candid thoughts on ethically produced clothing

This past year, the past few months specifically, I've been thinking a lot about ethically produced clothing.  More and more it's bothered me that some of the clothes I enjoy are produced in ways that are hurtful to other people on this planet.  We're so separated from actually having to see the people who make our clothes that it's hard to feel like that clothing is produced in a hurtful way.  I mean, walking into a Forever 21 isn't the same as walking into a sweatshop.  It's all shiny and there's pop music and miles of clothing racks full of cute things.  Cute, dirt cheap things.  So cheap it almost feels like you're stealing something.  I got a pair of high waisted shorts there once (on sale) for $3.50.  It's craziness.  But anyway, I'm not just talking about Forever 21, it's most of our clothes these days.  The clothing industry has made the shift to quick and dirty fashion.  We want new styles every few weeks (or every week, for some), and we can get them at the mall, or Target, etc.  Instead of choosing items that are high quality and items that we value enough to mend when they start to show wear, we'll go for items that are low quality because we know that we'll probably only wear them for a couple seasons at the most, and then that item will become boring, or be shoved to the back of our closet to make room for the new, trendy, cheap things we've acquired.

I honestly don't see this new style of instant-gratification-shopping stopping.  I for one do enjoy infusing my closet with new items on a semi-regular basis, though I do prefer to do it with items that I know I'll be able to remix and wear through different seasons.  But, while I realize that this trend of fast fashion is a train that could be unstoppable at this point, I'd like make an effort not to contribute to the part of that train that hurts the people who make my clothes.  I've decided that one of my 26 before 27 goals will be to try and only purchase clothing that I know is ethically produced/fair trade/made in the USA, or thrifted/vintage.  This is going to make trips to Target significantly more painful, though in the past I think they've done some of their designer collaborations where the designer specified that the clothes needed to be produced ethically (fingers crossed they do another one of those!).

There's a lot of instant gratification in the way we shop these days.  It's hard to save up for a more expensive item these days because there's no guarantee that the item will even still be in stock when you finally have the funds saved up.  I've definitely had that happen before and it's so disappointing.  But things move so quickly through stores nowadays that you almost always have to impulse buy, or miss out on that item.  So we always get that awesome feeling of instant gratification, and we can justify it because we can tell ourselves that it'd probably be sold out of our size the next time we went to the store.

Another problem that has arisen from cheaply made clothes is just that... they're inexpensive.  This isn't necessarily a problem (right? isn't finding cute clothes for low prices a good thing?) but now we have our price radar calibrated in a way that makes us forget that how the item was produced factors into that price.  Seventy bucks for a dress would be outrageously expensive if you bought it at Forever 21 or Target, but seventy for a well made dress out of quality materials that was produced by people who were paid a decent wage?  I understand that there are a lot of people out there that can't afford a $70 dress, and that the cheap fashion houses have been able to provide super cute items for super cheap prices.  I remember when we first got a Forever 21 up in Anchorage a few years ago and I was kind of mind blown about how inexpensive everything is.  But now I'm wondering if cheap prices are worth the unethical methods used to produce clothing so inexpensively.  Is that enough justification?  My gut reaction is, "no."  Is my "right" to look cute worth supporting brands that treat other human beings poorly?  As a style blogger I realize that I have some (very small) measure of power over what people choose to purchase.  I know that people see items on my blog, want them, and go buy them.  I definitely do that with the blogs I read!  So, I feel even more convicted, in that aspect, to choose to show you guys items that are produced in an ethical way.


I'm certainly not an expert on finding out the sources of how a brand produces its clothing, so there will definitely be a big learning curve when it comes to figuring this all out.  I emailed Susan from ModCloth and asked her if she had some resources, and she shared a couple with me, as well as some of the categories of ModCloth that have eco-friendly, or Made in the USA clothing.  If you guys know of any good resources for finding out how a brand produces their clothing, I'd love if you'd share those!  Jumping into this world is kind of crazy.  There are so many aspects to ethically produced clothing.  Was the fabric produced ethically?  Or was it just the production of the garment that was fair trade?  Etc. Etc.  There's a lot I don't know, but I want to learn more.  I know there are tons of people out there who know way more about this issue than I do.

