Happy Earth Day! Clothing choice may not be the first thing people think of when trying to reduce their impact on the environment but every little counts, so after careful research here are Clothing Tall Men's top tips:
It might not sound obvious, but it makes perfect sense - and you will end up with a better wardrobe. It makes life easier because clothing choices are limited enough already for tall men and buying one set of high quality clothes is always going to be better for the environment than buying two, however 'eco-friendly' they are. So avoid super-cheap basics, choose natural fabrics over artificial and focus on good clothes that will last (it probably means they won't be the latest fashion, but finding the very latest fashion in tall sizes is almost impossible anyway).
For me, that's often meant waiting for sales to buy tall stuff that I wouldn't have bought at full price and some of those items I'm happily wearing years later - although this could be because I'm environmentally aware, tight-fisted or just lazy! If you want to go further than this with your tall clothing purchases, read on!
When you want to make sure that the clothes you are buying are as environmentally friendly as possible, things get tougher. In general, natural fabrics (cotton, wool, linen, hemp, leather and for those with a taste for luxury, silk and cashmere) are better than artificial fabrics that are made from oil products (e.g. polyester, nylon, rayon). However, cotton and wool production involves all sorts of nasties [see this article], while some artificial fabrics can be produced (and reused) quite efficiently [detailed here]. Buying organic or environmentally friendly cotton and wool from suppliers certified by organisations such as Oeko-Tex or GOTS gives you confidence that use of chemicals has been minimised.
Easy wins include linen, hemp, bamboo and fabrics (typically fleece) made from recycled polyester. The first three typically use less chemicals to produce, while anything recycled helps to avoid waste and lower energy use in production. Tall men could waste a lot of time looking for tall sizes of eco-friendly clothing, so here are a few random examples:
- Tailor Store offer custom tailored, certified organic cotton shirts as well as linen shirts.
- Rawganique has some limited tall sizes in eco-cotton and hemp, up to 3XL and 38 inseam.
- Gildan and Hanes (both make millions of T-shirts each year) have some Eco-designs, mainly in Big sizes.
- Patagonia and Vaude have a good record for outdoor clothing but only in Large, not Tall, sizes.
Environment friendly and recycle clothes are mandatory as well as money saving for us.
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