In this episode, ethical blogger, Ellie Hughes digs into what it really looks like to shop ethically and the judgement and emotions that can come along with it.  Ellie is the lady behind the blog Selflessly Styled, a blog dedicated to making ethical fashion and your personal style meet.  Ellie is a Corgi mother, aspiring minimalist, and style consult who speaks to how you can make ethical fashion fit into your lifestyle.  In this episode Ellie talks about budgeting for ethical pieces, avoiding judgement, diving in! 

BUDGETING FOR ETHICAL PIECES 

It’s true that ethically made pieces cost more than fast fashion pieces.  By nature, ethical pieces cost more to make and thus they just can’t complete with the the financial cost of fast fashion pieces.  But you can start shopping ethically without spending more money on your wardrobe, in fact you might find that once you are mindful about your purchases, you might even be spending less on your clothing overall.  Ellie brings up such a great point when she says, when shopping fast fashion I have realized that people don’t really budget for it because everything is so cheap so they are continuing accumulating without realizing it.  Ellie has some great tips for adding to your closet intentionally so that you have clothing that you feel good about and that you will actually wear.

AVOIDING JUDGEMENT 

You’ve heard me say it before….there is no one right way to live a slow and responsible lifestyle.  This is especially true when it comes to shopping ethically.  Ellie says it perfectly when she says, the truth is that we are stepping into an industry that has problems that go back for generations and to fix these problems, it will take a lot of messy hard work that doesn’t always have a clear answer.  I love it when Ellie says that there will be people who disagree with how you are going about the good that you want to do, and that’s just how it is.  It’s so important to remember that we all have the same goal and are on the same team!  The fact that there is not one right way to shop ethically is part of what makes it so challenging and can lead to hard conversations that scare people away.  I love that we were able to start the conversation in this episode! 

DIVING IN 

Ellie has the best advice for women who are thinking about starting an ethical wardrobe: dive on in!  Ellie speaks so much truth when she says, there is no reason that you can’t be an ethical consumer today, your closet could look exactly the same but if your mindset is different and moving forward you want to be aware of the effects of your purchases, that’s it.  How amazing is that?? You don’t have to throw away everything in your closet and start over, in fact please don’t!  It won’t happen over night and that’s okay!  I love that Ellie reminds us that, you don’t need to have a giant budget to do this. 

I love how Ellie peels back the layers on ethical fashion and all of the different ways it can look.  The fact that there is not one right way to shop ethically is part of what makes it so challenging and can lead to hard conversations that scare people away.  I love that we were able to start the conversation in this episode!