Sustainable and ethical are words that often get used but we think their meanings are sometimes lost or not fully understood by everyone. We prefer to Keep It Conscious at COOTS.
conscious
adjective
aware of and responding to one's surroundings.
having knowledge of something.
Having this in mind helps guide us in our business when making decisions on anything from the fabric choice of our swimwear to the packaging we use to send out our orders. We research the hell out of everything to make sure we are getting the ‘best’ for us and our COOTS Crew - which is where the knowledge part comes in. But getting the ‘best’ it’s not always as simple as going for the ‘best’ thing available - there are lots of things to consider… Â
Let’s take packaging for example - in an ideal world we’d be able to get custom COOTS branded boxes, made from recycled/biodegradable materials, order however much we wanted, all for a cheap price. But in reality the MOQ (minimum order quantity) for these sorts of box are often in their thousands and even then the cost per unit does not come cheap! So we come back to our conscious decision compass and think well actually, if we go for blank recycled mailer boxes we can get these in much lower quantities and make branded bamboo-toweling suit bags to order. This way we get the best of both worlds - we’re still using an eco-friendly packaging and our customer also gets a reusable branded bag but we’re not spunking all our cash on nice but unnecessary branded boxes that will probably end up in the bin once opened anyway. Â
Like running a business it’s impossible to live our lives 100% ‘sustainably’. Even if we go live deep in the forest and wear nothing but leaves we’re still going to leave some impact on our environment. But you know what, it's nice to buy nice clothes (and swimwear) isn't it? But know what's even nicer?! Buying something for the right reasons. With so much green-washing out there it's hard to know who to trust but you just need to decide what is important to you. Whether that be recycled materials, second hand clothing or buying from an indepently owned business - it’s a balancing act or even like a game of bingo.
We recently read Alec Leach’s brilliant book ‘The World Is On Fire But We're Still Buying Shoes’. For anyone who loves fashion but is trying to understand not only its impact but also how to change your relationship with the ‘hypebeast’ culture that it has become then get yourself a copy. In the book he suggests that conscious (or responsible as he describes it) shopping is like a game of bingo. It’s very unlikely that you’re going to get a full house but when making a purchase you can definitely tick off a few boxes to help you make that conscious choice.
Here's the COOTS Bingo card. This is what is important to us. Adapt it, add your own squares for what's important to you and next time you make a fashion purchase have a little think. Get your big marker out and see how many you can tick off - hopefully you'll be shouting 'HOUSEY-HOUSEY!' all the way to the checkout.