Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty

Nice Idea For A Book But Far From Perfect

Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty by Summer Rayne Oakes

I'm guessing that by trying to be more environmentally friendly the book was made in a different sort of "hard cover" with no dust jacket, yet it has flaps like a dust jacket. It's like a flexible cardboard rather than a hard cover. Yet the book stinks of a weird chemical smell that hardly seems natural. Also the book is made in China - where else??? Anyone else see the hypocrisy?

The author opens you up to a whole bunch of manufactures in the green biz. From clothing to personal care. Not everything is organic. It is based on more than that. Upcycling, recycling, organic, sustainable practices and the like. Some of the fashions are downright hideous (in my opinion anyway) and very expensive. If you have the money to burn and you like the fashion then heck yea spend it on something good for the earth that doesn't promote child labor and tearing down rain forests!

There is a section on personal care that could really use some work. Sure this stuff is way the heck better than the conventional poisons out there, but don't kid yourself, this stuff isn't perfect either. Rather than trusting the authors judgement/opinion on these types of products, you would do much better to make your own educated decisions about what you put on your skin by visiting Skin Deep at the Environmental Working Group (see resources).

The very back of the book has a section dedicated to all the different sources for all the topics she mentions. I find this is great because I can review these companies at my leisure.  This section makes it easy to find the type of companies you are looking for.
 
I love the premise of the book and what it stands for. If you need some help in the sustainable/organic industry, then you would do well to get this book. It is also a great source of inspiration for creating sustainable products yourself! I will keep this on the bookshelf for now and use it as a reference but continue to make my own decisions and not blindly follow the authors suggestions.

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