Miakoda, Eco-Friendly, Sustainable, Ethically Made Clothing With Style

In a continuing effort to trend closer to an earth friendly product line, the new names and descriptions being sewn and stitched into the industry’s dictionary is ever changing and swiftly moving.

Forward.

We thought we were something special when we understood what gently used meant.

Then so many other terms started sprouted up like they were growing right out of the earth.

Holistically and naturally.

All of the terms are members of the sustainable clothing family.

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Sustainable fashion, also called eco fashion, is a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability, the goal of which is to create a system which can be supported indefinitely in terms of human impact on the environment and social responsibility.

It can be seen as an alternative trend against fast fashion.

Fast fashion focuses on speed and low costs in order to deliver frequent new collections inspired by runway events or celebrity styles. But it is particularly bad for the earth’s environment.

1-Organic clothing. When we first heard of this term, we thought we could eat it, like edible cups and spoons you eat after eating ice cream with no dairy products therein.

Organic clothing typically refers to clothes made without harmful chemicals, pesticides, or dyes.

Good to know. We’ll write that down and put the spoons and forks away.

2-Restored Clothing. We get it. We think. So, paintings and cars get restored, but clothing?

The first question we asked ourselves is, given how little money we spend on clothing, and it shows according to our friends, do we have anything that we would actually want restored?

Fortunately for the Fashion Industry, most clothing purchasers are not like us.

According to the New York Post, “New research reveals American women spend nearly a quarter of a million dollars on their appearance in their lifetime. The women surveyed who said they routinely spend money on their appearance spend an average of $3,756 a year (or $313 a month), which adds up to $225,360 throughout their entire lifetime (ages 18-78).”

Interesting.

Restored Clothing is when companies take back used clothes to fix and restore them to help eliminate textile waste. Many companies will fix items you’ve previously purchased within a certain time frame, typically for a small fee, which means you can get extra years out of your fashion.

If you are thirty, the dress you bought at 18 probably should not be restored.

3-Recycled Clothing. Now before we ask if this is similar to recycling cans, plastics and primarily beer bottles, we suspect it is not.

Too bad.

In general recycled clothing is donated pieces to thrift shops or Goodwill Centers.

Okay, so you don’t get any money back but you are helping to substantially reduce the waste going back into the earth.

That is a great thing.

4-Vegan Fashion. We’re starting to get hungry again. Is this where you meet a gorgeous girl and you guys go back to your hotel room and you literally eat the clothes off of her before you get romantically involved?

We’ve heard of heavy kisses on a girl’s neck, which they used to call a hickey. Would we call this a Vicky?

Vegan fashion are clothing and accessories that were made without the use of animal products.

The environmental impact of using animals for meat or fashion can be startling.

On a wider scale as shared at sustainyourstyle.org, “The fashion industry has a disastrous impact on the environment. In fact, it is the second largest polluter in the world, just after the oil industry. And the environmental damage is increasing as the industry grows.”

Vegan Fashion is now something that we understand and completely believe in.

5-Biodegradable Clothing. This is easy to wrap our brains around. And our hearts.

Biodegradable clothing are fabrics made with natural textiles, like cotton, wool, and hemp that can be broken down naturally by bacteria. Manufactured synthetic fabrics, like polyester, nylon, rayon, and spandex, can take up to 200 years to become fully broken down.

6-Ethical Undergarments. Okay. The audience is stumped here.

Are there such things as unethical clothes? Do they steal your wallet when lodged inside?

So ethical clothing has high principles and a strong moral compass? Help us out here.

This is about the workers. The employees. The working conditions.

Finding companies that offer affordable clothing made from sustainable materials that is ethically produced where workers are paid a good wage and treated well is extremely hard.

At the Human Rights Watch website hrw.org, they educate, “In the US$2.4 trillion garment industry, which employs millions of workers worldwide, labor rights abuses are rife. In countries around the world, factory owners and managers often fire pregnant workers or deny maternity leave; retaliate against workers who join or form unions; force workers to do overtime work or risk losing their job; and turn a blind eye when male managers or workers sexually harass female workers.”

So who is a company that professes to produce ethically made clothes?

Please meet Miakoda.

The sisters Julia and Laura Ahrens are innovators in pushing the envelope on the use of better materials in their clothing.

Viewing their designs, they seemed to be produced for comfort and movement as opposed to the celebrity runway.

The team creates clothing that is soft, cozy, and comfortable along with being ethically made and environmentally conscious.

Time for a meet and greet.

At their sweet site miakodanewyork.com they share their mission. “Miakoda is an eco-friendly, sustainable, and ethically made comfy clothing company. We use exclusively plant-based materials [with the addition of small percentages of spandex for comfort and movement]. You’ll never find animal fibers or synthetic [polyester, acrylic, etc.] materials in a Miakoda garment.

The main mission behind Miakoda is to create clothing that you can feel comfortable in both physically and mentally! We pride ourselves in making clothing that is super soft, super cozy, and super comfortable [without sacrificing style!]. Many don’t think of clothing as being mentally comfortable, but we want to let your mind rest in our garments, knowing that you haven’t supported any practices that harm our planet and its inhabitants!

Sustainability and ethics are paramount in all our decisions and design processes.”

Miakoda is based out of an ethically-run factory in Brooklyn and only uses sustainable and organic materials like soy, organic cotton, and bamboo-cotton blends.

Very impressive.

We loved the varied interests of the sisters. One is a Fashion Designer and the other is really into yoga.

Very nice.

Keeping up with the new fashion labels in the industry is challenging enough.

Keeping up with the new sustainable terms perhaps more so.

But you know what?