Are you a conscious shopper?

Those of you who live in the UK, or have access to the BBC's iPlayer, may have seen a programme in the series "Stacey Dooley Investigates", where she uncovered some of  Fashion's Dirty Secrets. If not, you might like to look at this clip, where Stacey took to the street to talk to shoppers and to demonstrate to them how much water goes into producing just one cotton item. The actual documentary upset me, especially when Stacey travelled to the Aran Sea and showed the shocking environmental impact caused by the fashion industry, but even worse was the detrimental effect of the polluted rivers on local children's health.

I know that I've been as guilty as many other shoppers when hunting for a bargain to add to my ever-increasing wardrobe. Taking part in challenges such as Project 333 and my current 10 x 10 challenge is helping me realise that I really don't need that many clothes, however we have to be realistic. I go through my wardrobe at the start of each new season, discarding anything that is past its best (nowadays I take them to the recycling bins) and this does create gaps. However I have resolved to shop more consciously in future and look at the ethical policies of any on-line companies that I am considering purchasing from. My latest purchases were from Mint Velvet, a company that is based in the UK although they deliver internationally. Click on the link above to read their ethical policy.

Mint Velvet top

This new red top instantly became my latest favourite, partly because red is one of my best colours, but also because of the gold stripes down each arm. Even better, it was in the sales!

One of my favourite online companies is Kettlewell, as they specialise in producing clothes and accessories in seasonal colours. You can read about their production and ethics here and I also recommend reading their blog. Other British companies that I have used are People Tree, the fairtrade fashion pioneer, and FatFace, who issued a '360' sustainability policy in 2016. Friends of mine have also recommended Thought and Seasalt. Although these are UK companies, they do deliver internationally. Do you have any ethical companies that you can recommend? If so please leave a comment below with details.

You might also like to read this blog post of mine that I wrote five and a half years ago. Have things improved since then? It doesn't look like it, so it is up to all of us to shop more consciously and spread the message. What I do know, having worked for a while in the retail industry, is that the big companies are interested in profits. If we become conscious shoppers and it hits their profits, they are more likely to do something about it - sad but true!