First held in 1970, April 22 has been the day to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The first time I was ever exposed to any sort of Earth Day activities was when I was a freshman in college. I went to the University of New Mexico, and I remember vividly April 22, 1994. UNM, at that time at least, had a robust Environmental Sciences department, so it was a fun day full of activities, vendors, and talks.Often fashion and retail don’t mix with Earth Day. In a world where fast fashion is still big, so much of what we consume ends up in landfills. As retailers, we can’t always control that aspect, but I do try my best to find brands or items that are environmentally friendly. One line I buy a lot of gifts from uses way too much packaging for my liking, but like I said, not much I can about that. Here at Kiskadee, we recycle everything we can, we reuse the bags clothing comes in to line our trash cans, and we have a water dispenser so my employees and I can fill up reusable water bottles.We do carry some items that can help you in your everyday life to conserve. The Blu Bags from rockflowerpaper are one of our most reordered items. They fold up small and are perfect to take with you in your purse to use a shopping bag. I always have mine with me and use it as often as I can. These reusable cloths are the perfect solution to cutting back on your use of paper towels. These cloths are washable, and when you are done with them, you can throw them away as they are biodegradable. We have several different reusable straws in stock now, but I like this one because it’s easy to stash in my purse from when I’m out and about. I know a lot of restaurants use paper straws, but they just disintegrate... bringing my own solves the problem of paper flavored iced tea.Many of our fashion lines are eco-friendly. Maven West, one of our favorite lines, uses a lot of cupro fabric in their styles. Their cupro is sustainably made with recycled cotton. Sometimes cupro can be made with harsh chemicals, thus negating the impact of using recycled cotton. However, Maven West doesn’t use them. Cleobella, one of our new lines, is all hand stamped from wooden blocks in India. The dye is made from natural elements of the Earth, such as tamarind seeds, turmeric, mud, pomegranate, saffron, etc. Lemon Jelly shoes have a recycling program for their shoes when you are done, which I think is super cool. Our new line of bags from Pixie Mood are sustainably made and lined with recycled plastic bottles.

It IS possible to love fashion and the Earth at the same time!

To celebrate Earth Day (4/22), we will offer 22 percent off all home items and fashion brands featured in this article.