Clothes Shopping and Guilt
| January 11, 2013 | Filled under Beauty, Social Justice |
I normally try to buy organic and sweatshop free clothing. It costs a bit more and it’s harder to find but I watch for sales and feel like it’s worth it. However, I failed big time this past week. I’m trying to finally lose the weight I put on over the last several years and I don’t want to spend a lot of money on clothes I hope to not need for very long. But I needed jeans, badly. So I went to a local store and got likely toxically dyed, likely made in a sweatshop, and imported from China jeans. And I got three pairs. Those three pairs were cheaper than one pair of organic jeans would have been and while I normally would have just saved and waited for a sale and gotten the organic ones, I really don’t want to spend that when like I said, I hope they don’t fit soon.
And if that wasn’t enough eco-guilt, I also ordered three bras from a famous lingerie store. And the worst part, I’m going to likely order more as I lose weight. I’ve tried several organic bras and I found a good sports bra but I can’t seem to find a normal, underwire bra that I like. And I have lots of bras from before switching to organic but they don’t fit anymore. All the women reading this that have worn bras that fit and those that don’t, know how nice it is to find one you really like and that’s comfortable. I did make sure to buy the ones that were over 90% cotton, so that has to count for something. They also last a long time so at least that’s a plus.
At least they are nice.
On that not so guilty side, I did get some organic, fair trade socks from Maggie’s Organic at Whole Food’s last month, I’m wearing a pair right now. I also got an organic shirt at Whole Food’s. So my clothes shopping hasn’t been all bad lately. That’s gotta count for something, right?
How do you clothes shop? Do you find it to hard to buy sustainable clothing? Do you shop thrift stores? If you have any brands of sustainable clothing that you like, share below.
Good for you, making goals to improve your health! Sometimes it isn’t feasible to follow all of our personal rules, especially when it’s something short term. And you can relax in the knowledge that once you lose that weight (which won’t take you long, you’re determined and steadfast!) those jeans will go back to a thrift shop for someone else to love, reducing their overall carbon footprint even further. Don’t feel guilty, you’re a great influence and a wonderful shopper!
Don’t feel guilty while you’re losing weight. I went through the same thing last year. I lost 57 pounds, and I was dropping sizes so quickly that it would have broke us if I’d tried to constantly buy new, organic clothes. But something to consider is shopping at thrift stores or “borrowing” from family members. Other ladies in my family have also been dropping weight, so we’ve frequently swapped clothes so we weren’t constantly buying. And shopping at thrift stores at least prevents introducing new goods into the system (at least from your involvement). Good luck with your weightloss!
Thank you for your kind words. Sadly thrifting and even somewhat borrowing doesn’t normally work for me. I’m sensitive to the chemicals in laundry soaps and they are so hard to get out.