I'll still be wearing the items I already own, since I feel like it would just be wasteful to get rid of things I already have.  I receive some of my clothing from sponsors, so I'll try very hard to find items that my sponsors offer that are ethical.  I believe Dear Creatures is ethically made in China, which is nice since I'm a big fan of their styles.  I recently got  a dress from ModCloth by Bibico, which is the first thing I've gotten with the specific intention of finding something ethically produced, and I've heard that ModCloth plans on stocking some more brands who produce their clothing ethically, which is good news!  I've also recently learned of Mata Traders, which is a shop that sells fair trade items.  I'm also a big fan of businesses like Krochet Kids and Musana Jewelry, who directly help support women around the world  If you guys know of more shops that make it easy to find fair trade clothing, or directly support the artisans, please let me know!

I suppose this could all sound pretentious.  But I really have been convicted of late about this issue.  I feel like as a society we're incredibly wasteful in general, and I want to start working against that in my own personal life.  Perhaps ultimately it won't matter, but at least I'm trying to throw a few starfish back into the water, and it matters to those starfish, even if I can't throw all the starfish back (you guys know the starfish analogy, right?).  I hope to be able to do a more thorough post about this issue once I'm further along in my "quest".  If you guys have any good resources or books to share that you've read about the issue, please let me know about them!  While I believe that this goal is something that I could accomplish without necessarily needing to know a ton, I do want to be more knowledgable about the topic.

b + w

The weather in Tacoma has been atrocious lately!  It's all rain and blustery winds and chilling to the bone!  We're re-siding our house at the end of the month and I'm seriously praying for better weather because re-siding our house in this kind of weather sounds like hell.  But! Having new siding will be worth it.  Our little house has been neglected for quite a few years and needs the TLC.  Our neighbors said that the house had been vacant for about 5 years before we moved in.  I always hate seeing cute houses around town that have clearly been neglected or run down.  With just a little bit of upkeep and love they could be so nice!  If I could breathe new life into older, run down homes for a living I would do it in a heartbeat.  Anyone want to be my investor!?

top/courtesy of modcloth :: jacket/courtesy of asianicandy :: scarf/gift via ruche

shoes/courtesy of blowfish :: leggings/grocery outlet

necklace/courtesy of moorea seal :: photos by Dan

I've been wearing these shoes non-stop lately.  Partly because they were one of two pairs of shoes I brought to Anchorage, so I wore them pretty much every day up there, but they're also really comfy and go with almost everything.  I practically live in this outfit, or a variation of it, lately.  This shirt is actually really awesome to go climbing in, as I like having a longer top that doesn't ride up as I climb, but also isn't too baggy.  Oh, and it's also a nice shirt to wear as PJs.  Yup, this outfit is 24 hr friendly.  Sleep in it, climb in it, go on a date in it, repeat.  It's all about simplifying life, right?

I'm growing like the quickening hues

You know when you've got something that you have to do hanging above your head, and every night you're kicking yourself for not doing it that day, but the next day you wake up and totally forget to do that thing again... and this goes on for, oh, weeks?  Just me?  Okay, well that has been happening for weeks with a couple major things that I needed to do and I finally did them yesterday and oh man does the weight off my shoulders feel awesome.  The worst part about those kind of things is that they're usually pretty simple things to complete.  Well, I finally did them, and at least for the moment, I feel like I conquered the world.  I'm sure something new will come up to burden me (oh hai, emails), but I'm basking in the glow of success for the moment. We also got a new (to us) couch off of craigslist yesterday!  It was a barely used midcentury-look leather couch that had only been used once to stage a home.  Huzzah!  Most of the couches I like run between $650 and $2,000 (ouch), so it was a major deal to snag this one off of craigslist for way less than that!  One of my favorite things in the world is customizing a living space and making it beautiful and exude my style.  Ever since I was a kid I would rearrange my room and make it as much my own as possible.  Of course back then my taste and vision was much different.  And ever since living on my own, in dorms and apartments and rentals, I've ached to really grab hold of a space and make it my own.  Up until now I've been a bit limited in that, what with not being able to paint, or make huge holes in the walls for shelving and such, so now I'm like a kid in a candy shop.  We've got enough square footage to really spread our proverbial legs, design-wise, and I'm kind of giddy about it.  I'm trying to go slow, because I could seriously blow all our money on decor.  Screw clothes, give me chairs and rugs and art and pretty much everything from Target in the decor section right now.  I'm in heaven. I apologize in advance if all I ever talk about from now on is home decor.  It's kind of my thing.

