Affordable Ways Outside of the Exclusive Ethical Fashion Industry to Live More Sustainably

So you want to stop shopping fast fashion, but you know that…

The ethical fashion industry is not always the most affordable nor inclusive in its sizing or style options
So you’ve tried thrifting, but
a. you don’t know how to go about it without negatively impacting low-income individuals who rely on secondhand clothing (FYI: know that thrift stores usually have to get rid of a lot of their inventory because a lot doesn’t actually get sold).
b. you don’t have a lot of thrifting options near you and/or the options you do have online (Depop, Poshmark, Vesitaire, the Real Real, thredUP) don’t offer a wide range of sizes, although it’s the best option at this point for ethical, wide-range clothing options
You want to shop at Goodwill, which offers a lot of clothing options at an affordable price and doesn’t negatively affect individuals with less disposable income, but you know that the corporation doesn’t treat its disabled workers fairly.

… And now you’re stuck in an ethical maze with no way out. It’s not your fault. We as consumers don’t have a lot of options because unfortunately, from supply chain to manufacturing processes / practices and everything in between, things can get super muddy. Corporations that do try to produce ethically and be sustainable can’t help but fall short because of the lack of transparency across supply chains in an increasingly global society with different laws, rules, & regulations, so no, there is no truly ethical consumption under capitalism.

What we can do as consumers, however, is change our purchasing behavior in any way that we reasonably have the means to do to urge corporations to enact change. At the end of the day, money speaks, and we not only have to use our dollars to vote, but also elect local and federal officials to regulate corporations.

With that, I give you a couple of items you can slowly swap out once the life of your current products are over — because the small things you use daily add up and are relatively more affordable to swap out than clothes!

The below (except the mask) are a couple of items I’ve used and find are just as effective as the industry standard.