One of my favorite made in the USA items: the pantsuit from Seamly.co! You can wear it dozens of different ways.

When I tell people I am launching an ethical fashion company focused on made in the USA clothing, they inevitably look me up and down and ask me”is what you are wearing now made in the USA?”

The answer is generally “no, it’s not.”

But that’s for a reason, I explain. While I do try to show off my IMBY inventory, I have a limited number of made in the USA items in my closet. Why? Because I took the plunge into ethical fashion a little less than two years ago, and with the pledge to shop consciously, I also started shopping much less frequently. I have tons of clothes from my “pre-ethical” days, and I don’t think it’s ethical to throw all those perfectly useful clothes away to allow my closet to be “ethical-only.”

However, I haven’t bought a single new item of clothing since February 2014 that wasn’t made ethically or thrifted. That’s something I am proud to say. What I really realized in this process is that I simply don’t need much. I have more than enough clothes! I used to shop when I was bored or to kill time. Now anything I add to my closet now is something special, something that speaks to me, and something that fills a need.

To me, that’s being an ethical shopper– it goes beyond the label. It’s not throwing out all your old Zara and Forever 21 clothes, it making a conscious decision in this moment, moving forward, to be aware of how your clothes are made, and to tell the story of how you choose to spend your money.

That’s one of the main reasons I started IMBY, to help consumers who want to shop in this way find whatever they need easily, quickly, and affordably. And on my journey, I have come across so many other individuals taking this pledge and starting their own ethical companies. I am confident that ethical fashion is on the rise.

What does conscious consumerism mean to you?