In my first blog, “Lifestyle Change Resources for Central Ohio,” I listed a few sites where you could buy products to keep your clothes clean sustainably, but since then I’ve explored many more sites where you can purchase sustainably made or lovingly cared for “vintage” clothing.
swap.com is the most popular online thrift and consignment store. Clothing sold on the site is inspected and return shipping is free if it doesn’t fit. There is clothing for women, men, children and babies as well as maternity clothing on the site.
eBay Fashion offers the same variety as swap.com. The menus make it easy to shop by brand.
Of course there are new clothing manufacturers like Patagonia that produce their clothing and outdoor equipment sustainably.
Then there are shoes. Native Shoes boasts that their light, fashionable shoes and boots are completely recyclable. They will take them back when they are worn out and make new shoes out of them. Raum Shoes are slip-ons made of leather that is a bi-product of the food industry. They do not use steel molds or harmful chemicals in production. All the components are sourced locally in southern Turkey where their “green” factory employs Turkish craftsmen and Syrian refugee apprentices. And then there is the Greats sneaker company which makes a line of sneakers patched together from the left over factory scraps to reduce textile waste.
And, of course, there are a great many local thrift and consignment stores you can patronize. Last year I found a new jacket that must have been donated as a remainder at the Goodwill store on High Street. $3.00.
Remember, many big chain clothing stores today practice “Fast Fashion,” which is terribly harmful to the environment and to the exploited people in poor countries that produce it. You can learn more about this in my earlier blog, “Sustainable Living: Clothing.”
You can find this and all the Creation Care blogs for the St. Stephen’s website that I have written at a consolidating blog I have created: ststephenscreationcare.blogspot.com
Thanks for your interest in caring for God’s creation!
Elliott J. Bush
