Cost vs. Ethics

First of all, I apologize for not posting for a while, but I was sick with Swine Flu – that’s right, my whole family caught H1N1. Fortunately, it was a mild strain, and we’re all pretty much better now.

But that’s not the only reason I wasn’t posting. I was having trouble completing the assignment I set out for myself. In a week, my toddler is going to be a flower girl. We have the dress, but I need to get her some shoes, and our baby needs a dress for the wedding, too. For that matter, so do I. I also need a whole new wardrobe for school – not so much because I’m a die hard fashionista (not at this point in my life certainly!), but because when you have a baby that means (at least in my case) over a year you gain circa 60 lbs, and than over the next two years you continuously shed all of it. That means over three years you need about 3-4 wardrobe changes. This all, of course, costs money.

And that is what I want to rant about today. Money. The almighty dollar. Unfortunately, at the same time I need all these new clothes, I also got my OSAP estimate (for those of you outside of Ontario, that stands for Ontario Student Assistance Program, in other words, loans). My husband and I sat down and planned out our monthly budget, and there’s enough for our monthly costs, but just. There is certainly not enough to buy many clothes at all, even at bargain basement prices. So how, I ask you, can I afford a $45 fair trade organic cotton dress for my baby, as much as I may want one? My husband’s response is simply, “We can’t.” 

Now, I am a believer that you can make do with less – buy fewer items and buy them fair trade. Absolutely! But that assumes you have disposable income, and with two kids and a Masters degree, well, we don’t. Let me be clear, I’m not trying to whine about my plight (okay, well maybe just a little). But more about the frustration that I don’t want to buy the sweatshop clothes. I want to dress myself and my family in not-doused-in-chemicals-and-not-made-by-children-slightly-older-than-my-own clothing. But my first priority is to make sure they do have clothes. Fair trade is a lot more affordable than it used to be. But when you’re living on a fixed income, $45 might as well be $450.

We will continue to try our best. My husband had a wonderful suggestion. Set aside something like 20% of our already allotted grocery budget (or whatever) and use that towards buying eco-fair trade products. But once it runs out, it’s gone, and that’s it for that month.

Shukr Fashion

I was searching for fair trade workout clothes, because I’m going to be taking a Nia class this Fall. But in my search I stumbled across a web site that lists fair trade and organic modest clothing companies – what a find! I’m still working my way through the companies, and I’ll continue to post about them here. But the first one I checked out was Shukr. They have sites for Canada, the US and the UK. This link is to their Canadian site, but you can link to the other countries from there. They carry beautiful modest clothing, primarily aimed at Muslims, but certainly many things (particularly the skirts) are transferrable to Christians, or other people.

Here are two of the items I liked:

 

Spanish Skirt $65

Denim Four Gored Flared Skirt $48

Sugar Based Nail Polish

A good friend of mine got me a catalogue from Purity Life – a wholesaler of health products, based in Acton, ON. Basically, a health food type store in a catalogue at bargain basement prices! They have tonnes of eco household cleaners, baby products, makeup, gluten and wheat free foods – everything you can imagine. One of the things I found that was most exciting to me was the Suncoat products. This is what it says on their site about their mascara:

WHAT MAKES THE CONVENTIONAL MASCARA?

Synthetic plastics, such as acrylic copolymer and PVP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone polymer), are found in many popular brand mascaras. They are used mainly as the binding agent/film former in liquid eyeliner to glue pigments and fillers together so the mascara can stays on your lashes. These synthetic plastics are derived from petrochemicals; contain residual monomers (the starting materials for producing plastics, namely acrylic monomers, vinyl pyrrolidone monomer and vinyl acetate monomer) that are not only toxic, but also reactive.

Synthetic dyes, glycol, alcohol and chemical preservatives are also used in conventional liquid eyeliner formulations.

SUNCOAT PIONEERS SUGAR-BASED TECHNOLOGY

Suncoat has pioneered an innovative sugar-based technology for cosmetics and hair styling products, using natural multi-sugar biopolymer instead of synthetic chemicals.

For decades, synthetic plastics, typically PVP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone polymer), acrylic copolymer, VA (vinyl acetate) polymer, have been widely used in color cosmetics, hair styling products and skin care products. They can be found even in many so-called natural products. These synthetic plastics are derived from petrochemicals, so not the best choice to enhance our natural beauty and to protect our environment.

Suncoat has introduced a unique sugar-based technology to remove these synthetic plastics. In Suncoat natural mascara, eyeliner and hair styling products, a very unique sugar-based biopolymer (polysaccharides) is used in place of synthetic polymers. This sugar-based biopolymer is derived from natural renewable resources, readily biodegradable and most importantly delivers superior performance without harming our systems and the environment…

 

But what I’m most excited about is their nail polish. It, too, is sugar based. They also have a line of kids’ nail polish that peels off. And when it’s time to come off, instead of using the normal harsh stuff, you can use the 100% Corn and Soy based nail polish remover.