dress/BB Dakota via modcloth :: hat + tights + cardigan/thrifted :: scarf/h&m

jacket/courtesy of asianicandy :: boots/courtesy of blowfish

This dress is one of my favorite travel dresses.  It's so easy to remix and is so wearable that I've found that I tend to bring it along on almost any trip I take.  It's been featured in the Remix Archives before, so you know it's one of those dresses I wear to death.  Again, I'm mixing prints here like a maniac.  Plaid, feathers, and stripes? Bring it on.  I'm feeling a shift in my style these days.  Less 50's pretty-vintage, more granola-y/free people/70's flow-y/bohemian.  If that makes sense as a description of a style.  I'm also trying to incorporate more separates into my wardrobe.  Over the past few years I've almost exclusively added dresses to my wardrobe, which could just be making up for the first 21 years of my life where you could probably count on two hands the times I wore dresses voluntarily.  But, you know, I think that stylistically that was probably a (fun) overcorrection.  I suspect that in my late 20's I'll settle into a more laid back version of that very feminine style of my mid-20's.  A happy medium between the uber-tomboy style of my youth/teen years and the girliness of my mid-20's.  Of course, I believe that style is something that is always shifting and growing with me, so I'm sure my style will continue to change throughout life.

a little bit of sparkle

I wore this outfit to a Christmas party a few weeks ago, but neglected to get any photos of it, so I figured I'd recreate it for New Year's Eve!  I only have one sequined dress, so it's my go-to dress for any sort of event requiring a little glitz.  I'm not a big glitter girl, but these shoes are too much fun.  I knew I wanted to wear these shoes for NYE, so going all out with the sparkle seemed the natural thing to do.  I don't really have many excuses to get sparkly and gussied up, so it's fun to primp and get done up. Our new year's festivities were a little more laid back this year, but it was still fun to make drinks and munch on party food all night.  Our neighbors usually put on an enormous fireworks show, but they didn't this year, so we just watched the other people on the lake lighting off fireworks.  We'd set up a fire pit with some seating around it, so we were all cozy outside watching the new year being rung in.

dress/lulu e. bebe :: tights + shoes/courtesy of modcloth :: star crown/handmade As much as the holidays are so fun, and I love looking forward to the holiday season, I'm glad it's all over.  We moved into our new house right smack dab in the middle of the holiday craziness, so it'll be nice to have things settle down so we can focus on homeowner stuff.  I'm excited for the new year and doing all sorts of projects on the house!  We've got some huge projects we need to get done, but for the most part it's all fun stuff, like painting and decorating.  W'e're going to be spending a lot of time at Ikea and Home Depot in the next year.  
I'm also pretty happy to settle into routines again; climbing, taking photos, designing, cooking, etc. etc. I've been feeling so scatterbrained these past few weeks, but being back home I'm starting to feel like my brain is coming back to normal mode. I love the holidays, but I also love that they only happen once a year.  I've never been the type of person who wished that the holiday season lasted all year long.  I feel like part of the reason there aren't very many holidays in the months following December is that we all need to recover!  

house and home

We pretty much always end up sledding at least once when I go home for Christmas.  With the warmer temperatures, the snow had the perfect conditions to get packed down into sledding routes.  My little brother got a cool GoPro camera for Christmas and took some really fun videos of us sledding, but I don't think he's put those online yet.  I've got quite a few photos from AK, so expect more snow on the blog in the coming week!
It's fun to be back home after being up in Alaska.  I was remembering all the renovations my parents did on that house, and got pretty excited to make our house our own through some little renovations here and there.  On Friday Dan & I went to Ikea (Dan's first time ever!) and finally got some dressers so that our clothes will no longer be in piles on the floor.  I want to stain them first, though, and went to Home Depot to get the stain... and ended up getting completely sidetracked and spent the entire night painting our bathroom instead.  Whoops!  Guess our clothes will be on the floor for a bit longer.  The bathroom paint is going to take for-ev-er, but I should've known that, being a perfectionist who has a penchant for tedious projects.  I spent about 2 hours working on the herringbone and only a tiny corner is done.  Oh well!  I'm super excited to see how it turns out!  I don't have a super clear vision for the other rooms in the house, just vague ideas here and there, but I think things are slowly coming into focus.  Today's project? Paint our kitchen table legs and stain our dressers!