Eat Clean, Shop Cleaner? 6 Steps to Making Your Gym Kit as Clean as Your Diet! With Sundried Apparel

   These days, we treat our bodies with such care, paying close attention to what we put into it, so we can be the strongest, healthiest versions of ourselves. But have we considered paying as much attention to what we are inhaling on a daily basis? With the levels of air pollution rising dramatically, imagine the damage it is having on our 'clean bodies'! And what would you say if I was to tell you that the fashion industry has the second largest carbon footprint? And here's why...

1. It all starts with the material Large factories produce cheap, low quality fabrics, using harmful gasses & toxins in the process & using tonnes of water.

2. From cheap fabric to even cheaper labour Cheap overseas labour sees poor, unsafe working conditions, long hours for minimal pay & child labour, all to boost the profit margins. These factories are also notorious for their pollution, due to cutting costs at every turn & insufficient production.

3. Airmiles The garments must then be transported from where they are sewn to the company, of which they will be distributed to stores & continuously moved around until sold, wasting high amounts of energy.

4. The fast fashion effect The garments are sold cheap, are poor quality & last the season, before being discarded.

   BUT there is hope! The fashion industry is responding to your demands for a more ethical, sustainable future, with the active wear market being one of the leaders in this movement, including some of the companies bellow...

"How can you be a fitness & wellbeing brand when you are not promoting a healthy lifestyle throughout the production cycle?" - Sundried.

   Sundried is one of key active wear lines supporting the sustainable movement. Partnered with The Low Carbon Innovation Fund, the premium quality British brand is a benchmark for ethical apparel; handmade in Portugal (to lower the carbon footprint), by happy workers in sustainable production, each item sold then donates a certain percent to the charity Water for Kids. And the cherry on top of the cake, the team all have an active lifestyle, from personal trainers to athletes.

I have teamed up with Sundried to give you our

6 tips to becoming a guilt free, ethical fashion consumer!

1. Pressure apparel brands to reform! Sign petitions for better working rights, embarrass the companies on social media for poor ethical standards & ask the questions that they may not want you to know. Force the companies to be transparent with their manufacturing process & embarrass them publicly for bad conduct - some high fashion companies have been publicly shamed for their treatment of animals - in order to use their skins/fur, others on their amount of waste, & by publicly disgracing them, it has forced them to change.

2. Expect Longevity Buy clothes that will last, not just in quality but also aesthetically, not just seasonally. It may cost a little more, but it is an investment, rather than buying ten times more.

3. Only buy if you will wear it at least 30 times This encourages you to buy less, spend less & waste less.

4. Wash Cool & Sun Dry Did you know a cotton t-shirt can use up to 2,700 litres of water in it's lifespan (according to the WWF), of which 80% of it's impact occurs after purchase, with water use, energy use & immissions from washing & drying. Plus imagine the money you could save on bills by filling the washing load, using a shorter, cooler wash & air drying...

5. Reuse, Recycle & Resell! If you don't want something, either sell it on, give it to charity or recycle it! There are recycling banks that will resell wearable clothes with proceeds going to charity & unwearable textiles will be remade into fibres & reused.

6. Rebuy Recycled Garments Companies have now started marketing their ethical lines & are quite transparent with how they've reused fibres from unwanted textiles. M&S do a high quality line with Oxfam, H&M are known for their ethical collections & even official football shirts have been made out of fibres from recycled plastic! This is called a closed circuit, where the recycled items have successfully found a new use.

I hope you have found this of interest, it is a matter close to my heart & an important issue to be tackled. If you would like to learn more of Sundried, visit them at https://www.sundried.com/
Plus save 50% off at Sundried with discount code PINANDTRIM