Fashion Friday: Green Your Work Wardrobe

I'm going to start off by saying that I don't know a lot about fashion. I don't really consider myself a terribly fashionable person. If you're looking for advice on how to color block or match your nail art to your trendy bubble necklace or wear clashing enameled bangles all over your body, I'm not going to be very helpful. However, one thing I do know how to do is appear professional, proficient, and generally well put-together while maintaining my secret hippie ways. If you want to learn some simple ways to go green and stay green when it comes to office attire, read on.

Despite living in a notoriously hip, eco-conscious city full of social media start-ups and boutique marketing companies, the office where I work maintains fairly traditional, business/business casual dress expectations. I'm expected to wear things like slacks and blouses and close-toed shoes (whatever those are) while everyone else in this town is donning flip-flops and fashionably worn-in band shirts. Let me put it this way: they technically can't tell us not to wear jeans on Fridays, but the boss will not be impressed if it happens.

I'm also a young professional, only a few years out of college and recovering from several months of unemployment, so with rent, food, bills, and debt to worry about, my budget is fairly limited. Maybe there are folks out there who can ditch all of their collared shirts and navy pencil skirts for organic hemp harem pants and bamboo pashminas, but I am not one of them. I'm pretty sure you're not one of them either.

Yeah I can't wear this to work

The point is, office dress code and budget can really get in the way of being a dirty hippie when it comes to clothing. So here are some easy-to-follow steps (as well as some good food for thought) to follow to build and maintain a planet- and human-friendly wardrobe: