This is Sustainable Style
To act and shop in an ethical way is to start from a point of personal reflection, and to understand how our choices affect the outcomes of our actions. This means that there is no “right” way to be an ethical consumer. The most common forms (among many others) of ethical shopping are based around:
-Favoring ethical products, especially from small businesses, be they fair trade, organic or cruelty free.
-Avoiding companies that you disapprove of such as those making products formulated using toxic ingredients or ingredients known to have health concerns or companies that promote child labor or subject their employees to torturous working conditions.
Shopping ethically empowers the consumer, giving YOU a say in how the products you buy are made, and how the company that makes them conducts its business. The benefits of buying ethically are also enjoyed by society as a whole. Ethical shopping encourages innovative products and companies while discouraging those that ignore the social and environmental consequences of their actions.
Trading goods and services, even on a global scale, is one marker of an advanced civilization. It is a different story, however, when this forms a base that reduces the power of local communities, drives up our consumption of natural resources, reduces biodiversity or harms the planet and its inhabitants - plants, animals and humans. Rejecting consumerism does not mean rejecting our basic needs, our technology, our stylishness, or our quality of life. The real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects.
In a world of limited resources, a system that advocates an ever-increasing level of consumption, and equates such consumption with personal well-being, economic progress and social fulfillment, is a recipe for ecological disaster. - enough.co.uk
Consumers today are empowered through the provision of information and through numerous channels that promote debate about the power their voice and money has, in relation to the conduct and actions of companies.
Companies are now more open and transparent than ever - companies are changing, and in turn the economy is changing, all because of conscious consumers who have banded together in their commitment to shop according to their beliefs.
Companies lose nothing when they chose to do the right thing! A 2020 report from the US Department of Labor states that child labor rates dropped by over one third between 2000 and 2017, and they’ve continued this downward trend since then. A Mintel study showed that 56% of Americans stopped buying from brands that they consider unethical. And that sustainably marketed products were responsible for more than half of the growth in consumer packaged goods since 2013! A 2020 Nielsen report says that businesses that have been helping with problems related to the coronavirus pandemic like hunger, or providing supplies to frontline workers, and those that are taking steps to protect their employees, are not only doing the right thing, but they're also more likely to attract strong, lifelong supporters and customers. An article in Forbes concurs and states that in 2011, less than 15% of S&P 500 companies issued annual corporate social responsibility reports, but in 2020, over 85% did.
So, why shop ethically? Ethical shoppers prefer to spend money on companies and products that support the same causes they do, not companies or brands that actively work against what a consumer believes in. As a conscious consumer, shopping ethically ensures that your purchases line up with your own beliefs. By shopping from an ethical and sustainable brand, you guarantee fair wages and fair trade for workers, and you are certain that products are cruelty-free, are environmentally sustainable and that the brand respects the rights of its workers.
Shop ethical, Shop The Arc Light!