A few years ago, I started informing myself on the way the fashion industry has been detrimental to our planet and everyone living on it. From that point, I made sure that I would primarily promote companies with an ethical mindset. Now, ethical is a big word that can mean many things.
Queen of Suburbia Map Traveller bras

Being careful of greenwashing

One can pay their workers a fair wage, but still, get their fabric from a factory that doesn’t. They could also be using material that is hurting the environment and will never biodegrade. One of the most deceiving facts when it comes to ethical fashion is the “made in *insert predominantly white country*”. Recently, I have read an article about a lingerie brand I used to really like being accused of mistreating their UK-based workers. This is not an isolated incident. Some L.A. factories have also been known to mistreat workers.
H&M: The global leader in sustainable fast fashion, analysis of Go Green Wear Blue: Conscious Denim campaign, Sarah Lee

The lingerie industry, especially when it comes to full-bust fashion can’t really be perfect. We need some of these not so eco-friendly materials to make our bras fit a certain way. However, there are ways to act better toward the planet.
Not buying every new bra under the sun, treating every single bra with care, give them away when they don’t fit instead of throwing them in a trash can, buying 2nd hand, etc…
Obviously, nobody is innocent. As a blogger, I own more bras than I need. But we can all do something, even if it’s handwashing our lingerie to ensure it looks good enough to give it away once we are tired of it or if it doesn’t fit our body anymore.

Toru & Naoko is the first climate-neutral lingerie brand

If your size allows it, you can also choose to shop your fashion garments from brands that make a conscient effort to do better. This week I learned that Toru & Naoko are the first climate-neutral lingerie brand! I love this since this brand is the one that introduced me to ethical lingerie.

“We’ve worked with Climate Neutral, an independent non-profit organization, to measure and offset our entire 2020 carbon emissions, and implemented plans to reduce emissions moving forward.

We’ve purchased carbon credits from a Nature-Based Solutions pool supporting four projects focused on conserving forest ecosystems in Papua New Guinea, Peru and Colombia. Each project is independently verified, ensuring they’re effectively protecting our climate.”

Toru & Naoko aren’t a huge brand with tones of money. They are a brand that cares. I am hoping they will encourage other brands to become more transparent and more proactive when it comes to being more eco-friendly as well as more conscious about over-production.

Another brand I am really liking lately is Queen of Suburbia. As a small Toronto business, I really like their dedication to doing their part. These two brands aren’t the only ones making an effort to treat us and the planet in an ethical way. It’s not always easy to find brands that fit our needs and our values at the same time. Another issue is also that it’s quite a luxury to be ethical when we aren’t treated ethically by our system. Because of that, I don’t mean to be judgmental with anyone who can’t care much about those things right now. Eventually, however, the system will have to change for our own good. I am already happy to see a little shift in many people’s mentality when it comes to buying from small businesses. I used to hear all the time that things were over-priced and now I hear more of “I can’t do it right now, but when I have money, I will try and support businesses that make sense to me”. Small progress is still progress!

Happy Earth day!

Wen x