In the Spotlight: Allison Sherman
Posted on September 16 2018
MEET ALLISON SHERMAN, A WOMAN WHO DOES IT ALL!
Why limit yourself to one profession if you can manage more?
Allison is a Graphic Designer, Photographer, Blogger and more. Get insight on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and sustainable shopping.
What advice can you offer us on living an active lifestyle?
Find little things that you can implement into your lifestyle and see what works for you. As time goes on and things get easier, start adding more healthy and sustainable practices. This can be cutting out meat a couple days a week, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, only giving yourself a certain amount of cheat meals a week, riding your bike or walking if it's local instead of driving, bringing mesh bags and reusable bags/containers to the grocery store, shopping at farmers markets, buying zero waste soaps, shopping the bulk section of the store with reusable containers, etc.
What do you look for when shopping a sustainable brand?
Where do I start!? There are so many things to keep an eye out for!
- What are the materials? Are they recycled, upcycled, dead-stock/vintage fabrics, natural plant fibers, organic, non-gmo, etc.?
- Do they use natural dyes? Or do they use harsh chemicals, dyes, etc. (note: if they don't boast about being naturally dyed, odds are they're not)
- Do they have sustainable initiatives (ie: zero waste manufacturing, low impact manufacturing, eco friendly production, sustainable factory, factories powered by natural energy like solar, etc.)
- Are they ethical? (ie. vegan, fair trade, sweatshop free, etc.)
- Do they benefit any sustainable or humanitarian organizations or non-profits?
- Where are they manufactured? Often times USA, Europe, Australia, and Canada have much better working conditions and wages than other parts of the world (Asia, Africa, and Central/South America) however, there have been reports that factories in the USA don't even pay their workers minimum wage. Do your research! Sometimes a factory in Mexico, Peru, etc. could be way more sustainable and ethical.
- Is it locally made? I include the USA in local. The benefit of USA made is that you're also supporting the USA economy. You also have to think about the carbon footprint from transportation. Something made from someone in your same city has much less of an environmental impact to transport/ship it to you than something made in China.
- How transparent are they? The more transparent a company is about their production and products, the higher quality and more ethical/sustainable they tend to be.
- Where do they source their fibers from?
- Are they artisan made? Or are they a big corporation/company?
- Are they small batch production or focus on zero waste production? Many clothes that are made too in bulk end up in landfills and create a lot of waste.
Describe the daily activities that help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Similarly to question one, being a vegan is the way I most positively affect my own health, the health of the planet, and the health of others. I collect food scraps and compostable items in a container in my fridge and drop it off at one of the compost bins at the nearby university. I try to use as little disposable items as possible and as little plastic as possible so you'll find most of my kitchen and pantry items to be in glass jars or containers. Having a lot of exposure to plastic and chemicals is not good for you and can leech into your skin where your body absorbs the toxins. I also use natural beauty products and seek out zero-waste options.
