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Clothing - Top 10 Local Sensible Shops

Tired of buying mediocre quality clothing from unknown sources? Not sure where your clothing comes from, or if anyone has been treated poorly to deliver it to you at a low price? Are you concerned about the amount of dye and possible toxins released from your garments during wear and washing?

Get to Know Your Clothes

When speaking of 'unknowned sources', we are not talking about the general brand name, but rather the 'real' producer and materials used during the production process. Tags of all clothing brands list the country of production of a garment, but apart from reading "Made in Vietnam" or "Made in China", there is not much to learn from these simple tags. You certainly will not learn if the garment is toxic, or whether the producer dumps his toxic waste in a local river...

Toxic Threads - The Big Fashion Stitch-Up by Greenpeace

Sustainability among large clothing brands seems to be trending lately, but no one can be sure if this is caused by attempts of saving a corporation's image, or a true conviction for sustainability. A 2012 investigation was launched by Greenpeace International, resulting in the Toxic Threads - The Big Fashion Stitch-Up Report:

A total of 141 items of clothing were purchased in April 2012 in 29 countries and regions worldwide from authorised retailers. The chemicals found included high levels of toxic phthalates in four of the garments, and cancer-causing amines from the use of certain azo dyes in two garments. NPEs (Nonylphenol ethoxylates) were found in 89 garments. (...) In addition, the presence of many other different types of potentially hazardous industrial chemicals was discovered across a number of the products tested. (...) Brands with clothing samples containing NPEs at the highest concentrations – above 1,000 ppm – were C&A, Mango, Levi’s Calvin Klein, Zara, Metersbonwe Jack & Jones and Marks & Spencer.¹

Toxic Threads - The Results

Following the Greenpeace campaign, fifteen global fashion leaders have committed to Detox in response to the growing international upset: Nike, Adidas, Puma, H&M, C&A, Li-Ning, Zara, Mango, Esprit, Levi's Uniglo, Benetton, Victoria's Secret, G-Star Raw and Valentino. Several of them have launched positive "green", "responsible" or "conscious" collections in efforts to save their brand names. Hopefully these companies won't stop on single campaigns, and change the way they source all of their products.

If you would rather buy clothing and accessories made from sustainable materials, and coming from responsible, transparent sources, visit some of Amsterdam's best Sensible Shops. Be prepared that some may appear pricier than your local brand shop, but remember that this is the price you pay to ensure that your garment has been made responsibly, and that it is not harmful to your health.