Organic vs. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

First, I’d like to say that I am happy to see more organic cotton on the market. Cotton grown conventionally uses a lot of nasty chemicals so of course the more organic cotton the better.

That being said, there is a lot of fabric already on the planet so why should we just rely on new textiles? I know for large companies it is necessary to use new fabrics because they need lots of yardage of the same exact fabric. For smaller designers, such as myself, using identical yardage isn’t as much of a necessity. With that in mind, what are some of the options for smaller designers who want to leave the smallest environmental footprint with their clothing line? I say the answer is in the idea of reduce, reuse, recycle.

I have spent a lot of time reducing the amount of fabric I have to use to make a garment. Cutting patterns leaves a lot of hard to use waste fabric. I have been using a technique where I end up with very little waste fabric and the fabric that is left I use in my Collage Dresses & Skirts.

Another way I reduce is by using deadstock and scrap from bigger fabric stores. I happen to be lucky to live near a great resource for end-of-the-line fabric. Pieces that have damage, printing errors or are small pieces leftover from other designers past seasons. This fabric rarely comes in pieces larger than 5 yards. This means that my line consists mostly of one-of-a-kind pieces but I see this as a benefit. I mean, who likes showing up at a party to see someone wearing the same dress as them? Never going to happen with one of my dresses! I also look for fabric at thrift stores, tag sales and flea markets. All these sources are reducing the amount of new fabric I am purchasing new.

Reuse is another great one. I already shop for vintage for Deserted Treasures. Often I see great fabrics in already made clothing that might not be vintage or perhaps it’s damaged. These pieces are great to take apart and integrate into clothing and accessories.

As far as recycle, much of what I mentioned can fall under this heading. In addition, I feel like I have become the default textile recycling center in my community. Have a piece of clothing or fabric you think is pretty but no longer want in your house? Drop it by Tumbleweed & Poppleswamp, I’m sure Erika can make it into something. The best kind of fabric I get this way? Organic fabric of course!

So while I adore organic textiles and have used many of them during the existence of Mellifluous Couture, I always prefer to use fabrics that are already here, possibly preventing them from entering the waste stream.

I see the flexibility of independent designers, such as myself, to be just another reason to Dress Local. Indie designers have the flexibility to reduce, reuse & recycle textiles in a way which a large corporation never could.

Eat Local, Dress Local

Striped Jennifer Dress on Etsy

I’ve been contemplating this post for a long time. I’ve been contemplating this entire concept for even longer. Eating local has become a very familiar concept to many of us, some of us even try to integrate this concept into our lives.

Discussing this idea with a friend recently is what made me decide to finally write about it. Many of my friends have a heightened awareness of eating environmentally and ethically thought out diets. The idea that clothing can have these same considerations and options often catches them off guard. I mean, many people have an idea that organic clothing & textiles are available (I’ll discuss organic fabric further tomorrow) but often organic clothing is prohibitively expensive so the idea of dressing in a more ethical way seems out of reach.

With the growing resurgence of handmade clothing in the United States dressing in a more ethical way, and often a more environmental way, is a more viable option. If you are lucky enough to live in a community with a boutique such as my Tumbleweed & Poppleswamp, you may even be able to find clothing made in your own community. Boutiques that carry a wide range of indie designers is becoming more common.

So what is the ethical benefit of buying a dress directly from the dressmaker? Just like when you go to a Farmer’s Market and can ask the farmer how a tomato was grown, with a locally crafted piece of clothing you know who made your dress. There is no question whether it was created in a sweat shop or by a child or by a person being paid pennies a day. When you support a maker of hand made clothing you are supporting an individual artist instead of a multi-national corporation. You also are reducing waste. Anyone who has worked at a chain store selling clothing has seen how each piece of clothing comes wrapped in plastic, often with a piece of cardboard inserted, just to be displayed where it will be stuffed into another plastic bag once sold (and possibly wrapping if it’s a gift). The actual production process of moving clothing through the global market is obviously full of further waste which I will spare you the details of here.

