Green with envy? Top 5 High Street eco buys

If the high-end organic clothing we've reported on recently is a bit out of your price range, don't despair - I'm in exactly the same situation! So here's a few of my favourite cheap and cheerful organic and fairtrade summer basics around at the moment.

Topshop's older sister Dorothy Perkins is here to help you go green, with some lovely organic cotton basics, in this season's high-waisted tops. Various colours are available for £10, with some cute prints and stripes at £14. I'm particularly fond of the butterfly designs, available in yellow/orange and purple shades.

High Street fave H&M launched its first organic collection earlier in the year. It includes a selection of print t-shirts for a tenner, in characteristically funky designs. Fashionistas are well catered for, as this range is designed with a beady eye on the season's trends. There's a beige 'playsuit' for £29.99 that's got the style spot-on.

Primark, true to form, is offering the cheapest organic basics of all the high street stores, with its new organic cotton range: these floral print tops are a steal at a mere £4. Worried about production? Primark is now a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, and is making baby-steps in the right direction.

Marks and Spencers is leading the way on fairtrade cotton garments just now, and they're very reasonably priced, too. This butterfly print top costs just £12. Most other cotton basics are available from a small fairtrade range, including nightwear, lingerie, hats, tops and trousers.

People Tree for Topshop offers some of the label's best value for money basics. In its 'Future Organics' range, there's a great selection of bubble tops, empire-line tunics and softly layered tops in pastel colours. These retail from £22, and are available in selected stores and via the Topshop website.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://shinymedia.headshift.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-tb.cgi/27610

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Green with envy? Top 5 High Street eco buys:

Comments

PLEASE don't make the mistake of thinking that just because something is labelled as "organic" means that it's "ethical", "green" or any other vague term. The Arcadia group who own Dorothy Perkins & Topshop have been often exposed as sweatshop employers. See here for details. H&M and Primark aren't any better. Try to read between the lines before falling for these high-street publicity stunts.

Posted by: kh | April 17, 2007 5:41 PM

Or even that because it's labelled organic it is actually what you think you mean by organic.

If there's no external certificaiton (Soil Association, SKAL etc) then organic could mean pretty much anything!

Posted by: Cal | April 17, 2007 5:48 PM

Yeah, it would be interesting to know whether any of these are certified.

Posted by: kh | April 17, 2007 5:50 PM

Thanks for your comments. It's a minefield out there, and I'm very aware that some claims of greenness are entirely bogus, particularly at the moment. However, consumerism is about choice, and I was presenting a selection of items that readers could easily afford. The affordability itself is perhaps the issue here, and maybe what we've illustrated is that it's very difficult to be green on a budget. I'll be following this up in another article.

As far as Arcadia group goes, yes, there are ethical issues to be addressed and we're not denying that, simply reporting on its contribution to green issues, however small. I'm happy to contact them to ask about certification, and the right to use the term 'organic' about this clothing.

Posted by: Abi (Editor) | April 18, 2007 11:36 AM

Hi Abi,
Thanks for your reply, I appreciate your honesty. My main problem is with these high street companies cashing in on the current trend towards ethical consumerism. My concern is that these stores aren't promoting these "organic" products because they care about "contributing to green issues", it's because that's what they perceive customers to want and therefore can make profit from - except I don't think that the majority of those customers bother to question what they're buying. A bit like Nescafe and their Fairtrade coffee - did they introduce it because they care about the producers or because of the increased profits they can make? If these companies truly care then they should put their money where their mouths are and introduce ethical/green awareness across the board, such as real steps towards eliminating sweat shops. If that means I have to pay a few extra pounds for my organic tshirt then so be it. Anyone who buys a £4 organic top from Primark is quite frankly kidding themselves if they think they are a responsible consumer. How much of that £4 goes to the 15 year old girl in the factory who made it??

Sorry for the rant, I'll stop now!
kate

Posted by: kh | April 18, 2007 4:06 PM

Hi Kate

No probs. I just thought I'd update you to let you know that I spoke to Dorothy Perkins to ask about how organic their clothing really is. I was told that their organic cotton range is certified organic - by an organisation called SKAL which is based in the Netherlands. Since I hadn't heard of this body before, I'd need to find out more before I could say how sound it is - but maybe you've heard of it?

Posted by: Abi (Editor) | April 20, 2007 3:31 PM

Nope, haven't heard of them - but I would have thought the Soil Association would have been the ideal choice though, since they, erm, regulate the UK organic certification... I wonder if there's any reason they chose a Dutch organization? Thanks for looking into this!
Kate

Posted by: kh | April 21, 2007 6:03 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.