Try these brands for a more eco-friendly shopping experience.
Shelby is a staff writer for CNET, covering software, apps and services. She served as Editor-in-Chief for the Louisville Cardinal newspaper at the University of Louisville. She interned as a creative non-fiction editor for Miracle Monocle literary magazine. Her work appears in Glass Mountain Magazine, Bookends Review, Soundings East and on Louisville.com. Her cats, Puck and Koda, are the best cats ever.
Seeking out ethical shopping opportunities from the start can help the environment and boost small businesses. Shopping ethically means buying things that are made from organic materials, cruelty-free and by fair trade companies. It also means avoiding products that aren't ethical or sustainable -- such as those made by a company has unsafe working conditions. By shopping ethically, you can choose to support companies that are environmentally friendly, have strong workers' rights and do not test products on animals, according to Ethical Consumer.
Shopping ethically doesn't have to be an afterthought. If you know what you'd like to buy, you can search for ethical brands first to see if you can find a similar product to what you would have from a big box store or major online retailer.
Here are 12 brands to check out to help you make more eco-friendly choices this holiday shopping season. The default shipping for many is in Europe, but if you're ordering from another country, you can specify that during checkout.
My Bamboo is an eco-clothing brand that makes clothes using bamboo instead of cotton. The shop offers apparel, including leggings, socks, shirts, underwear and athleisure for women, men and children. The site also has bibs, blankets and other items for babies.
On Maykher, you can browse sustainable beauty supplies along with candles, seasonal greeting cards, jewelry, fashion accessories, purses, wallets and more. In addition to selling eco-friendly products, 10% of Maykher's annual profits go to educating young women and girls.
If you're in the market for shoes, Po-Zu is a good place to look for sustainable selections. The company creates its products with renewable, responsibly harvested resources that don't contain pesticides, bleach or toxic dyes. It also offers vegan shoes.
Don't forget your furry friends: Lamina Animal sells vegan, plastic-free accessories for your pet. All the products are handmade in the UK using ethically sourced, sustainable materials.
Home of Juniper, or La Juniper, offers sustainable home goods, furnishings, fashion accessories, seasonal decorations and more if you're in Europe. Home of Juniper doesn't currently ship to the US but said it is planning to in the future.
Bumblebee Conservation Trust has valuable information about bees and gardening, the site also offers bee-themed merchandise like shirts, hoodies and other accessories, a percentage of the profits from which go toward bee conservation. The site also sells books, pins, postcards, posters, gift memberships and more.
Crafted Books by Sue Day on Etsy has a large selection of handmade Cork Wrap journals, mini notebooks and photo albums. The books are eco-friendly and filled with recycled paper. Day, the shop's owner, says she puts a contemporary twist on traditional bookbinding techniques.
Ethical Market is a mega-hub shop loaded with unique items such as clothes for men, women, kids and babies, gift ideas, shampoos, soaps, home decor, makeup and stationary. When you click on an item to view it closer, Ethical Market will let you know if it's fairly made, sustainable, handmade, vegan and cruelty-free. The items are also reasonably priced.
PomPom is a site dedicated to plastic-free products for kids. The site offers plastic-free items including toothbrushes, slippers, fun rugs and other decor, bath toys, towels, outdoor toys and more.
Garçon Wines applies eco-friendly elements to packing and the flat design of the bottles -- which are made from pre-existing, recycled materials. Plus, the flat bottles save space since they can be packed or stored like books.
Even though purchasing reusable drink containers can cut down on waste, some of them are still made of plastic. WakeCup offers sustainable coffee cups, travel mugs, water bottles, tea infusers, shopping bags, lunch sets, straws and similar items in its shop.
We might not think about our furniture when it comes to sustainability, since we're likely to keep those pieces for a long time. But the origins of your tables and chairs matter too. Positive Earth Unique Furniture sells handmade pieces that come from reclaimed timber like pallets and scaffolding boards, and many other materials that would otherwise be thrown away. You can check out what the shop has to offer on its eBay page.
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