APRIL: FIRST FRIDAY, EARTH MONTH, AND OUR FASHION REVOLUTION

SNEAK PEEK of the CAIT SHEA Spring Collection

Get ready for a color palette inspired by Joshua Tree and the American Southwest. Utilizing cotton dead stock and sustainable fibers like hemp, we will be revealing several of our basic tops and kimonos, as well as some of our new trousers! We are working hard to finish every piece in time for this release, and we are excited to announce a wide range of sizes from XS-XL.

Go Zero Waste with Tonlé!

We could not be more excited about our new partnership with Tonlé Designs. With a storefront in San Francisco, this special company is tackling so many of the fashion industry problems at once. Fashion Revolution Week is at the end of the month, and we think Tonlé is the perfect way to start the conversation about ethical fashion in Chester. These clothes are handmade in Cambodia at a factory that provides its workers with a living wage and a happy work atmosphere. The materials used to make the clothing are 100% recycled, thread and all. And, to remind us all that someone made us these clothes, each garment has the name of the human who made your piece sewn onto the tag.

Tonlé prides itself on being a zero-waste company, with a philosophy that "every thread matters."

After all, producing ONE 220 gram t-shirt in a conventional manner uses the following avoidable resources:

- 2,700 liters of water, the average amount a person drinks over three years

- 151.2 g (1/3 lb) of chemicals and pesticides

- approximately 6 kilograms of carbon for manufacturing alone, almost 30 times the final weight of the t-shirt itself.

That's insane!

Creating cloth from scratch requires agriculture, fabric production and dyeing. These stages have massive CO2 emissions, water consumption, pesticides, and harmful chemicals associated with them. Tonlé's zero waste process of making clothing from factory scraps eliminates these steps and avoids CO2 emissions, unnecessary water usage, and harmful pollution from dying and pesticides. Using recycled packaging and avoiding the use of single use plastics also significantly cuts back on Tonlé's carbon footprint, and even reduces the shipping footprint because items can be packed more tightly. Their website provides analytics to tell consumers exactly how much their purchases reduces their carbon footprint.

And, even without that information, the beautiful, affordable designs speak for themselves.

Like we said, April is a pretty busy time of year for us. As a beacon for ethical fashion in the state of Connecticut, we are getting ready for Fashion Revolution week, from April 22-28. The goal of Fashion Revolution week is to "campaign for a fashion industry that conserves and restores our environment and gives people, especially women, a voice. An industry where dignity in work is the standard and not an exception."

Expect more handmade, ethical clothing features and accessories curated from across the globe, sustainability talks, Earth Day cleanups, live art events, website launch parties, and more. First Friday is just the beginning.