Photo: Jorge Barrera for the National All-Girls Chess Tournament

Photo: Katie Pruett of Fashion Just Case 

Fashion is increasingly being viewed as an immense waste of natural resources, with an environmental footprint large enough to doom the planet for eternity within just a few, short years. The consumer's voracious desire for cheap "fast fashion" has created an industry not healthy for children, the planet and most other living things. The good news is there are fashion pioneers working hard to balance the equation. These are mostly small companies, like our own, intentionally creating quality products, not only built to last, but also built with great consideration of our natural resources, respect for the people actually making them and our environment. The problem is finding them. In a fashion world run by mega corporations with mega dollars to spend on advertising and PR, these small startups can get lost. Their only hope for survival is the ever increasing array of conscious magazines and fashion bloggers willing to do the research to find these small, ethical brands and share them with their own conscious audiences. While even the large, mainstream publications are beginning to occasionally feature a page devoted to sustainability (usually around Earth Day), the burden of saving the planet falls on the shoulders of those pioneering mavericks set out to make a difference.