- Fashion and Sustainability Can CoExist - June 24, 2015
Susan met Natalie after doing some research on organic materials in the fashion world to incorporate into the simplyWORKOUT world. Natalie here shares some tidbits on why she loves her path and her mission to make a sustainable fashion impact.
My name is Natalie, I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and I own the blog & online boutique, Sustainably Chic. I started the blog almost a year ago because I needed some sort of outlet to speak on a subject I was extremely passionate about, sustainability. While studying fashion in college, I took a few courses on ethical fashion and sustainability, and instantly knew the direction of my career within the industry. No longer did I want to be a part of fast fashion or any brand that did not make sustainability the forefront of their business model. I almost felt guilty for not learning about the negative aspect of the industry until my third year of college.
After finishing school, I moved to Charleston, and had trouble finding that perfect career. Instead, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create it myself. La Petite N-Kay, was a filler for a portfolio and my own little accessory brand on the side. Using only organic fibers and upcycled materials, I contributed a small sum to the world of sustainable fashion. Through Etsy, I started meeting others with similar interests and wanted to dive a little further into that conscious community. I thought, what better way to learn more and share more than to start a blog? Since I still wanted to make fashion the primary topic, ‘Sustainably Chic’ was the perfect name.
It’s been incredible meeting such passionate and hard working people this past year. Sustainability is such a large concept, and covers economics, culture, and the environment. It is difficult to speak about everything, so I love being able to focus on an industry that really lacks the sustainable model and, hopefully, help create more conscious consumers through what they can find on the site.
I understand living a complete sustainable lifestyle is out of reach for the majority of people. I also believe within sustainability there is a lot of subjectivity, and you have to pick your battles. However, I do think there are obvious ways to become a more conscious consumer and it is very easy for all of us to start with fashion. I feel anyone that may be hesitant in jumping on the ethical fashion wagon has some sort of foggy and distorted view on what it really looks like. So for a little peer pressure now –
Shop Sustainable, It’s the cool thing to do. 😀
Natalie
