The Green Guide How sustainable is People Tree - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Fashion The Green Guide How sustainable is People Tree By Jessica Carroll - May 29, 2022 How sustainable is your wardrobe? Introducing a new column by Jessica Carroll that challenges fashion’s eco credentials. This week, she asks the question: how sustainable is People Tree? Dress, £115, People Tree Materials Made from certified organic Fair Trade cotton. This, unlike regular cotton, is grown without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, which damage ecosystems and poison waterways. Plus, if you remove the zip, the dress will biodegrade in compost within five months. Suppliers The dress is made in Swallows, a Fairtrade workshop in Bangladesh, where the largely female workforce is involved in the whole production process. Swallows aims to encourage female empowerment by providing economic stability and independence. Packaging Founded by Safia Minney in 1991, People Tree was one of the first brands to put sustainability at its heart. So as we’d expect, its packaging’s plastic wrap and paper mailing bag are fully recyclable. Just put them out with the rest of your household recycling. Top marks for it being hassle-free. The extra mile An estimated £140 million-worth of clothing is sent to UK landfill each year. To help tackle this, People Tree has partnered with Give Back Box, enabling you to reuse its packaging (which includes a freepost label) to send unwanted clothes to charity shops. Carbon footprint The fabric was handwoven on a loom not a machine, saving on CO2-emitting electricity. While People Tree’s pieces are usually shipped by sea, Covid restrictions meant air shipment had to be used. They are planning to return to sea and road transportation over the next few seasons. Verdict Sustainable brands are more expensive than high-street fast fashion. But this dress is well made and it’s a style that can be a holiday staple for years to come, making ethical shopping more affordable in the long run. Our rating: 5 stars out of 5. Fashion director: Shelly Vella RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Rochelle Humes has launched a gorgeous new edit with Next Shop the YOU Magazine Instagram YOU picks the best new-in buys from M& S Popular in Fashion Laura Jackson has teamed up with Next for the chicest knitwear January 22, 2020 Holly Willoughby’ s birthday dress is another Zara bargain February 10, 2020 The Instagram-famous & Other Stories wool blazer is back in stock August 31, 2022 Lorraine just wore Emma Willis’ Next collection from head to toe March 17, 2020 The prettiest spring dresses under £100 March 1, 2022 Everyone is buying Holly’ s gorgeous gingham Oasis dress May 14, 2020 13 bargain dresses to buy in ASOS’ s extra 20 per cent June 10, 2020 This £20 H& M dress is set to be the social media June 26, 2020 Stacey Solomon x Primark is back for a third collection with July 20, 2020 Searches for this perfect heatwave summer top style are up 5000% August 10, 2020 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved