While I can’t claim to live my life in a completely eco-friendly way, I am making small changes in my lifestyle to help take care of our planet (every little change adds up, especially if we all do our part!). I feel like it’s a lot easier to make those changes “stick” if you ease into them one or two at a time rather than jumping into a completely different lifestyle cold-turkey.
Below is my list of all of the brands that I either already use and love or are on my radar to upgrade to very soon. Keep reading to find ways to make small changes in your life too!
CLOTHING:
– Dudley Stephens I absolutely adore this brand. It’s actually the company that makes the clothing that kicked off my interest in becoming more eco-friendly (I had previously found that all clothing made with recycled materials didn’t really fit my personal style). I love love love all of my Dudley Stephens pieces — I currently own 3 and have no intention of stopping any time soon! 🤣 I own the Cobble Hill in both black and white and well as the Park Slope in Camel… both very versatile shapes, and all 3 are easy-to-wear colors!
If you’d like a discount on your first order, click here!
– Sézane I mentioned in a previous post that this company was probably my favorite discovery of 2018 and it still rings true. I absolutely adore Sézane. Their perfectly Parisian-chic aesthetic is everything I want in my closet! In addition to making beautiful, quality clothing, the company holds themselves to high ethical and sustainability standards which makes me love them even more!
– Marysia This luxury swimwear brand has recently launched their SWIMCLEAN collection that is made entirely from 100% recycled materials using low-impact processes. I’m absolutely thrilled to hear this because it makes the high cost of a Marysia swimsuit feel less like an indulgence and more like a responsible choice. Well done, Marysia!! I hope this continues throughout your entire collection in the future!
– Native Shoes I love my Native shoes and finally got my husband on the “Native train” earlier this year when we went to Hawai’i. 🤣 The shoes are classic styles, made of sustainable materials, and make you feel like you’re walking on clouds! They’re super easy to clean and I love that most styles can double as “water shoes”.
– Rothy’s if you’ve been a reader for any length of time, you know that I am obsessed with my Rothy’s shoes (and my passion continues to grow!). They are some of the most comfortable shoes that I own, they’re stylish and made from recycled plastic bottles which have been retrieved from the ocean so the shoes are able to be cleaned in the washing machine (how cool is that!?). I already own two pairs and just placed an order for another two… I love supporting companies like this!
Click here for a discount on your first purchase!
– Veja Shoes I don’t [currently] own any pieces from this company, but I have been lurking them HARD lately trying to decide which style sneaker I’d like to invest in. If you’re looking for an excellent quality sneaker from an ethical company — they’re sustainable because everything is made from organic materials, use fair-trade sourcing and they offer vegan shoe options! I highly recommend seeing what this brand has to offer.
*Note: I do hear that their shoes require breaking in, so just keep that in mind.
– Freda Salvador Not only is their d’Orsay style sneaker the coolest thing that I think I’ve seen in the “World of Shoes” in a quite while, this company has also made commitments to sustainability. Obviously I’ve been drooling over the aforementioned d’Orsay sneaker, but the company makes a variety of different shoe styles and is always coming out with new items. I definitely think they’re worth checking out! Karla Reed is a brand ambassador (if you aren’t following her yet, what are you waiting for?!) and she has a discount code (KARLA15) for 15% off your first purchase!
– Sunski These fashionable sunglasses are made from SuperLight recycled plastic and the lenses are polarized to protect your eyes from harmful UV rays! I can’t believe that the Camina style that I ordered was only $58, which I think is a totally agreeable price for quality sunnies. They also offer glasses with blue light protection too if you’re in the market for a pair. 😉 I absolutely LOVED the Virtual Try-On option! So revolutionary for online shopping, especially when you’re looking for something that fits your face. At checkout, I opted to contribute $5 to send PPE goggles to frontline healthcare workers too (what an awesome initiative!).
—> Other notable sustainable clothing brands I have heard great things about are: Everlane, Amour Vert, Tradlands, Pact, DÔEN, and ABLE. I am certain that there are even more brands that are small batch / ethical / sustainable / etc., but these are the companies that I have heard positive reviews from so if you’re in the market for shopping sustainably, I’d check to see if any of them fit your personal style! 😊
One other thing I’d like to share is what you can do with old clothing and shoes / towels / bedsheets / etc. that are too far gone to resell (on Poshmark, etc.) or donate (to Goodwill, etc.) — there are places that will take your donated items and repurpose / recycle the materials for lots of different use cases! This website shares over 10 different textile recycling partners that will accept your items for recycling and pass them to the appropriate processing companies. In addition, I have heard that H&M will accept these items as well.
Beauty:
– Necessaire I’ve been a Bath & Body Works girl since elementary school. I absolutely love the lather that comes with their shower gel and their Cashmere Glow has been my “signature scent” for years! I have heard that B&BW isn’t a very ethical company and they definitely don’t use clean products so I have been passively looking for an effective alternative lately. I just ordered my first shipment of shower gel, body scrub, and lotion and can’t wait to see how their products work! I’m already super impressed because not only are their products free of parabens, silicones, sulfates and other yucky chemicals, but their commitment to sustainability is shown in the way that they keep their shipping and products packaging recyclable, made of post-consumer waste and nothing is harvested from virgin forests. I hope that I love their products, because this is the kind of company that I would love to support! I’ll write a blog post on my honest review of the products soon. Side note: after I placed my product order the company actually launched a clean deodorant which I’d like to try out sometime.
