Is Ethical Shopping Just Too Expensive?

When I first started shopping ethically, I felt ashamed of any piece of fast fashion that I owned that wasn’t thrifted. Now that I have tried to dress ethically for a few months now, I realize that there are times when I’m okay with not buying something new ethically or thrifted. With my currently lifestyle, it isn’t always practical for me. But I can, at the very least, try my best to buy ethically whenever it’s possible. It’s actually more wasteful to just get rid of my old clothes than to actually try and reuse them in new and fun ways. The outfit below is mostly ethical and what’s kinda funny is that the ethical pieces were actually the huge bargains compared to the non-ethical pieces.



Top: Everlane (Ethical) $25 with a $10 off code, $15 with free shipping

Belt: Jcrew $20.70 (Similar, not Ethical)

Pants: Target (Thrifted, Ethical) $8.99

Coat: Burberry (Second-hand, Ethical) $208.51, Burberry Coats purchased new retail for around $1700 for fully cotton options. When I looked online, used Burberry coats normally cost around $400, mine was a steal! (Similar, Ethical)

Shoes: Marshalls (Similar, Expensive but Ethical)


Thank you for the awesome photos, Mallari Productions!


Why Your Cheap Shirt is not actually that Cheap


We’ve all been there, heck I still do this from time to time because how can we resist it? We get a clothing item on a crazy sale and we can’t help but feel like it’s an accomplishment and before you know it you have a closet full of clothes you don’t even really want and somehow never have anything to wear.

I’m reminded of $5 tops from H&M and my beautiful wool blend jacket from the Banana Republic Factory that I got for around $20 with a sale and an educator discount. (Okay that last one was an accomplishment)

The problem with praising cheap clothing is that it can change the way we view our items. As someone who has been trying to take a step away from fast fashion I’m challenged to actually spend more money on my clothing for products that are made with care, higher quality materials and support the people who maker them better.

Now, I still enjoy the occasional crazy steal. Like my BCBG jumpsuit that I wear endlessly but got thrifted for $7! I’ve already worn it maybe 4 times since I got it around a month ago making the cost per wear already around $1-2. If I keep wearing it (as I’m sure I will-as long as it doesn’t rip), I can get the cost per wear down to less than a dollar.

(Below, the infamous jumpsuit)

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I think about this all the time I need something like a cold weather jacket. Do I pay more for a higher quality jacket that is warmer or get a cheaper one that will just barely do the job. If I choose the cheap but on sale light winter jacket that maybe cost $20 but will last me a year and maybe 15 wears, it costs me $1.30 per wear for a product that didn’t work as well as I needed it to. But instead if I spend a little more and buy from a company like Patagonia with a lifetime warranty (and is ethical!) I might spend $100 for a jacket on sale but it could last me maybe 5 years before I decide I’m tired of it, or even longer. If I wore it 15 times each year and wore it for 5 years that would be 75 wears and would end up costing $1.33, almost the same as the cost of cheap jacket but now I’m supporting an ethical company and getting a high quality product and not contributing to ecological waste.

The truth of the matter is that cheap clothing isn’t as cheap as we’d like to think it is and I’m learning that sales aren’t that great if the product you end up with is subpar.

What are your thoughts? Would you still buy that cheaper item in the moment? Is my logic flawed in some way? Let me know in the comments down below.