Summer is over and professional woman are falling back to the work routine. Whether you're shuffling between boardrooms or attending your nonprofit's annual gala, most of us struggle to find tailored clothes for business environments that are sustainably made. Whether you are dressing for function, durability, or comfort, it is important to find pieces you can be proud to wear that still meet your sophisticated lifestyle when commitments call.
In recent years, sustainability has become a buzzword and turned a few heads. Just as consumers today are taking a closer look at the food they consume and the chemicals they put into their bodies, they are also shifting their purchasing decisions to create a cleaner environment through the clothes they wear.
Today, professional woman are savvier than ever and not only pay attention to the quality of their garments, but also the entire supply chain, production processes, and product afterlife. They are more aware that a hang tag using the word "sustainable" does not mean the retailer is using clean processes to develop that garment.
One of the biggest culprits in the fashion industry is "fast fashion," or clothes made cheaply to meet demands for the hot new styles. However, fast fashion is putting our future planet at risk.
After nearly 25 years in the industry, Melissa Nataadiningrat has over a dozen patents and immense product successes under her name, not to mention her extensive knowledge on sustainable fashion.
"What so many of us forget or perhaps don't realize is that sustainability is not just about using bamboo based fibers and slapping the term 'sustainable' on the hang tag. True sustainability comes when the entire supply chain of that bamboo is sustainable.
I've picked bamboo because it's so prevalent in the marketplace and we're told about the benefits of using bamboo-based materials. However, we haven't truly achieved an ecosystem of true sustainability when we're still reading about deforestation, water contamination and shortage, and big business farming putting small farmers out of their livelihoods.
