Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve found:\u00a0finding out where stuff comes from\u00a0ain\u2019t easy. Or cheap. Transparency and accountability are question marks with\u00a0most major manufacturers. Further complication\u2013once you start to dig around a bit, you\u2019ll find\u00a0another hard truth: the cheaper the clothes are for the consumer, the higher the likelihood that some dubious labor conditions were involved in their assembly.<\/p>\n
The good news is\u2013more and more manufacturers are making an effort to oversee their labor, and share more info about where their product comes from. This is in response to consumer demands. The higher our expectations, the greater their commitment will be. So if you want to see fair labor practices and environmental responsibility\u2026ask for it. It matters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile\u2013here are a few ways you can simplify your life, and your closets, over time\u2026having a positive impact on the earth and its people. Not to mention the simplicity of your morning routine.<\/p>\n 1. Say \u2018yes\u2019 to hand-me-downs.\u00a0<\/strong>Most of what my kids wear comes from family or church members who have already enjoyed a first round of wear. Once\u00a0my kids have outgrown it, we pass it along again. One of the great joys of church community is watching the same outfits cycle through\u2013seeing that Easter dress again next year on another kid, or knowing that a beloved pair of basketball shoes are still flying high. My daughter now has a\u00a0jean jacket that has been handed through about 5 classes\u2019 worth\u00a0of church girls\u2013its original owner now in\u00a0middle school. When I do buy new clothes, (sometimes I have to splurge on new slim\/long jeans for my little beanpoles) I stick with brands that I know will hold up\u2013surviving not just my kids, but\u00a0another family or two, before hitting the landfill. If your kids are iffy about wearing \u201cold\u201d stuff, try to glamorize the experience. Think about how other people\u2019s stuff has a story. Check out\u00a0this sweet little book called\u00a0I Like Old Clothes<\/a>. I bought this for my daughter a few years ago, hoping it will ward off the day when she starts\u00a0demanding that\u00a0a *Justice, *Gap or *Limited Too! label appear in everything that touches her precious tiny hiney.<\/p>\n 2. Get your stuff used, too. <\/strong>Grown-ups don\u2019t exactly share around hand-me-downs, but I buy most of my clothes at Goodwill, Savers and consignment shops. There are some exceptions\u2013like shoes, which I can\u2019t bring myself to buy used; and pants, which I rarely find to fit me.\u00a0But mostly, I try to buy gently \u201crecycled\u201d clothing\u2013I kind of\u00a0enjoy the hunt, and can also\u00a0minimize how much I spend on the \u201ciffy\u201d brands. Speaking of that\u2026<\/p>\n 3. Know what you\u2019re buying.\u00a0<\/strong>Here is Kristen Howerton\u2019s list of\u00a0ethical kids\u2019 clothing<\/a>; and here are some companies that make\u00a0grown-up clothes<\/a>, too. The sad truth is, you are not going to find convenience and wide selection\u2013at the price you\u2019re used to paying\u2013AND feel good about where it comes from. I try to minimize what I buy new, because it\u2019s almost impossible\u2013unless you dress your family in all hemp and organic tunics\u2013to shop with a good conscience all the time. But I am trying to\u00a0educate myself and pull away from the worst of the worst\u2013while giving my\u00a0support to those companies committed to fair labor and transparency as much as possible. Check out the 2015 report from\u00a0Free2Work.org<\/a>. (Skip to page 5 for brand \u201cgrades.\u201d And prepare to be really depressed, but also, yay H&M!)<\/p>\n 4. The\u00a0Capsule Wardrobe<\/a>. <\/strong>While\u00a0I have not braved this lifestyle yet\u2026I\u2019m moving in this direction. I love all the ways it will simplify my life and space. I also acknowledge that I pretty much wear the same 12 articles of clothes every day as it is; and with the evolution of\u00a0Pinterest<\/a>, even we organizationally-challenged commoners can find all the ideas and support we need to make this work for us. A big perk to this approach\u2013if you are only going to own 20 to 30 items of clothing, you can spend more on those pricier yet more ethical brands that you feel good about. And finally, let\u2019s not forget<\/p>\n 5. The Sharing Culture.\u00a0<\/strong>How often do we buy something, knowing full well that we may\u00a0only wear it one time? The dress for the fancy wedding or awards dinner; the Easter dress shoes for a kid who will outgrow\u00a0them by next year; the extreme outerwear for a one-time camping trip; etc, etc. Why don\u2019t we all (boys too!) resurrect the joy of\u00a0shopping our friends\u2019 closets.\u00a0<\/em>Remember how the women in Ramona Quimby\u2019s neighborhood had\u00a0ONE formal maternity dress that they\u00a0had passed around\u00a0for years? I love that so much. And, ok, I know it\u2019s not really a one-sized-fits-all world, in reality\u2026 But still, we could borrow a whole lot more than we do.<\/p>\n I am\u00a0still learning. And considering the fact that I live in the suburbs, I am swimming upstream when it comes to embracing a less-is-more lifestyle. So help me out here\u2026How do you simplify the textile\u00a0part of your life? Where do you shop, when you have to, and what makes you feel good about the brands you buy? How can we raise the\u00a0accountability expectations of the brands we are ashamed to love?? (I\u2019m looking at you, J Crew\u2026)<\/p>\n I\u2019d love to hear your philosophies and best practices. And also, what size shoe do you wear? Because I\u2019ve got this wedding to go to\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Earlier this week,\u00a0I shared a post about my family\u2019s Sock Scavenger Hunt. I paid my kids actual money to track down every sock in our house, so that we wouldn\u2019t have to go buy more. And\u2026it worked! \u00a0This exercise was related to growing concerns about textile waste. In addition to wanting to scale back the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":4294,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[1242,1244,1241,29,117,9,44,1243,1245],"class_list":["post-4288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-community","category-uncategorized","tag-clothes","tag-ethical-clothing","tag-hand-me-downs","tag-living-simply","tag-parenting","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-simplicity","tag-sustainable-shopping","tag-textile-waste"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Cco](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/333\/2016\/05\/clothes-hangers-582212_640.jpg\")
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