School clothes shopping the eco-friendly way
Going back to school often means spending huge chunks of money on new clothes and school supplies to replace half-used notebooks and out-grown clothing.
Imagine the number of trees cut down every year that go to waste in the unused-half of the notebook that lays in a dump, along with the still-acceptable clothes trying to decompose in piles of waste.
Of course everyone wants the latest styles for the new school year, so shopping in a used-clothing store or buying recycled clothing just doesn’t seem cool.
However, sifting through out-dated clothes can turn into customized outfits and slow the carbon footprint created by school shopping.
Stores such as Plato’s Closet on North Division buy and sell clothes from today’s popular stores up to 70 percent off the retail price. The owner of the Spokane branch, Valerie Rhoads, said they are “looking for gently used brand names… that are the current trend or style.”
Plato’s accepts trade-offs as well, and are willing to give customers 30-40 percent of what the store would sell it for. They buy clothes from all seasons that are no more than 18 months old and sell accessories and shoes. Shopping at Plato’s can turn school shopping into a way to save money and the environment.
Many people don’t realize there are more things to recycle than just aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Passing clothes down to siblings and cousins is recycling as well, but while hand-me-downs are economically friendly, there is always the oldest in the family who doesn’t have anyone to receive clothes from.
The oldest can still be eco-friendly by purchasing clothes made of 100 percent organic cotton (made without pesticides) and shoes made from recycled materials.
Some parents do not want to waste time and money searching for organic and recyclable clothes, believing that these things are hard to find and very expensive.
In truth, many stores are building up their sections of “green” clothes. For example, Macy’s has started selling shoes made of recycled rubber and plastic containers that can cost as low as $40.
A company named Patagonia sells eco-friendly clothes at reasonable prices. It can be found online, or at REI, Mountain Gear, Inc., and Kootenai Environmental Alliance.
People in Spokane understand the importance of going green, “but I don’t think there’s an info-structure in Spokane to support it,” said Rick Washburn, REI manager.
Matchstickatom.com is a great place to find funny T-shirt’s that are made of organic cotton. The price of these tee’s do not exceed $27, which is a better price than some of the popular stores around town.
Other online “green” stores go a step farther, such as ujeans.com. They allow you to create the perfect pair of jeans for your body type and make your custom ordered jeans without chemicals.
For other school necessities like backpacks, you can go to ecogear-products.com. This Web site has bags and backpacks made out of recycled PET bottles, which are the plastic food containers and water bottles. These backpacks are around $80, which is very close to many other online stores’ prices for them.
A product hitting shoppers at Wal-Mart would be the (rPET) Drink to Wear Coca Cola shirts. Each T-shirt contains 3-5 recycled PET plastic bottles (depending on size) and is 50 percent cotton. The rPET program also makes and sells bags, caps, purses and notebooks made from bottles.
Most online stores listed above can be found at greenissexy.org. The Web site was created by three women, Megan, Rachel and Didi, who wanted to spread the word to try to make things change.
“Why sexy? Because being informed is sexy,” the official Web site reads. “Being responsible is sexy. Being eco-friendly is sexy. Making a difference is sexy. Green is sexy.”