Home:
– Stasher Bags I’ll admit that I’ve always been a huge Ziploc bag user; they’re just so damn convenient! Because of my Ziploc love, the idea of swapping over to these reusable silicone bags seems like a no-brainer. WAY less waste, “top drawer” dishwasher-safe, and these bags can also be used in other capacities (like cooking items in the sous vide method)! Before I order any of these, I want to figure out the storage situation first because otherwise they’re just going to be flopping around in my cabinets 😂… any suggestions?
– S’Well Bottles S’well has been leading the charge in stainless steel water bottles for as long as I can remember! They have a reputation for great quality and always seem to offer a wide variety of sizes / color / pattern / textural designs so that there are options to suit anyone’s personal style.
– YETI mugs YETI has always seemed to be the frontrunner when it comes to double-walled stainless steel mugs… and for good reason! I have one next to my bed and another at my desk to keep my drinks the temperature that I want them to be (mostly cold, but occasionally I’ll be in the mood for a hot beverage). There are quite a few sizes and colors to choose from and each model is easy to disassemble and clean. LOVE!
– KeepCup Mug This has been the newest addition to my mug collection. I’m going to try my best to bring this reusable glass mug with me whenever I go out for coffee. Normally I like a large cup of coffee (ALL THE CAFFEINE, PLEASE!), but this size helps me to regulate myself so that I don’t end up with jitters and is small enough to easily pop into my purse when I leave the house. 😉 FYI: These also come in small and large sizes as well as a variety of lid / grip band color combinations.
– Porter Seal-Tight Lunch Bowl I haven’t found travel containers that are both functional and pretty to look at… until now! I definitely need to be better about bringing my lunches from home and I absolutely love a soup or salad (ask my husband! those are always my responses when he asks what I’m in the mood to eat! 😂) — these bowls would be perfect for transporting them to and from the office! The company also makes a few more shapes and sizes, but this product in particular just spoke to me. I love that because it’s made of glass and silicone I don’t have to worry about BPAs or other plastic toxins seeping into my food, and no more disposable GladWare! 💪
– Metal Reusable Straws I have been a huge fan of reusable straws for a while now, but I admit that they’re probably the hardest thing for me to remember to bring with me when I leave the house (sometimes I just throw my lipstick, wallet, keys and phone into my pockets and head out!). I love these metal straws because of the bend (I don’t like straight straws unless they’re for smoothies, in which case these glass straws are my favorite) and I think the silicone tip makes for a much more comfortable experience and is much safer for your teeth! I feel fortunate that Seattle has banned plastic straws in the city limits so unless businesses want to pay a fee, they have to offer an alternative. Most places that still offer straws have ones made out of corn which are compostable / biodegradable so I’m lucky that our city is making it easy to be eco-conscious in this regard for the days that I forget my straws!
MISCELLANEOUS
– Laundress Cleaning Products I’m going to make a concerted effort to move away from using Tide detergent this year and switch to eco-friendly cleaning products like those from The Laundress. Our skin is so absorbent and whatever is in the material of our clothes will end up seeping into our bodies… my goal in this switch is to have products that will effectively clean while avoiding unnecessary chemicals.
– Blueland Cleaning Products I have only just discovered this brand, but think that the concept is so brilliant! The idea is that you reuse the same shatterproof spray / pump bottle, fill it with water and then drop a tablet into it to create a cleaning solution! Once the container is empty, repeat the process — I love this! I have to say that we’re definitely Mrs. Meyers cleaning product fans in our house (which is cruelty-free, made with plant-derived ingredients, and comes in recyclable packaging), but this concept might be enough to help me make a change… we’ll see!
– Reusable Grocery Bags We use all kinds of promotional totes that we’ve collected over the years as our grocery bags, but we both feel like the ones we have aren’t great for actual grocery shopping due to their weird shapes and handle lengths. We’re looking into finding a set of grocery bags that fit the bill and so far, these look they’d be the best for our needs! I’m going to place an order soon and let you know what we think after a few grocery runs.
I can’t speak for all cities across the nation, but I know that Seattle has a pretty good system when it comes to recycling. We had a few old / broken electronic items around the house and weren’t exactly sure what to do with them… do they just get thrown away? Can they be recycled? I Googled “Seattle electronics recycling” and this website was the first link that came up! Fortunately, we live in a city that wants to make it as easy as possible to be environmentally friendly whenever possible, so there were a bunch of resources to review on that site. There’s no way that anyone would know all of the recycling locations or what items go where, so researching what to do in your city will be a huge help! My friend Alli from OnTheTripSide blog actually put together a great post where she shares 5 ways to recycle clothes, so this would also be a great resource for you to reference.
I know that the company isn’t perfect, but I’m a big fan of Amazon. They help me to source difficult to find items (like the stupid microwave light bulbs above my stove!) and get them to me in a timely manner via Amazon Prime. I appreciate the fact that they recently launched the Amazon Second Chance program to help consumers with recycling and repairs as well as sharing their company-wide efforts toward sustainability.
I mentioned the Rothy’s brand in the first section, but I also wanted to share their “30 Tips for Sustainability” here with you because I think they have some great suggestions.
I hope you find this list to be helpful in taking small steps in your life toward a more sustainable future!
Happy Earth Day, friends!
xx, Natalie
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