Hey, there! If you’re cultivating a more conscious lifestyle or looking for resources to get you started on your purposeful consumption journey…you’re in the right place. Shopping from small, local, Black-owned, woman-owned and sustainable businesses has never been more crucial (nor, quite frankly, so good). Here at The Mom Edit, we’re making conscious shopping (or not shopping — oh hey, reuse and upcycle) a priority now more than ever. It’s a constant discussion behind the scenes. 

Part of shopping more consciously comes down to buying less, and using what we’ve got: in essence, that’s thinking about purchases in terms of cost-per-wear — are those $200 jeans actually going to be worth it, and are they making a negative or positive impact? S broke it down into numbers… yes, charts and all.

We’ve found that there are pieces out there that one may deem splurge-worthy at first glance, but end up being better in the long-run for a more sustainable, curated, well-used wardrobe. Often we’ll try and find these types pieces from smaller, Black-owned, woman-owned or sustainable companies, too. We really are looking for forever pieces. 

Our Fav Small Businesses (Some Sustainable, Black- or Woman-Owned)

One of the easiest ways we can have a positive impact on our local communities? Shop small. Not only do our hard-earned dollars stay within our communities, but the environmental impact can be lower because of small-batch (or in-house) production. Go to our Shop Small Business Directory to shop our favorite small brands or get straight to the articles.

Supporting Black-owned businesses is another easy way to sustain and uplift our communities right now. (You can shop the brands on our Black-Owned Directory or check out the articles.) We’ve made the 15% pledge to include Black-owned brands and businesses in our usual articles (they’re not always called out — we are trying to make Black-owned-businesses part of how we do business), but we do have a monthly column that focuses on the best and brightest new Black-owned-businesses we’ve found. As a bonus, we’re finding that many of our favorite Black-owned-businesses happen to be sustainable businesses (and/or woman-owned), too. 

Lastly, sustainable fashion (or eco-friendly fashion) is an important, but tricky topic. We broke down the brands we think are making decent moves in sustainability in our Sustainable Style Directory. If you have more questions about our sustainable values, check out our sustainable mission statement. Click on any of the links below to shop for a more sustainable, conscious wardrobe. And…as always, please feel free to give us recommendations!