jenn and i watched a fantastic documentary called ‘the true cost’ a few months ago. it’s about the ‘fast fashion’ industry and illustrates the myriad harmful effects of buying super cheap clothes — unregulated pollution and full-on slave labour are the aspects that really bothered me and made me start caring about this. i like good deals but not at the cost of other people and the environment, so since seeing the film i’ve been hunting for ethically made clothes. unfortunately, my hunt is going terribly.
my first problem is that there aren’t many places around here that sell ethically made clothing.
second problem is that the places that do sell it don’t have much in the way of normal guy clothes. there’s lots of sashes and weird fucking hippie pants and panchos but not a lot of plain t-shirts, socks, and underwear. there’s even less in the way of ethically made flip flops, which i desperately need now that my sweat shop specials just bit the dust after only a month of use.
no thanks.
third problem is that looking online, the shipping costs are prohibitively high.
fourth problem is the online sources are almost as bad as the local stores for not having plain jane, regular person clothing. most of the stuff is gross hippie shit, and even most of the ethical t-shirts i find either have stupid fucking designs on them or are v-necks, and i HATE v-necks.
i just want some fucking plain t-shirts, socks, underwear, and flip flops that aren’t made in god damn sweat shops. i guess i’m going to have to start my own ethical clothing company that caters to men who care about how we treat each other and the planet, but don’t care about what they look like.
like this, but ethical.
crimson highway 
My brother took a 6-month clothing/fashion course because he wanted to make hemp work clothes for the same reasons you’re talking about, plus hemp’s toughness as a material.
But then he got a job in the tar sands, so he gave up on the idea.
Idealism will never win, Barnes. Face it.
Oooh! I have an idea! Stanfields are still made in Canada, are GREAT quality, and you can get them at the Bay.
A few things:
1) Sanuk is my very favourite brand for sandals (so comfy!) and fits the bill here. They sell them all over the place – chains like Sport Chek, independent shops, THE INTERNET – Russ has ’em too.
2) This is a UK company but I think it’s a flat rate for shipping (so buying in bulk might benefit you) – might be kinda what you’re looking for? http://www.brotherswestand.com/ – then again, if you aren’t buying secondhand, price is definitely gonna factor.
3) Pretty sure a better bet than google for finding what you’re looking for would be blogs and/or links in the Eco fashion movement – for example The True Cost website probably has links to companies/resources etc, Vancouver has an Eco-Fashion week (does Victoria?) for example…
5) My friend Cara has a M.A., Sustainability in Fashion (ESMOD Berlin) – she’s a tiny little genius actually (won an award from the London School of Fashion for her closed-loop store concept & wrote a master thesis about vertical retailing called “Growing Textiles in Cities” where the textile fibres were grown directly on the rooftop of the retail store. Yep. Bragging about my friend!) She could probably hook you up with some resources if you want me to ask her? She’s all up in that field…(obviously)
you’re a doll, kyla. thanks for all of those. i will start looking for sanuk flip flops right now!
at this point it looks like i will be going with ‘meundies’ for underwear and shirts. still haven’t found a place or company for socks that fit the bill but i really haven’t looked for them yet.