Great fashion finds in recycled clothing

I dropped by the East-end-Toronto clothing boutique Common Sort on the weekend; a friend of mine installed computer-controlled heads on the mannequins in the window, so my partner and I had to check out just how well the speechless-yet-fashionable models would follow our movements. Not bad!

The shop’s owner, Nicole (that’s her in the snapshot), is a real talent at selecting funky clothing and footwear that you could call second hand, recycled, reused or “previously enjoyed.” Or, I suppose, sustainable. I found a knee-length hemp wrap skirt made in Romania (I thought it was linen at first, so I had a pleasant surprise!) and a neat knitted shrug with frilly green layers, perfect for wearing over a dress.

It was great to shop for clothing more or less guilt free – I found a few things to add to my wardrobe without requiring that something new be made for me, I was supporting a small business owner, and the clothes were very affordable too. What’s not to like about that?

Have you bought recycled fashion or other reused goods?

Great documentary: Addicted to Plastic

I had a chance to watch the documentary Addicted to Plastic over the weekend. Although I had heard about the areas of the ocean that tend to accumulate plastic, it was fascinating (and scary) to see just how much plastic was in the area of the Pacific shown in the film (especially compared to the relatively insignificant amount of plankton in the same area). It was scary to see just how much plastics have infiltrated our food chain — the film shows a dissections of dead gulls from a beach in Holland; their stomachs are loaded with bits of plastics, and shows how toxins from plastics make their way into the fish we eat.

I appreciated that the film doesn’t lay blame on society for becoming reliant on plastics, showing that we just got caught up in its convenience without seeing the looming issues down the road. It seems that if we can contain plastics, largely by avoiding convenience plastics and reusing as much of the material as we can for new things, we’ll really reduce the severity of the plastics pollution problem. Beyond that, Addicted to Plastic shows many case studies of people who are doing a terrific job of recycling plastic into new goods (such as Interface carpets), or creating plastics from plant material such as corn.

My bet: We’ll be mining old landfills for plastics, metals and other valuable materials within 15 years.

Do you think you could live without plastic?