But first, I read something today that touches on the question most of us are thinking: how can we afford to buy fair trade items? A reader asked the author of Seven, An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess (a book that greatly influenced this month’s series) Jen Hatmaker, this question:
How do you balance purchasing organic / local / made in America items versus the higher cost of those items? We want to be eating and purchasing the quality items but what I spend on them in a month (not even in excess) is what someone in a third world country could live on for a year.
Agreed. I honestly found a balance, because though organic and Fair Trade is more costly, I also quit buying a bunch of other garbage (and some I continue to purchase, because, you know, FOR THE MOST PART). I find “Made in America” not so cost-prohibitive at places like Old Navy and several Target brands. And again, if we buy in equal quantity as we ever have but with high-integrity brands, we might go into the poorhouse. This is where “lower consumption” comes into play. Buy less, buy better.
Read the rest of the Q&A with Jen here.
Jen summed up nicely my new approach to buying clothing. Buy less, buy better!
Children’s Clothing
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| Matilda Jane Clothing |
Shabby Apple: I mentioned this in the last post, but Shabby Apple also sells adorable little girls dresses*, and is expending to pre-teen clothes.
War Chest: the War Chest Boutique sells fun purses, bibs, aprons, dolls and toys for children, and also adult aprons, some apparel, scarves, and jewelry.
Matilda Jane Clothing: For unique, whimsical dresses, tops, skirts and bottoms, and accessories, this is the place. Right now they only have clothing for little girls, but boys are on the agenda, and they also have some fun pieces for moms. Matilda Jane recently partnered with our friend Noonday Collections!
Thrift Stores: Since kids grow fast, shopping at your local thrift stores is a great budget friendly way to shop ethically and support your local community!
Accessories
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| Raven + Lily |
There are just so many companies that sell scarves, purses, hats, and that sort of thing, I’m going to keep this list simple:
- Live FashionABLE– scarves, budget friendly
- Cuyana – beautiful purses and bags.
- Noonday Collections- scarves, purses, jewelry, shoes, bags, belts, hats, budget friendly
- Raven and Lily– scarves, purses, jewelry, moderately priced to investment pieces.
- Good and Fair Clothing– scarves and tees, budget friendly
- Trade as One– scarves, jewelry, bags, budget friendly
- Catherine Nicole– jewelry
- Global Girlfriend– purses, bags, clutches, scarves, jewelry, wallets, budget friendly
- Stop Traffick Fashion– bags, wallets, clutches, jewelry. By the way, STF has new tee shirt designs in stock!
Underwear
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| Good and Fair Clothing |
- Good and Fair– men’s boxers and women’s hipsters
- Maggies Organics– socks and pajamas
- For more ideas, visit this blog post by Stop Traffick Fashion: Ethical Socks and Undies
Shoes
