Sustainable Newbury

Today was simply fabulous! The weather was sunny, beautiful and warm-ish, and I took the day off from work! I spent most of my early afternoon strolling down Newbury St. on the hunt for sustainable fashion.

Overall I didn't find many stores that had clothing made from sustainable materials or made in the USA, but there were some pleasant surprises.

My first pleasant surprise was a store called Made Here. It's a sort of tester boutique from Levi's which sells a variety of hand-made clothing from local designers, vintage garments, jeans made in the USA, and new kind of Levi's called Water<less which uses 95% less water to produce. They had some nice things in the store, and although I don't think every single thing in there was eco-friendly, it was really inspiring to see a brand create a store founded on eco-freindly principles. They also had this great line of men's jeans that are exact reproductions of jeans from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So cool!!

Most of the other stores I came across which I would consider eco-friendly were second hand shops.  Let me just say there were a few repeats... there are three, yes three, Second Time Around's on Newbury St., and two American Apparel's. I think that's a bit absurd, but that's just me. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Closet, which had a second hand Dries Van Noten tank top that I was totally going to get until I saw that it was $99. I also went into the Hempest for the first time, and I have to say, I saw a few things I would consider buying. I assumed it would be all hippy-dippy clothing, but somethings were attractive. However it was also a bit pricey, most pants were close to $100.

There is also a Camper shoes on Newbury, which has some eco-friendly recycled shoes. They have some cute designs, but again, pricey. Also I was checking tags at various stores, and United Colors of Benetton makes some of their clothes in Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria, which I thought was interesting.

The only store I made a purchase from was my beloved Anthropologie. I can't help it, I totally <3 Anthro. I checked every tag as I went through the store and found a lot of brands that were made in the USA! It was surprising and made me very happy. I filled my arms with all these domestic goods and made my way to the dressing room.

Look how many things I found!

I tried on a pair of jeans from a brand called AG Jeans, which in addition to being made in the USA also uses what they call "ozone technology" to make their jeans using less chemicals, less water, and less energy. The jeans were super comfortable, and I would have definitely bought them despite the $168 price tag if I needed a new pair of jeans. View their website here: www.agjeans.com. I ended up purchasing a delicate zebra print blouse, and a super comfy blue jersey cardigan. I also found what I thought were bracelets (turns out they are napkin rings, but I'm going to wear them as bracelets) from the Bluma Project www.blumaproject.com. The Bluma Project sells jewelery with handmade beads made from recycled paper by women in Rwanda. It helps the woman build a sustainable income. The bracelets (or napkin rings whatever) that I bought are bright and beautiful!

I had a great day. It feels so good to find fashionable and sustainable clothing options!