Thanks for joining me on this segment of Local Friday! I designate this day of the week to be about a local business/artist that I believe needs to be heard about!
This week our featured business is: SUMMERSALT
This St. Louis company is doing lots of things right, and that deserves some extra love! Here's what this company is all about, straight from the website:
On top of being a function- and fashion-forward company, they also aim to use Earth-friendly practices. They "use recycled materials to create fabrics and product packaging because we want to explore this world—so we need to take care of it."
So, what are they known for??
Well, their swimsuits are the biggest part of the company. If the name didn't give it away, then I don't know what else does!
What I also love is that they are embracing all types of bodies. They took over 1.5 million body measurements from 10,000 women to inform the Summersalt fit. Because this company is only a year old, their sizes only go up to 12, but they are working on adding more sizes.
Their swimsuits are have 4x the amount of compression as traditional swimwear, meaning they can be worn for much longer. They also don't ship their swimsuits in boxes, but rather resealable and reusable bags! This company isn't perfect in their practices, but they are certainly trying to make a huge difference in the extremely wasteful fashion industry.
What else do they have?
Summersalt also has travelwear, sleepwear, and underwear. Their clothing is meant to be wrinkle-free and fast-drying so that it's easy to pack and wash, without the hassle of needing an iron and/or hanger.
This is a WIN for me because ya girl loves comfort and clothes that don't wrinkle. I mean, for someone who ROLLS her clothes, wrinkling is inevitable... So yeah, I love that they're wrinkle-free.
So, why should any of this matter?
At the moment we produce roughly 60 million tonnes of clothing PER YEAR! And that could realistically increase to 100 million by the year 2030. But, the amount of production shouldn't be the only thing to blame.
We are to blame.
We have an addiction to fast-fashion, and this wasteful fast-fashion industry is growing. It is our responsibility to change our ways of thinking about fashion:
It is NOT a fashion faux-pas to wear the same outfit twice.
Cheap does NOT equal quality. It's better to invest your money in good pieces of clothing that will last much longer, than to buy pieces that fall apart after a few wears. If you do this, you'll actually be saving a lot more money, since you won't be buying clothes as often!
Clothes do NOT go out of style after one season. Hello, the 80s and 90s (and even 2000s) have made a comeback! And if you're clothes are in good condition, you could be wearing them for 30+ years!
Look, I'm not saying go and throw out all of the cheap clothes you bought. That's just wasteful. Instead, figure out what you like to wear and take care of it. And if you really don't wear that piece, donate it to a company that will upcycle your clothes.
SUMMERSALT is doing just that, so I am totally on-board with this company.
Plus, if we start shopping sustainably, companies listen because we are, essentially, voting with our $$$. And money talks.
So, babes, let's start making tiny changes in our daily lives! Remember, we don't need a handful of people living perfectly waste-free, but millions of people living imperfectly waste-free.
We can make a difference together.
With love and sincerity,
Liya, The Sustainable Soprano
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