Written by: Giulia Simolo
With the rise of eco-friendly products, kids are the newly targeted consumers when it comes to eco-friendly living. Here’s what you need to know about making your children’s clothing greener.
Why you should do it
What you and your children wear forms a big part of leading a greener lifestyle. There’s no doubt about it: eco-friendly fashion has become trendy, but it’s so much more than dressing greener to look good. It concerns being more conscious about what you’re wearing, looking after yourself and your family by choosing natural fabrics that are more sustainable, and also doing your bit to ensure that the environment receives some goodness through your actions.
Dressing your children in eco-friendly gear also has the benefit of teaching your children about environmental conservation and making healthier choices for themselves from an early age. This instils positive lifestyle behaviour that they will carry into their older years.
How to spot good eco buys
Always read the labels of clothing and ensure that there are natural fibres in them. Cotton, although common in clothing, is bad for the environment and unhealthy for consumers because a large amount of pesticides are used in the process of making cotton clothing. Rather choose organically grown cotton that has not been made with the use of chemicals and is safer for your children’s health. Other good fibres to look for include bamboo and hemp.
Also try to buy locally produced gear that is helping communities and local designers to flourish.
See clothing in new ways
Besides for shopping for green clothing, there are other ways you can ensure that your children’s wardrobes are more eco-friendly. Here are some tips:
- Try to use hand me downs if possible. Children grow out of their clothing really fast, so it’s tough to keep up with ensuring they have new gear to wear. That’s why using hand me downs from older siblings or cousins can be a great way to recycle clothing instead of it going to waste and winding up in landfills.
- Give away what you don’t need. When you are left with clothing that your children have either outgrown or just don’t like to wear anymore, it’s a great idea to donate them to a hospice or charity. That way, some other kids can get use out of them. This is a great regular spring-cleaning task you can do with your children regularly so they learn the value of helping others and not letting things go to waste.
- Be creative with ruined items. Your child might not want to wear her denim dungarees anymore or maybe they’re full of tears so you don’t want her to leave the house in them. You definitely can’t donate something old and ruined to charity, so does it mean the offending item goes in the bin? Not necessarily. Try to think of any ways that you could recycle the clothing. Perhaps the clothes could be used as washing rags, or parts of them that aren’t damaged could be turned into household items like cushion covers. You’ll be surprised at what treasures you can make from what you consider to be trash, and this could even become a fun hobby for your kids.
- Take note of your children’s styles and what they usually like to wear, making this influence your future shopping decisions. The more you buy them that they really like to wear, the less their clothing will end up collecting dust in the closet. Avoid spontaneous shopping and always take the time to scrutinise labels so you are sure that you’re buying the right thing.
- Buy sustainable goods. You might not have a lot of eco-friendly clothing filling up your children’s wardrobes, but that’s okay. Make it a habit to ensure that from your next purchase you will be choosing natural fibres. Eco-friendly clothing is much more sustainable than non-organic items. They will last longer and your children will achieve much more wear out of them than with regular clothing, thus saving you a lot of money in the long-term.
Green to go!
With the increased focus and attention on eco-friendly lifestyles, there are many stores around that offer natural clothing for kids. Here are a few great links and stores to check out:
- Honey Badger Clothes at Honey Badger are produced with no chemicals and pesticides, only natural dyes and the cotton that is used is completely organically farmed.
- Earth Child You can shop for the whole family here, and even newborns can score some earth-friendly gear!
- Hooligans Kids Their Fair Trade Children’s clothing is created by an empowerment group called The Wildlife co-operative in SA.
The liveeco team
