community, rather than how fast they can create a profit.  The result is that they use renewable or low impact power sources such as hydraulic and pneumatic to manufacture their products.  The end result is that their small businesses have a failure rate of only 5% compared to the failure rate of 50% in the United States, by creating lean and profitable businesses.  Their products are focused on creating quality versus quantity.  Their frugality adds to the environment of Green Living by creating products that add to the healthy fabric of their personal society and the people who choose to benefit from their creative force.

I believe that it would aid society as a whole to borrow their principles about how we choose our clothing, food and shelter to replace the use and throw away society we have created.  We do not have to dress and think Amish, but we do need to understand the principles they base their decisions on when we make our choices about when and where we buy.  www.NaturalOrganicClothes.com is focusing on creating this new culture by creating a low impact clothing store that provides quality clothing that takes into account the focus on providing long wearing organic designs in natural and recycled materials.  We want to replace quantity with quality and contribute to the well being of the world we live in by offering only Fair Trade products.  The items we offer may not compete with the department stores in the prices we offer, but we can feel good that the items we sale does not damage the well being of the creators.

Bamboo Clothing adds another dimension to the health issue of Living Green.  Bamboo does require more energy to process into quality fiber, but it is gives another choice option for fiber sensitive’s.  One hundred percent bamboo offers hypo-allergenic, antimicrobial and odor resistant features.  Bamboo is softer than cashmere and more absorbent than cotton.  www.NaturalOrganicClothes.com carries a one hundred percent bathrobe and a camisole with ninety-five percent bamboo fiber and five percent spandex for fit and comfort.  Natural Organic Clothes will be adding more bamboo clothing as Fair Trade manufacturers present their products to be featured on NOC’s site.   Natural Organic Clothes also has a nice selection of garments from cotton, hemp and recycled materials.

I’ve been vegan for a number of years but I didn’t temper my dressing habits until recently.  Up until two years ago, I wasn’t even aware that finding animal-friendly, organic clothes were so easy.  For example, I had a rather difficult time finding vegan shoes that weren’t expensive or uncomfortable (I realize that Converse and Vans are canvas, but they are murder on my feet).  Then I made a trip to my local skateboard shop and found a pair of ridiculously comfortable skate shoes that I’ve been wearing since then.

Now my lifestyle is completely vegan and environmentally healthy and I though the transition took a bit longer than I would’ve liked, I’m finding that my lifestyle seems far more plentiful than before.

Wearing organic clothing isn’t about attaching yourself to a movement or, to some, a popular trend; it’s also about being aware.  Chemically-treated cotton contains several pesticides and can be harmful to both adults and children alike.  Also, you have to wonder what becomes of the chemicals that aren’t full absorbed by the cotton.  They’re found in our air, water and soil.  Destroying this planet for fashion seems rather counterproductive, if not a tad bit selfish.

Finding eco-friendly clothing isn’t difficult nowadays and it’s even more common that you’ll find textiles that haven’t been in a sweatshop environment.  The next time you’re thinking about buying a cheaply made shirt from a store, think about all the harm that that article of clothing may have caused and think about the benefits – both environmentally and to your personal health – of buying an organic counterpart.  You may feel a little bit better about it.

Fair Trade products are a very important part of Living Green as a responsible servant of the earth and its people.  The following is an email I received from 
Rubana Ahmad owner of Ethika Boutique Ltd. In response to my need to understand why Fair Trade is an important part of the Living Green issue.

Hello Living Green,

Sure I’m happy to help.
For me Fair Trade is being able to receive a just pay that enables workers to earn enough to eat and provide for their families and invest in their futures.  Fair Trade is the new fight for equality in human rights for those that work in the third world.  Our female embroiderers were formerly cleaners, sweeping floors every morning, after a whole month earning a mere £4, which is simply nothing!!!  Yet they had no choice but to take this demoralizing work.  We enable them to use their inherited skills and are happy for them to work from their homes, in a safe environment, and we pay them what they ask, we do not bring the price down at all.  They regularly ask our managers for more work.

I think Fair Trade goes hand in hand with Living green.  The two co-exist with each other, and we all value our environment so we try our best to use low-impact dyes that aren’t harmful to workers or the environment.  I think it’s up to us the consumers to make this change, and be aware that the mass produced cheap clothes that large companies market are coming at a steep price to many people who are being exploited.
I have just this week answered another company’s question, and I thought it might be interesting for you to have a look,

Dear Rubana,

My name is Freia and I’m writing an article about the ‘true cost of cheap fashion’ for Chris from fair-trade boutique’s website. I was wandering whether I could ask you some questions to add into my report and get opinions of people who are connected to fair-trade boutique. It would really help in developing ideas within this subject area.
 
Why do you think this whole cheap fast fashion has taken off?  An interesting co-incidence to note is that cheap culture took off about the same time, that easy jet revolutionized air travel through cheap tickets; so many consumers became spoilt by naturally expecting a bargain in other areas too.   Also with easy jet, there isn’t direct exploitation of people, but yes the environment bears a steep price.  People also spend a lot more than they save, and the steep deadly rise in house prices are also a big, big influencing factor, there is just a lot less money to go around.  I’ve also noticed that students particularly like to keep a certain image, and like to update their wardrobe frequently.  Perhaps this habit trickles through their lives and with a higher income, the more they can purchase. There are also many poor communities that actually live on the edge and just can’t afford to spend more than £10 or £20 per month.  They have to buy there clothing from somewhere.  The clothes shop they use to visit were pretty dismal, but huge clothing shops like Marks and Spencer have rebranded themselves, as well as Matalan among others to make cheap clothing affordable and great looking, so of course we all think, if it looks just as good, why should we pay more?

Perhaps consumers made the jump, and thought why not cheap clothing, no-ones loosing out, and we can buy more clothes and affordably keep our images up to date.  I actually went to a radio interview where the host exclaimed proudly, this cardigan was from Matalan for £7, but then I asked, how is it that it can be offered for such a cheap price??? There must be someone who is being exploited and paid almost nothing for you to get this price.  
 
 I was disgusted when I started to read some articles from The Ecologist from Dame Anita Roddicks article that children, women and men were being made to work around the clock in Bangladesh and working incredibly long hours with no breaks, and perhaps they earn a mere pittance that they can hardly survive on let alone build a normal standard of life on.  Why shouldn’t they have the same rights as we do, for a minimum wage, and for decent rights of breaks and some type of medical coverage and educational fees for the families’ children?  I read further about their awful situations and the lack of choices for any other type of job apart from cleaning which pays the same, they don’t have money to study for qualifications, and the countries in Asia lack the infrastructure and growth to offer good jobs.  These very sweat shops supply many of the cheap chains.  I decided then and there not to purchase these items.
 
Is the problems associated with this fast cheap fashion influenced your choice of area within fashion?
Of course, I new many women through family contacts who were themselves educated through people’s donations, but lacked any opportunities to work.  I realized that they have a huge wealth of skills that I could market to make a really exclusive brand; I just needed to DO IT.  And you can see what they can achieve by viewing the Ethika Boutique collection.
 
Do you think this unethical production of products will pass as the public get more aware of issues to do with this?
I certainly think consumers are more willing to consider buying an ethically sourced garment, that they know every effort has been taken to avoid exploitation.  I think the more our society is educated the more valuable they will think an ethical purchase is.
 
Does it make you more aware of these issues when buying products yourself do you only buy fair-trade?
I am certainly aware of these issues, and do try to by my clothing from shops that I now give back and support fair-trade.
Thanks for listening,

best regards,

Rubana Ahmad.
Ethika Boutique Ltd
www.ethikaboutique.com