School Uniforms: Conscious, Small Business

 Another school year is right around the corner (or recently begun for some of our US friends) and that means back-to-school preparations. For many people, ourselves included that means uniform shopping. And whether you go straight to the uniform provider or big box stores making the same styles, they all share a similarity that's hard to avoid. Not the most comfortable materials, little to no conscious considerations, and most definitely not ethically made.

I would be lying if I said we were able to entirely avoid those options, but it's just not as easy as it sounds. Yet. As more parents look for alternative options to incorporate into the standard uniform, an increasing amount of businesses big and small are looking to cater to that need.

Here, I am sharing a few brands that offer uniform collections or uniform-friendly pieces all while checking the boxes of ethical and/or sustainable manufacturing practices and materials, as well as being small businesses.

Ethically Made Pajamas For The Season

Brands We Love: Simple Littles

In effort to shop in a way that favours my communities this year, I've been keeping my eye out for new brands to add to my go-to list, especially some replacements for brands I'd normally turn to but have since chosen to no longer support.

Enter, newly launched Canadian label, Simple Littles.

One Piece Staple, With Franc

All Black Basics, With Franc

Everyone needs some good, quality basics in their wardrobe. I’ve featured FRANC before and shared snippets of their pieces many times throughout my social feed because they do just that — and so perfectly might I add.

Not only do they provide elevated basics for real everyday life, but they’re manufactured locally with both ethical and sustainable standards at top of mind. Read a little bit more about that here.

This will be the first of a few pieces I share, but I’ve decided to split them up given I’ve already done an overview post and the items are truly some of my favourite (deserving a little more one on one share time).

8 'Small Closet Friendly' Summer Pieces From Everlane

Shopping 'consciously' has it's various hurdles for various people. If you're not into secondhand, a lot of it comes down to accessibility with price point and where a brand is located (yes, e-commerce is alive and well but sometimes shipping + duties if international, can add an arm and a leg to usually already higher price tags).

I'm a sucker for smaller, independent brands and labels but for sake of creating content the feels within reach to more people, I want to talk about Everlane and some of my favourite pieces they currently have available:

Sēm Label x The OM Edit: Kids Capsules

Winter Beach Outings, with Alice + Whittles

Disclaimer: I’m not an “outdoorsy” person by any means, so when you read this post, it’s coming from a place of understanding for anyone who’d rather be somewhere warm — including inside.

But since becoming parents, we’ve (self proclaiming) embraced a lot of things that aren’t exactly my jam. And for most, not all, of the time — I’m so happy about what the open mindedness has done for both my child’s growth and even more so, our own!

Natural Trench Coat

So, colour isn’t my tool of choice. But I’ve come to realize that texture is! Over the summer I rekindled my personal love for both textures and textiles – with linens and natural fibres being my most favourite, especially for the warmer weather.

Responsible Brand: SKYE Footwear

My wardrobe isn’t entirely ethical, sustainable, or eco-friendly. It would be great if it was, but it’s still hard to get hands on many wardrobe or day-to-day items that are!

When we arrived in Vancouver, it didn’t take me long to rejoice in the extent of options both in apparel, beauty, and grocery that were greener. As someone who is plant-based, this is major for me throughout our many moves. Sure! You can order just about anything these days, but it’s a total win when you have local accessibility to better/greener/more responsible items of any kind — and the west coast has proven no shortage of that.

Skye Footwear is one of those brands. And one I needed to find, because if I had to pick one wardrobe item that was less likely to be conscious, it would be shoes (sneakers especially).

Responsible Brand: Outland Denim

By now you’ve probably seen me, more or less living, in these distressed black skinnies. I can’t help it. They’re basically a staple piece — classic in colour and cut, but trendy enough to funk up my very essential based wardrobe. And I feel good as gold in them because they’re part of a movement towards #ZeroExploitation, something Outland Denim has committed entirely to ensuring with their brand of men and women’s jeans.

Responsible Brand: Vetta Capsule

For all you minimalist or striving minimal babes, today’s brand is an absolute treat. Not only is it a responsible brand, but it comes out in mini capsule collections of pieces that can and do mix-and-match entirely with one another. Read on for my overview of Vetta Capsule and how I styled 2-pieces, different ways.

Responsible Brand: MIAKODA

I’ve featured Miakoda New York here before, because I genuinely am a fan and customer but I wanted to do a better overview of the brand — who they are, where they’re from, what they’re about — because it’s important to “know” the people or heart behind the business whenever possible, so you can have a little more transparency with what you’re choosing and where you’re putting your dollar. 

This super dreamy, breezy ensemble is in fact two pieces from the brand; The Tee and Slim Fit Joggers, both in white (which is more of an off white or cream and perfect if you like white but your lifestyle doesn’t) but chances are if you’ve ever seen me in person or popped by any given time on a weekend, you would find me in a pair of their infamous slouchies, like harem pants but super chic.

Responsible Brand: Free Label

I’ve long been a fan of eco-friendly brand, Free Label, for their feminine-chic designs that have the ability to carry you from yoga to errands to coffee shop meet ups. Because really, that’s what life actually looks like and a girl shouldn’t have to break the bank or clutter the wardrobe to accommodate that. Not only are the designs ridiculously flattering and versatile, but every piece comes with the comfort and promise of being vegan friendly, responsibly manufactured, and made only of sustainable-organic materials. With all that being said, I’m super excited to be teaming up with them today to bring you this post, sharing a little more about their efforts and showcasing the functionality of their collections.

Conscious Fashion Terminology

With a movement underway of all kinds of conscious fashion and consumerism, there are a handful of new terms in discussion that might be misunderstood, or easily mixed up. As someone who often uses these terms across my platforms — I thought it necessary to take a minute and write a quick note one each one.

Responsible Brand: FRANC

In the last little while, I’ve become a fan of a few new brands that aligned better with my buying morale. One of these brands is Toronto label, FRANC. Being ethically-made, responsibly sourced, and providing the opportunity to support local (for my fellow Canadians) is a great and some what less common opportunity worth jumping on. But don’t just take my word for it – let’s talk about behind the scenes of this new favourite of mine.

Curate An Ethical Closet

I was a little behind on sharing anything for Earth Day, but in all honestly, a lot of my posts are on an everyday earth day vibe. However, today, just one day after is significant as well — marking the 5 year anniversary of the life taking collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh. In choosing ethical, we can contribute less to these circumstances and cut back on the amount of ill run factories, over demand for supply, and workers (many of which are young women) in unfathomable work environments. See more about the disaster here.