Being a serial buyer of supermarket and other purveyors of planet choking, sweat shop garments I have decided to make a change and look to buy ethically manufactured clothes.

I realise this is going to be more expensive by some way and that’s fine but there has to be someone selling ethical Jean’s for less than £100 a pair, perhaps a t shirt for £15-20?

Any suggestions for a way to do the right thing on an average salary gratefully received.

Any suggestions for a way to do the right thing on an average salary gratefully received.

The best bet is going to be wear less clothes. (or the same ones more, rather than show more flesh).

But

Clothes

Is a good place to start

The thing with clothes is there really aren’t any good answers, even ethically produced organic cotton stuff takes so much water to grow – in some cases in incredibly water poor places – that it’s not really any good. 22500 litre per kilo in India for example.

Charity shops sound like a great idea but personally I’m pretty convinced these days they just green-wash fast fashion. It’s all well and good you’re not buying new but the reason decent stuff ends up there is someone is, and very often they feel OK about that because the old stuff is going to charity shops.

This would be a great place to start

https://rapanuiclothing.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw54iXBhCXARIsADWpsG8UUQLKTPm3_QAattuPcKTU6ilfUfyYKh1GMTX0-6n2Et_rsXQntREaAjohEALw_wcB

charity shops

Charity shops

LOL 🙂

Buy secondhand, charity/vinted/eBay. No shame in it. 90% of my wardrobe is now secondhand.

The ones you own until they wear out
Charity shops
Anything you can afford until it wears out

Happily shopping on a budget can be eco too… shopping from the sales racks means you are preventing something going to the incinerator/pulper

Also, its been 7 minutes, where is Brant?

Community Clothing might be the sort of thing you are looking for..?

https://communityclothing.co.uk/

Every time I’ve looked for jeans or trousers from them they’ve never had my size in stock!

Second hand

For T shirts look up Stanley Stella Creator (linky) you can pick them up for £7 a t shirt.

They are Organic Cotton, Vegan approved and part of the fair wear foundation.

Bar one clothing are the best place in the UK to pick up their shirts. Going direct looks to be more for brands to print their logos onto the garments.

The stuff you already own
The stuff you already own and have then mended
2nd hand
Then stuff that is well made and hard wearing and that it aesthetically timeless.

It is worth noting that all my clothes continue to be worn until they are more hole than garment.

I do regularly frequent charity shops but as a big chap rarely are there items my size.

There’s loads of second hand clothes on eBay, I’d have a look there.

My DKNY linen wedding suit was thirty five quid from eBay 😎

The stuff you already own
The stuff you already own and have then mended
2nd hand
Then stuff that is well made and hard wearing and that it aesthetically timeless.

This!

Ebay, yes strong idea thank you.

Shein 😂

Finisterre do nice stuff and have a pre-loved section on the website

https://www.reskinned.clothing/finisterre

I got a 5 pack of Rapanui t-shirts as they were strongly recommended on here. I’m a bit disappointed as 2 are misshapen  and most have faded in under 2 yrs (30C wash and line dry so no reason for it)

Have a look on Depop for 2nd hand stuff – I find it a lot better than ebay for this.

If your buying new, look at Vaude

The overland do repaired or pre loved stuff, I recently bought a baselayer that was basically a cut and shut but with better stitching. So, not just for street clothes, riding stuff too

YesFriends are supposedly ethical and sustainable

Yeah I’ve been disappointed with a few things from Rapa Nui, they may be eco to buy but if they only last a couple of years then that’s not great.

I like Howies – not sure how eco they really are, but the stuff seems pretty decent quality and hard wearing at the moment and over the last few years.

Buy less is definitely key though.

The stuff you already own
The stuff you already own and have then mended
2nd hand
Then stuff that is well made and hard wearing and that it aesthetically timeless.

Then stuff that is marketed and priced as super-sustainable (I am looking at Patagonia here…).

I moved from student/first few years after from also being ‘cheapest is best’ to better quality and an eye on sustainability.

I have some clothes that are a decade or more in – and I don’t mean occasional things, this is jeans, walking trousers and cycling tops.

I hugely shop in sales and seek quality and value above price – and if I can find organic/Fair Trade/Bluesign/Ethical, then so much the better.

2nd community clothing if buying new. Made in Blackburn (mostly) and great price for the quality.

Yeah I’ve been disappointed with a few things from Rapa Nui

Me too – the undies are great, the t-shirts lose their shape more quickly than I would like.

Second hand or good gear in the first place.
My outdoor winter coats are a life time buy for me. I’ve got an old Carhartt coat that I will take to the grave.

The next town over from me has some good second hand and charity shops. Also eBay for old stussy tees, snickers stuff.

Pants and socks are new lol

I tend to buy more expensive, sustainable stuff. Just means I buy fewer items and wear them more/until people throw money at me thinking I’m homeless. Probably spend less in the long run than buying cheap. Vintage and charity are good shouts too

My Rapanui t-shirts are so misshapen they now make my lumpy misshapen middle age body look vaguely normal

Good On You

IMO best way of checking that the company isn’t just greenwashing.

Had some tops from these guys

https://earthwardrobe.com/

Community Clothing
Banana Industries
Howies
Hebtroco?

I’ll continue to buy from the regular shops. No way do I want to be responsible for putting a 7 yr old out a job.

Howies

Was looking at their stuff recently – they’ve stopped doing their interesting T shirt designs eg “Life – one ride only”, “Work Hard, Canoe Home” – they did loads of great ones back in the day….

I’d recommend Bam Clothing, as the name suggests, bamboo used a lot in them, and not too expensive especially if in the almost permanent sale for t-shirts. Sizing a bit mental (med in t-shirts, xl in jumpers) but they have free delivery/returns over a certain amount so its sometimes worth ordering two sizes and returning the incorrect one.

They make some decent claims for their jeans in terms of water saved by using bamboo rather than cotton which I can’t verify but they seem nice anyway and way less than 100 quid too.

https://bambooclothing.co.uk/

I think Passenger clothing are eco friendly. Their outlet prices are pretty decent. Their flannel shirts are nice and last ages.

Agree with comments on Rapanui tees. Don’t last long, necks on the tees lose their shape after a few washes. Their hoodies however are good. I’ve had one for over 10 years and still all OK.

Think of all those low income country workers losing their jobs from the circular economy.

Our results confirm that the CE transition could lead to a significant decrease in employment in low- to upper-middle-income countries outside the EU, in particular for labour-intense apparel production.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344921002305

YesFriends are supposedly ethical and sustainable

They’re quite new so don’t have a big range, but I’ve met the guy who runs it and he’s very much committed to being as ethical as possible, so I’m interested to see what they do next. I’ve pre-ordered some of their jeans (£40!) so I hope it goes well!

Re: bamboo clothing

I seem to recall a report by Patagonia saying that they didn’t do bamboo fibre stuff, because it used some pretty nasty chemicals in the manufacturing process, which they felt outweighed it’s other eco credentials…

by Patagonia saying that they didn’t do bamboo fibre stuff, because it used some pretty nasty chemicals in the manufacturing process, which they felt outweighed it’s other eco credentials…

Not sure about patagonia but yeah, bamboo viscose production isn’t good.

Eco hub