If you can find a local shop or craft fair where you can start purchasing some of your clothing great! If not you can search on Etsy for local artists or at least clothing makers who are still making it on their own, if slightly further afield.

Clothing purchased this way can be more expensive than purchased through chain stores. So many of us have a closet full of clothing that we never wear though. I think part of clothing ourselves ethically and environmentally is to reduce the amount of clothing we purchase and to focus on the quality so what we do purchase lasts longer.

An additional option for local dressing can be found in reuse. Supporting local thrift stores has the double benefit of supporting many local charitable organizations. If you don’t have the patience for thrifting there are many well curated Vintage shops located in communities and on-line through places like Etsy.

Just like local eating, not every choice for most of us is going to be be local. Every purchase we do make does give an opportunity to support an artist instead of a corporation who is more concerned with their bottom line than our ethical and environmental concerns.

In additiona to my own online & brick and mortar boutique, Tumbleweed & Poppleswamp here are some of my favorite lines of handmade and vintage clothing.

Jess James Jake Vintage

Go Go Vintage

Ruby Pearl

Pretty Penny

Sand Maiden Sleepwear

Make Your Own Job

Here is my second post this week inspired by the news, what’s going on here? What’s going on is I’m sitting here in the mountains of Southern Arizona watching our economy suck out. I’m sitting here self-employed though.

One of the reasons I live here is because it is easier to make my own job. Sure it’s been hard, there have been challenges and hard decisions. Overall I am happy with my decision to make my own job, simplify my life and live in a smaller community where I have the support to make it happen.

With the job market being what it is I feel this decision makes a lot of sense. I feel that by working for myself and exploiting whatever odd set of skills I have for financial support I’m living a truly self-sufficient life. Ok, not from the agricultural perspective yet but from the perspective of not having to worry about one person or company for my livelihood.

By utilizing a wide range of interests and skills I’ve made sure to diversify my portfolio of money-making options. I feel like in this economy that is one of the keys to self-employment. I work with a lot of clients who are starting to work for themselves and this is the advice I usually give them. Figure out strategies for offering a wider range of services so if there is a downturn in one they still have the other skills and services to fall back on.

The most important part of making your own job is constantly refining what we require from a day-to-day basis. I have by no means accomplished this task completely but am always looking at what I truly need to be comfortable and happy. I feel like this is not just important from a self-employment perspective but also from an environmental standpoint. We are all consuming so much technology, entertainment and food that it is just unsustainable from an environmental, financial and health perspective.

Living simply is really the path to freedom, a path I am honestly still stumbling down. At the end of this path comes a far more sustainable future for our planet and a happier, more fulfilling existence for each of us as individuals.

The 2 Party System

I’m sure just the title of this post has you confused already. My blog is already quite eclectic covering health coaching, cooking, art and clothing design, right? But truth be told while I’m doing much of this work I have the news on in the background. I do disengage from current events occasionally but currently have been following politics and news quite closely.

For a long time I’ve been really irked by the 2 party system. Mostly because I feel like my political beliefs, like many of my beliefs, are too nuanced to fit into either democrat or republican boxes. Many of my political thoughts straddle the two camps and some are not embraced by either party.

For most of my political life I have thought a third, fourth and fifth party could be the solution but not after this whole debt debacle. Watching todays political discourse has made me realize that surviving politics today means making your party win no matter what. More importantly, you have to make sure the other party looks incompetent so that your party can consolidate its own power.

Sure, throwing a few more parties in there would help but I think that the two parties are so powerful now that there is really no way of a third party let alone a fourth and fifth getting a foothold. This is when I the idea of abolishing the party system all together became more appealing.

To me it seems, that without a party politicians are more beholden to their constituents than to their party and their party bosses. These parties also are where lobbyists and companies are really throwing their money, thus controlling each groups dogma. Without these parties to answer to the only people to answer to are their constituents.

I know it’s not as cut and dry as that. Companies and lobbyists will still get to politicians and politicians will always form alliances. Cutting out the parties seems like a good way to start cutting through this BS that is happening in Washington. It also seems like a starting place for bridging this ridiculous (and media created) rift in our country.