Green Christmas: Organic Women’s Clothes and Reusable Glass Straws
Welcome to Day 2 of Green Christmas, where I’m featuring some great “green” companies and products for more sustainable gift giving this holiday season!
You can learn more about how and why I decided to run this series and what it’s all about here.
Today I want to share two more online shops with you…
Fashion and Earth Organic and Fair Trade Apparel
I have just started buying some organic and fair trade clothes recently myself, and I am in love with them. There seems to be a difference in softness and I just love knowing that I am supporting companies that provide fair wages and safe conditions to factory workers, and that I am wearing clothes that did not leave a legacy of chemicals (either in the ground or on my skin).
There is a slow movement towards more availability of these types of clothes, but it is still rather small in scale, and usually unaffordable or only available in large city centers. Fashion and Earth is an online shop, providing clothes made of only carefully selected sustainable materials, included bamboo, organic cotton, hemp, and more.
Here’s what they have to say about the materials used in their clothing:
Certified Organic textiles are grown in controlled settings with no pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers and are certified by an international governing body such as Control Union, IMO (Institute for Marketecology) or One-Cert. The term “eco textiles” refers to a select group of textiles that have a reduced carbon, energy and pollution impact when compared to the standard methods used to produce textiles and manufacture clothing. Generally, sustainable textiles are produced from crops that do not require pesticides or chemicals to be grown, use less water and energy to be produced and processed and create less waste during production, processing and at the end of their useful lives (known collectively as their “environmental footprint”). Sustainable textiles can also refer to man made fabrics produced from renewable sources such as bamboo or wood
I found plenty of items on their site that looked like things I would wear– comfortable, classic, just a bit of style and flair. I’m no fashion diva, but I do like to find modest clothes that I feel pretty in and many of their styles would fit the bill.
For Gift Giving: They carry a wide selection of women’s apparel, including jeans and pants, shirts, jackets, PJs and other intimates, skirts and more.
Who Would Love to Get This: Friends, cousins, older daughters, sisters, maybe even moms (if they dress on the younger/modern end). Husbands often appreciate having an idea of what their wives would like, so feel free to share it with your hubby.
Price Range: Everything at Fashion and Earth is currently 50% off, storewide! This helps to make usually costly clothes completely on par with your average store. Tops start under $20, and most items are between $20-$40, with a few items above that range. To make it even better, shipping is free to anywhere in Canada or the USA!
Strawesome Reusable Glass Straws
This is an item that has been on my own shopping list for quite some time and I am thrilled to have discovered Strawesome!
As a smoothie-addicted family, we go through a lot of straws. It is one of the areas of waste in our family that pains me, small as straws are, not to mention the idea that we are sucking our healthy drinks through plastic. Blech. It feels unnecessary and I cringe each time I throw a handful of them out. I am so glad to know that there is not only an alternative, but a beautiful, classy one at that!
I recently received a gorgeous Orange Jewelious straw to try out myself and I was instantly hooked. It was easy to drink out of, easy to clean, felt smooth and pleasant in my mouth, and was oh-so-pretty to boot. My husband’s main concern was our stone kitchen floors, which have seen many a broken glass or dish since we moved into our current house this summer. I was relieved to see his concerns were easily addressed:
Our reusable drinking straws are durable and stylish – and they can help you express your commitment to your family and the environment. Hand-crafted from borosilicate glass, each of our drinking straws is guaranteed against breakage (my note: a lifetime breakage guarantee!); moreover, glass straws won’t leach toxins into your drinks or pile up in overtaxed landfills. We also guarantee your complete satisfaction – that means if you don’t love your straw, simply return it to us for a full refund.
For Gift Giving: I love the idea of giving glass straws as a totally unique but practical gift. To make it more fun, there are so many stylish and fun designs to choose from! Strawesome carries bent straws, decorative straws, and even smaller kid size straws.
Who Would Love to Get This: These would make perfect stocking stuffers for any member of the family. Consider a straw set of multiple straws for a couple or family on your list. A great gift particularly for those who enjoy drinking out of straws or who frequently make their own juices, smoothies or other special drinks.
