Week Four: Winter Break

Hi readers!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break! Welcome back to my blog. In today's post, I'm going to catch you guys up on my shopping decisions over break.

On Black Friday, I went back to ALLSAINTS (which if you haven't guessed is probably my favorite label/brand to shop at because their clothes match my current style which is minimalistic in a stylish way). There, I purchased a blanket scarf that basically wraps around my entire torso and hangs to my knees.

The fabric description on the scarf lists the scarf to be made with 100% wool. The source of this is probably from sheep, but could've also possibly come from alpacas or llamas! To acquire wool, farmers use a method call shearing, which is a harmless process.

When handled with gentle care, the actual sheering process is completely safe for sheep. Think of it as the sheep, alpaca or llama equivalent of a human shaving their head. Shearing of sheep is also important, as thick wool coats can impede mobility, cause overheating and also attract dirt and fungi that can be detrimental to a sheep's health. I learned of this from an article published by the American Society of Animal Science, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of livestock, exotic animals and domestic animals. The article further analyzes the importance of sheep shearing. Now I can imagine your concerns and doubts about the treatment of animals. Frankly, it does concern me too with how farmers can treat animals when it comes to shearing. The has been a historical trend of cruelty against sheep when sheared, but I have no way to source the farm or specific source of the sheep, alpacas or llamas that were sheared to construct this scarf. This could be a limit to my advocacy regarding sustainable apparel.

Now onto the environmental effects of wool; I conducted some research regarding wool; I came across a source from The International Wool Textile Organization, an organization working towards the progression of the wool industry to be sustainable, cruelty The aforementioned link proclaims wool to be an organic and biodegradable material as it comes from sheep. Here, it can be concluded that the wool production for this wool scarf is 100% eco-friendly, from it's sourcing to its aftermath post-production.

Amongst my purchases from the same AllSaints shopping spree included a hoodie called the Raven Funnel Hoodie. Here's a photo of me wearing it!

The fabric and care tab listed the hoodie online to be composed of 100% cotton. Cotton for apparel is sourced via picking from cotton plants that are grown on farms. Similar to the wool scarf, the pre and post production results of this piece is completely sustainable. I was actually really happy with this result. The link included in the former sentence also highlights the organic and eco-friendliness of cotton, read if you wish, it's very informative!

This was my last purchase for a few days. I went to Urban Outfitters for the after Christmas deals and ended up only buying one item, a t-shirt. The item's online fabric information only cited cotton as the material used, so I'm going to conclude it was 100% cotton. As a result the same logic from the Raven hoodie applies!
Slide View: 2: UO Dillon Vertical Stripe Tee

I only made two more purchases for the remainder of the break, back to AllSaints! One of them was a polka dot button down called the Kuta shirt.
Men's Kuta Shirt (black) - Image 5
Like the first item I purchased from this project, it was created with 100% viscose, a non-synthetic fabric created from bamboo. This is a completely biodegradable material, and as a result is an eco-friendly product.
In this same transaction, I acquired a long sleeve striped shirt, called the Salvano Crew Shirt.

Like an earlier item, it was created with 100% cotton, so it's completely safe for the environment!

Overall, this project was a success, as I stayed within the criteria to successfully execute my goal. I look stylish, and am shopping eco friendly!

Comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see that you have started your blog post 4. I'd probably like to see you talk about how long and durable the scarf is! I'm loving the outfit and reading your previous blogs. Love the idea about using more clothing articles that are real. It's on the pricey side but what ever helps the earth, am I right?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week Two - Zero Purchases

Week Three: Leather!