Tunic – Seasalt Cornwall
Leggings – People Tree
shoes – Melissa
Bag – My Green Bag
I have been admiring clothes from Seasalt Cornwall on style-is.co.uk for a while now, so when I got a bit of money for my birthday, I decided to invest in a striped tunic as stripes never go out of fashion and they are also really versatile. This tunic could be worn as a top with leggings or jeans or as a dress when the warmer weather finally arrives.
I was really pleased with the tunic and know I will wear it loads because it is so comfy and easy to wear. It is made from really soft certified organic cotton which is lovely and thick. The flattering cut also means it skims rather than clings which becomes ever more important the older I get. The high neck is also great for wearing with statement necklaces and definitely my favourite style for casual clothes. Seasalt Cornwall were the first UK company to use cotton certified by the Soil Association and they still use more than any other company in the UK they also clearly show their purchasing / ethical policy on their website. I feel really confident that Seasalt Cornwall clothing has been manufactured with respect for people and planet.
The bag was also a birthday treat and is from My Green Bag. The leather is a by product of the food industry and sourced in Bangladesh and Afghanistan where it is hand cut and sewn into bags. They are then hand polished in the UK using natural substances. It states on the website that the leather is ‘organic’. I am struggling a little to understand how it can be classed as organic. To me organic means that the animals were reared organically and the leather tanned using organic vegetable substances and also that there is some sort of organic certification to prove this. As far as I can see there is no guarantees of how the leather is tanned though or how the animals are reared as there is no certification. I was told when I asked by email that the leather is sourced ‘untreated leather directly from farmers market’. The website doesn’t really give me enough information to know if vegetable tans were used or animals reared organically but I am thinking not. Reading this article in the Guardian about toxic tanneries, I am even more concerned. The quality of the bag is not great, the zip keeps breaking. I am wondering whether I should have considered this purchase a little more carefully rather than just seeing the ‘organic’ label. What do you think?
This does kind of highlight the difficulties of consumers when trying to buy ethically and sustainably. How do we know if some thing really is produced sustainably and ethically if it doesn’t have any certifications?
With warmest wishes
