Shopping kind means shopping consciously. As we pick out gifts for loved ones, here are some ways to make sure our choices support animal welfare and the environment:
South Africa (05 December 2024) — Shopping comes part and parcel with the festive season. Heck, for many, it’s the best part! But, while we might be putting a lot of thought into what we’re buying and for whom, we don’t put nearly as much mental work into considering what our purchases impact and which unethical trades they often unknowingly support. We investigate price tags far more thoroughly than ‘Made In’ labels, and actually researching where a company produces and sources its materials is even more of a stretch. Shopping kind, though a growing movement, still lags far behind shopping fast.
The good news is that shopping kind is becoming a lot easier for the everyday consumer. This is because, especially in the past few years, the push for brands to be more transparent about their production lines is fiercer thanks to environmentalists, animal rights activists and conscious customers who want to know exactly where their money is going. What was unthinkable just a decade ago (like full transparency on the factory’s brands’ sub-contracts) is now a norm for many.
How to Start Shopping Kind
Global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS have a fantastic resource for people who have jumped on, or are looking to jump on, the compassionate purchasing bandwagon and thanks to a report from earlier this year, we know that the numbers backing kinder and cruelty-free closets are on the rise!
FOUR PAWS’ Wear It Kind Brand Directory helps shoppers make more animal-friendly fashion choices and support more sustainable fashion brands seamlessly.
Currently, the directory boasts over 250 brands that have been rated by the organisation; each with a different ranking for compassion categories.
This way, people can hold brands they love accountable and find brands that:
- Do not practice live lamb cutting or mulesing—the main problem with wool production from an animal rights perspective.
- Are fur-free—fur that is produced animal-friendly does not exist, nor does the fur industry’s certification programmes that offers higher animal welfare standards.
- Brands that have done away with live plucking—plucking that results in products like down in puffer jackets and blankets is often a cruel practice that geese and other farm birds undergo without any pain relief.
- Brands that are phasing out animal-derived materials and phasing in material alternatives (think leather made from pineapple waste instead of cowhide).
You can access the directory here.
Why Should We Shop Consciously?
By knowing what really goes into what we’re putting under the Christmas tree, we’re giving animal welfare as a whole a great gift and supporting industries that have come up with alternatives. The more people who support cleaner practices, the more mainstream these products and practices will become.
Sustainable Shopping
Shopping kind in terms of the Earth is another growing movement, often intertwined with animal wellbeing. It starts with:
Related Story
Avoiding and educating yourself on fast fashion brands
These are brands that are able to update their stores with new stock as quickly as they do because their production lines use cheap labour and cheap materials. Beyond the gross neglect for workers’ wellbeing in many cases, the materials used in fast fashion garments tend to guzzle up gross amounts of precious natural resources (like water) leave behind massive amounts of material waste, and see stock that doesn’t sell fast enough diverted to landfills.
Looking at Pre-Loved Options
Trade the new for the pre-loved! It’s not only better for the environment but often supports other social upliftment efforts. You can find Good Things Guy’s official Charity Shops list here.
Supporting Slow Made, Smaller Businesses
Small and micro businesses simply don’t have the scale of business that supports the same production-line monsters big companies do. And when they utilise a slow-made model (imperative for ethical fashion), they’re heading in the best direction!
Many South African small businesses proudly proclaim that they use slow-made practices, and thanks to social media and the internet, it’s easier to investigate whether they actually do.
If you see a new brand you’re interested in purchasing from, take some time to sleuth and look into how they do what they do. Those extra minutes of your time are the first steps to becoming an eco-considerate shopper.
by 