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Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Here's to reusing and recycling!

Early on my parents instilled the value of recycling and reusing items. In fact, one of the children’s books my mom used to read to my brother and I was about recycling. It was called Lots and Lots of Pippindots
(pippindots were supposedly the recycled plastic beads that come out of the recycling process and could be used to create various things like plastic wood, etc. If you’re wondering, my mom got this book because she was working for a chemical company that was developing a recycling process.)

There are lots of ways to reduce your carbon footprint, but seeing as this is a style blog, I thought I'd focus on one way that's close to my heart. This may be obvi to many of you, but I love thrifting or upcycling. Thrifting is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint! Think about all the resources that go into a clothing item. How is the fiber made, dyed, constructed? How far does it travel before reaching a retail store?

Did you know:

The average American throws away about 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per year.

It takes almost 1/3 of a pound of chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) to grow enough cotton for just ONE T-shirt
[source]

If you are someone who likes to follow fashion trends - be it the 'color of the moment,' wide leg jeans, and maxi skirts for that 70's trend we are seeing - consider visiting your local thrift stores. Many trends are fashion revivals of a certain time period. So you can satisfy your fashion itch using less energy and natural resources. As an added benefit, thrifting is often cheaper than buying new clothes, and often supports a charity. Check out my guides on shoe shopping at thrift stores and what to wear while thrifting.

Patagonia has this online tool where you can look at the carbon footprint of some of their products. For example, a pair of their shorts travels 10,105 miles and generates 3.2 lbs of CO2. I'm curious about the carbon footprint of a pair of Chloe or Forever21 shorts.

I'm not saying you need to thrift all your clothes or that clothes thrifting is for everyone. If thrifting ain't yo thang, you can still reduce your clothing carbon footprint by renewing the life of the clothing you do own. Did a shirt lose a button? Rather than toss it, sew on a new one.

Take a quiz on your clothing's carbon footprint

[stepping down from soapbox...]

And here's my Earth Day outfit. If I'd thought about it more, I would have worn my thrifted "Save the Earth" belt from this post. This was also attempt #2 at dressing down a pencil skirt with a t-shirt. See attempt #1 here.



It was also the first day I went TIGHTLESS in like, forever. It's supposed to get up to 60F tomorrow! That's practically steamy!

Earth Day OOTD Specs
Threadless giraffe t-shirt ($20)
Ann Taylor Loft wedge sandals (thrifted $8)
Chunky wood and woven necklace (thrifted $3)
BCBGMaxazaria tan cardigan sz S (thrifted $6)
BCBGMaxazaria grey skirt sz S ($5)

6 comments:

Sammie said...

I love that giraffe tee-its totally adorbs. I need to start thrifting again (I used to do it a lot when I was younger).

ps. its so funny, I was *just* talking about how HOT its going to be tomorrow. 60 degrees is hot, to us! LMAO.

Cindi said...

Your tee is sooo cute. I love giraffes. :) Tomorrow's going to be perfect as we're going to the tulip festival. :)

Melissa said...

Okay so I just have to vent about the fact that my co-worker says it takes too much time and effort for her to take any type of recyclable container to a different bin when she can just throw it away with the rest of her trash. I wanted to smack her. But I refrained.

I love the pencil skirt with a tee, and throwing in sandals was a great idea. You look awesome!

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Laura said...

Thrifting is obviously a great idea if you live in a Metro area. Unfortunately it's not always possible to find thrifted cloths that are appealing. At least not for me. You definitely have to have some fashion sence to know how to make thrifted cloths and shoes work for you. certainly a talent that you posses Lori.

I have never thrown away anything from Anthro. It's all sold by way of the blog. If it's not in perfect condition, I give it away. Which means I fully recycle all my clothing even though I don't thrift. Then there are those rare occasions that I have purchased gently used Anthro.

What does Threadless mean? I did find an online Tee Shirt place called Threadless.

Jennifer said...

I've never tried wearing a printed shirt on a skirt, but you did great in pairing that red giraffe tee with the grey skirt and tan cardigan.

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Jessa said...

That sure is new, Jennifer. At first glance, though, I've mistaken that giraffe neck as a tie.
prom dresses

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