At the mall....not so much.

Being at the mall is a draining experience. I always find it a little depressing and overwhelming, but I ventured in to buy a pair of organic Levi's for my friend Ginger's (aka Jen G.) birthday. While I was there, I figured I would not just assume that nothing was organic or sustainable, but go ahead and ask.

I got a lot of blank stares from the salespersons at Nordstroms when I asked if they had any sustainable clothing. I rephrased to ask if they had any organic clothing or clothing made from bamboo or soy products. Still no luck, although while in Nordstroms I saw some nice higher-end organic sheets and bedding in their small home/gift department. A small little victory to see anything organic in Nordstroms, but not the thing I was looking for.

When I went into J Crew, there were a lot of items that looked as if they might be sustainable, but again when I asked, nothing actually was. That was a recurring frustration... items that had a green style, without actually being green. The saleswoman there was very nice and said that there had been a lot of people asking for sustainable products lately. I felt a little better that she at least knew what I was talking about, but still was depressed that not one item in that huge store was organic.

In store after store I was pointed to the store's "natural" products, otherwise known as cotton. I did not take the time to explain how unnatural conventionally grown cotton is, or at least how unnatural I find it to be. I suppose I could have, but I didn't. Maybe I should have, but I didn't want to get into it that day, and most salespeople I met didn't seem as if they'd be very receptive anyway.

When I finally got to Levis, they were all very nice and recognized me, which made me wonder if they were just a really good sales staff, or if nobody but me was coming in and buying the organic Levis. Hopefully not the latter. In any case, I got Ginger's jeans and another pair of skinny organic jeans for myself.

So, other than Levis, there were slim organic pickins at the mall, not a big surprise, but disappointing anyway.

When I finally got out of the mall, the warm March weather gave me a little summer longing, so I went online to look for some summer clothes. I found some organic shorts at the title nine store along with some cute hemp sneakers. Neither of these products were very clearly marked as sustainable and organic in their naming, and as far as I could tell there were not more sustainable products on the site. It is hard to know, since you can't tell by quickly browsing, but have to click on individual items to read the material descriptions.