neverhomemaker: ethical

Why I mostly buy second hand

I could go on for days about the reasons I like to shop at thrift stores and other reuse shops for my clothing. Some reasons are obvious. Others maybe no so much. I had many other posts on this topic on my other blog Writing Chapter Three, so maybe I’ll try to re-post them here someday soon.

Here are my top three reasons of the moment.

I buy second hand because . . .

The clothing is far cheaper than the stuff you’ll find in retail stores. I’d say I generally spend between $4 and $20 on each piece of clothing that comes into my closet. The average price is around $10 to $15. But even that sounds a bit high. It just depends on the store and the item I’m purchasing.
The clothing is better quality than I could otherwise afford. If I were to go to a FLAX store (my favorite brand) and buy a new piece, it would run me between $40 and $100 per item. I don’t have that kind of money hanging around. But, I can find something old + in great condition (because quality!) and give it new life for a fraction of the price.
I feel shopping this way is more ethical. I am in no way getting on a high horse here (uh, LuLaRoe?). But I am learning and trying to do better with my buying practices. I am trying better to avoid fast fashion and its many issues, save clothing from landfills, reuse perfectly good items, etc.

Where do I buy?

Here are the places I regularly shop. By regular, I mean that I visit all my local shops about once a month in a rotation. I try to hit the days when they’re having 50 percent off sales or similar promotions.

The stores include:

Good Will, two locations in my area
Thrifty Shopper, two locations in my area
Salvation Army, two locations in my area
Trader K (if you’re local, it’s in Ithaca)
Misc. other local thrift

I also shop second hand online:

* You can earn $5 to spend when you sign up with code NYRLS!

I have a modest monthly clothing allowance set up for each family member in the budget. While I don’t always NEED new clothes, sometimes I see a piece I really like, and it’s worth the $5 to add it and maybe purge something else from my wardrobe.

The same goes for the girls. I do a mix of new and previously loved clothing for them. I find that onesies, for example, are often better bought new. They may even be cheaper on clearance. The stuff I can find on thrift for kids is usually in awesome condition. But the girls’ clothing is a topic for another day.

What do I buy?

These days, I primarily seek out FLAX clothing for myself. If you’re unfamiliar, FLAX is a line of generously cut linen duds that started in 1995 with Jeanne Engelhart in Ithaca, NY. I don’t know the whole history, but I started shopping FLAX in 1999 when I attended a barn sale with my boyfriend’s mother when I was in high school. It was my introduction to natural fibers in clothing, and I saw this way of dressing as funky and sort of strange . . . but it did inform many of my college wardrobe choices.

Fast forward many years and many personal styles, I returned to flax after I found a piece randomly at our local Thrifty Shopper. It was a dress for $8, and I wear it all the time. After that, I started slowly chipping away at buying pieces I could find for under $15. If you hunt FLAX like I do, you know this is no easy feat. Especially now with the popularity of linen clothing, people are definitely marking things up, which I get. But they are marking them up to a grossly high premium.

For example, there’s a FLAX jumper I love on Ebay right now, and the semi-local store owner has several similar pieces. She’s charging $225 . . . for each . . . and I believe she’s earning that amount, too. More power to her, but boo to those of us frugal FLAX lovers. I’m pretty sure we shop at some of the same thrift shops, and I know the markup is ridiculous. But, I digress.

I have been limiting myself to primarily buying these linen items for a few reasons. First, many of them are from the 1990s and look fantastic despite their age. This means they will last. Second, flax is a sustainable, natural fiber. It gets better with each wash, soft and breathable. Third, I like how the clothing is cut. It’s modest, but cute. It’s flowing and flattering. It also seems both timeless and age-less. I promise I’ll dedicate a post very soon to how I style my flax clothing.

My closet

So, I am sure you want to see what pieces I own. Right now I have a total of 30 items in my closet that make up my main wardrobe. It’s mostly flax and denim pieces. This 30-count does not include pajamas, underwear, socks, and activewear. I have decided I model some of my favorite outfits for you guys later this week.

Here’s a quick snapshot if you’re curious.

In my next post, I’ll give you a run down of each item in my closet (a few are missing here -- jeans, mostly). I’ll also show you my five favorite pieces that get the most wear. And I’ll give you some tips to hunt FLAX on your own. I actually get a lot of questions about this clothing on my Instagram, so this post isn’t totally random. I hope it helps!

Spring Weeding
Introvert’s Guide to Holding a Yard Sale
Let’s Talk LuLaRoe: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
How to Take the Stink Out of Your Workout Gear
All style-related posts

I attended college in a great place. A place where the locals are conscious of where their goods come from. Where they care about the people who harvest, toil, and otherwise make the stuff they use every day. Of course, I'm talking about the city of Ithaca, NY. For, it's in Ithaca where I first became familiar with Fair Trade items.

When the people from Equal Exchange contacted me a few weeks ago to see if we'd like to feature them on our site, we wholeheartedly accepted. We only write about products and organizations that we're passionate about. And Equal Exchange is certainly one of those organizations.

They sent us one of their gift baskets (the "Good Morning Basket," to be exact) with coffee, tea, and cookies. (More like: Yum. Yum. And More Yum.)

FAIR TRADE:

Some of you may be wondering: What on EARTH does "fair trade" even mean? Well, when you see the little label on coffee beans, baked goods, chocolates, crafts, and more -- it means that whatever you're about to buy is, well, ethical. It comes from a farm or other organization that supports fair wages and safe working conditions for its workers. The people who run these places are paid a premium to provide feel-good services (like healthcare, leadership programs, and others) to their workers.

In addition, farmers must obey certain environmental rules to be certified. And just like I mentioned above, these farmers can get their hands on some money to improve their practices.

If you're more visual, I found this supply chain chart on Green America. CRAZY. But definitely good to know . . .

WHY BUY FAIR TRADE?

Taking all of that information into consideration (and to put it extremely simply): It feels good to buy responsibly.

WHERE TO BUY:

Equal Exchange’s website offers a range of gifts that meet any budget, really. All items are Fair Trade and assembled by hand. To get all feel-good on you: These gifts are a great way to show someone special that you care, while also helping small scale farmers build a better life.

100% Fair Trade selection of gifts. All of the items in gifts are Fair Trade and even the gift basket itself is Fair Trade.
Filled with delicious coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa or snacks that are both tasty and good for people and the planet.
Each gift ships in its own gift box with recycled packaging and filler.
Convenient online ordering at shop.equalexchange.com or order by phone if you prefer: 774-776-7333
Easy ordering system and discounts for those ordering ten or more gifts via the business gifts program.
Custom gift card with your personal message included with each order.

SPECIAL OFFERS:

This month Equal Exchange is offering a special coupon for free shipping for gift baskets on the online store through the end of November. Coupon code: freegiftship.
As well, you can visit their site and enter for a chance to win an Equal Exchange Holiday Gift Basket!!!

So, please consider buying Fair Trade items this holiday season. Or at least learning more about the process for the future. We'd push this even if Equal Exchange hadn't contacted us. Honest. And now that we know what their gift baskets are like, we're adding a few to our Nice Girls-and-Boys list.

Have you started writing up holiday gift lists yet? I'm still in shock that Thanksgiving is next week! We're giving simply this year -- not only for budget reasons, but also because simply doesn't necessarily mean less. Different, maybe. More on that soon! Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!