Greening Your Clothes: Quality Classics or “Crazy” Wins!

When green gal Diane MacEachern proposed that the Green Moms Carnival look at the eco-impact of clothing for this month’s carnival, I hesitated.

When I think eco, I think of organic cotton, bamboo, and hand-me-downs or “vintage.”  But when I look at my closet – especially my professional garb – I see few of those items.  They just don’t cut it for days when I’m out pitching business for my green marketing firm, 4GreenPs.

“The Sexy Green Moms” (according to MC Hammer): Anna Hackman of GreenTalk, Yours Truly, center in my Classic Talbots Suit, and Mary Anne Conlin of NotQuiteCrunchyParent in basic black with boots (not shown!)

But of course being a green gal myself, I’m not totally unaware of the impact of my purchases. It’s just that most of the gorgeous organic cotton clothing I’ve found tends to be styled for casual wear, as opposed to professional outings – like the one I went to this morning at DC’s beautiful Willard Intercontinental Hotel, which played host to the Green Business Awards of Greater Washington.

What to do?

I’ve always favored the classics. Perhaps too much so. When I look back at photos of myself in my 20s, clad in Jones New York business suits, I wish I had stepped it up a bit to take advantage of my youth. But in those days, that just wasn’t the route to “shatter the glass ceiling.” Remember that term?

So as you may have guessed, I’m a Talbots fan.  While many women have considered Talbots a tad too conservative, they’ve stepped it up so much that my friend Julie Power from Moms at Work recently blogged, “Talbots, Why Don’t You Suck So Much Anymore?”

Fashion perspectives aside, what I like about Talbots from a “green” perspective is two-fold:

1. You can find high quality, classic clothing that lasts many seasons.  By the time I’m ready to hand it off to a charity, it’s still wearable clothing (just not for an important business meeting!)
2. And I’ve yet to find another line that does this – tell me if they do – but I LOVE the fact that Talbots uses the same colors from season to season. This means that if I buy a skirt with brown in it last spring, and then I find a cool brown sweater the following fall, they’ll match. No problem. This enduring quality is what I love. I don’t feel like I’m contributing quite so much to our “disposable” society when I know that I can wear, update and re-wear the same clothes over…and over…and over.

Now, on the flip side, I’ve found that if you buy REALLY crazy clothes, they too, stand the test of time. They’re so crazy, no one else has seen them!

And no, I’m not posting any photos….

Eco friendly clothing. What do you think about it?

Check out a great round-up of posts on eco-friendly clothing over at Big Green Purse on Monday, when Diane runs the September edition of The Green Moms Carnival!

— Lynn

— Lynn

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