Eco-Chic Consumerism

Take a stroll through your local mall and try for just a moment to elevate yourself from the state of somnambulance into which you typically enter (assuming you’re even a mall shopper at all).

Now, with your new perspective take a look around and notice how much stuff is surrounding you – stuff that is produced using countless resources, manpower and time. Now consider how much stuff will be thrown away to make room for the new stuff. Think of all the clothes that are tossed in the trash to accommodate this year’s model and how this year’s will soon meet the same fate.

Yet, so long as we continue along with our national fetish to always own the newest, be it clothing, TV’s or sunglasses, more and more stuff will continually be produced, requiring evermore resources, manpower and time – time that could be used more… productively.
So, how can you, as a fashion-savvy, ultrahip, semi-consumer serve the Earth while serving your consumer tendencies? Ever hear the eco-phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?" It's the middle word that can pull us through this particular quandary.

Thrift shops, garage sales and antique shows can be a goldmine to the savvy shopper for all manner of goods from wearables to collectibles. Walk around NYC's lower east side and you'll find some of the hippest style mavens in the world. Ask them where they got their duds and the response will more often be "Goodwill" than it will "Hugo Boss."

Garage sales are a great place to find toys. As any parent can tell you, kids outgrow their toys almost as quickly as they do their shoes. Consequently garage sales can yield you in-demand toys with little road wear for bargain basement prices.

Who needs Pottery Barn when you've got a place like the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Southern California, Brimfield in Massachusetts or Renningers in Pennsylvania? You can get home good ranging in style from Victorian to country to modern and everything in between at a decent antique show. And the best part is, you don't have to pay for shipping.

Being environmentally conscious doesn't always mean wearing hemp and using organic dental floss. It can also mean something as simple as rethinking an old system. You don't have to buy new to get yourself a new look.