Fancy or Foolish?

I know, I know, it's so exciting to find two shirts for $30 at your favorite outlet mall, but is it really a bargain to find clothing so cheap? I'm not saying being thrifty is foolish...just that super inexpensive clothing only benefits the MAN, ie, the company who sells those cheap shirts. The workers probably aren't getting a fair or living wage. Think about them when you paw through those racks looking for your next "find."

And think about yourself. You're not really getting a bargain because those shirts won't last very long, and if they're that cheap, how good can they look? You deserve to be comfortable and look your best. The time spent searching the racks to find a few acceptable bargain items could have been spent researching solar panels for your house or looking for a new job that's on the bus line. You would have still had time left over to shop online and buy a beautiful fair trade t-shirt from edun or from Of the Earth, or from some other fancy company that's not just all about profit.

If you add the price of gas to that trip to the mall, that'll give you the extra cash to make up the difference you'll need to bump up from $20-$30 t-shirts to $40-$50 t-shirts -- the shirts made out of organic and/or sustainable materials, the shirts that look better on you because they're higher quality, the shirts with funky and original designs, the shirts made with love. I say, in the name of beauty and simplicity, better to look and feel good than have a lot of cheap shirts. Just a thought. Discuss.



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Plant a Tree

Even small companies can make a difference....

Here’s a list of apparel companies giving back to the planet by planting trees....

*Pine IV Jeans - their jeans aren’t organic, but they support American Forests, a global tree-planting program for clean air.
*Tees for Change - they plant a tree for every t-shirt purchased on their site. (Look for a review of Tees of Change here after Feb 1.)

If you know of other treehugging apparel companies, let us know.