Price Range: Kids 6″ straws start around $6, and adult size straws (8″ and 10″) start around $8 for simpler straws and up to $13 for the fancier designs. Sets of 4 plain straws begin as low as $23.99 ($6 per straw) and go up to $53.99 ($9 each) for sets of 6 designer straws.
Coming up next… children’s gifts and ideas for the men in your life!
In the interest of full disclosure, some of these companies have paid a nominal fee to be included in this Christmas round-up, and a few are just ones that I wanted to include because I like them. All have been carefully selected as the types of stores that I would be willing to buy from, and products that I think are worth taking a closer look at.
The main reason I have never tried glass straws is because of my fear of breakage, especially with kids. Nice to know these are guaranteed not to break!
Wow nice glass straws! I would NEVER buy them if they weren’t guaranteed for breakage. In this case, I’d consider it. Although my question is, why do you have to use straws for smoothies? My kids use spoons, and so do I (or I just drink it). Ours are thick and we eat them at least once a day as well, but I’ve never used a straw. The only reason why I keep straws around is for when someone is sick and can’t sit up to drink very easily. Would these also apply for that situation? Do you like these better than stainless steel ones?
@Nola, I’m not sure why we use straws… habit, I guess. 🙂 I do definitely like the feel of glass straws better than stainless steel ones.
In general, great series of posts!
I’m disappointed though in “Fashion and Earth”. Organic cotton and rayon, whether or not it’s made from soy or bamboo, are not sustainable fabrics. They even speak to this on their website http://www.fashionandearth.com/us/green-fashion-facts.html (they definitely get points for disclosure). I was so perturbed about this newest example of a company green washing that I decided to write a blog post about sustainable textiles. If you’re interested, it will be posted on my blog by tomorrow morning.
The short version is that while organic cotton and bamboo rayon may be slight improvements on their conventional counterparts, they are not sustainable or green and should not be sold as such. They might be “steps in the right direction” but if someone wants to spend the money to make a genuinely sustainable choice they need to buy animal fiber, hemp, silk, or flax linen. Anything else is just green washing. Their claim that the fibers are “eco-friendly” should be replaced with “somewhat less ecologically destructive”. I don’t go out of my way to buy organic cotton and I never buy bamboo rayon b/c I’d rather save my money and invest in truly sustainable products.
I’m going to send Fashion and Earth an email with my concerns. I’d like to know how they respond to my specific criticisms and post it on my blog if they respond.
@annie, I would be interested to read your blog post and learn more about it. Perhaps I don’t know enough yet about what makes fabrics truly sustainable or not. However, I do still think that it is better to go with even “somewhat less ecologically destructive” options when possible, considering that most of us buy 100% regular clothing, made with conventionally grown and produced materials. I am certainly of the opinion that any step in the right direction is a good one! 🙂
@Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home,
Please do, I’d be very interested to know what you think!
My daughter gave me glass smoothie straws for my birthday. They don’t seem to be available where I live, but she lives in another country and could get them from a business that was importing the straws from America. As to why you might not be able to just use a spoon – I needed them when an MS attack paralyzed one side of my face (like a Bell’s Palsy), making eating difficult and messy, even with a spoon and pureed foods or smoothies. I couldn’t even find a retail outlet for plastic smoothie straws, let alone reusable ones (my first choice for environmental reasons), and in the end asked a fast-food outlet to sell me some. They actually gave me a handful for free, and said that they got quite a few stroke survivors making the same request. By the time I received the glass straws, I’d recovered enough to be using spoons again, but it’s a relief to know that if it happens again (which is likely), I won’t be dependent on the generosity of a fast-food business I never patronise.
I’ve dropped mine without breaking, although onto a vinyl floor. But I think they’re supposed to be okay for all normal mishaps.
Adorable clothing and wonderful straw ideas, thanks for sharing.
I love the straws! Some people (myself included) drink nearly everything thru straws because of cold sensitivity on front teeth. I never thought about straws being made of anything but plastic, this is such a cool idea! Forwarding to my husband as a gift idea. 🙂
I’m on board with Kelly – sensitivity with my front teeth means I have to be careful around the reusable drinking straws I choose. It’ about making the right choice as well as being patient and prepared.
Thank You
Bren