To help you be a more conscious consumer, we’ve curated a list of 100+ fashion, beauty, home, and food brands that are offering Black Friday/Cyber Week sales.

P.S. There are no sponsored links here, just a roundup of our favorite brands and products that our team is actually buying and gifting this year.

Fashion / Clothing

1. ABLE: 35% off sitewide, now through November 28th https://www.ableclothing.com/
2. Tentree: 30% off sitewide with code GF2022VIP https://www.tentree.com/
3. Pact: 20-50% sitewide https://wearpact.com/
4. For Days: up to 50% off https://fordays.com/
5. Amour Vert: 50% off daily deals https://amourvert.com/
6. Parade: 30% off https://yourparade.com/
7. Knickey: 20% off sitewide with code 20BDAY22 https://knickey.com/
8. Organic Basics: up to 50% off https://us.organicbasics.com/ 
9. MATE the label: 30% off https://matethelabel.com/ 
10. Prana: 40% off select stylesTradlands https://www.prana.com/ 
11. Noize: up to 80% off https://noize.com/ 
12. Everlane: up to 50% off https://www.everlane.com/ 
13. Toad & Co.: up to 60% off https://www.toadandco.com/
14. Boody: 40% OFF sitewide with code GIFTBETTER https://boody.com/
15. Thousand Fell: 20% off https://www.thousandfell.com/ 
16. Whimsy and Row: Up to 80% off
17. Nation limited: up to 80% off
18. Happy Earth: 30% off with code GIFTGREEN ​​ https://www.happyearthapparel.com/ 
19. MZ Made: 30% OFF sitewide https://shopmzmade.com
20. Tradlands: up to 70% off with code BF30 https://tradlands.com/

Home Essentials

1. Package Free Shop: 40% off sitewide with code HOLIDAY https://packagefreeshop.com/
2. Blueland: 20% off sitewide https://www.blueland.com/collections/all
3. Papaya Reusables: 25% off wide code GIFTGIVING25 https://www.papayareusables.com/
4. Dropps: 30% off sitewide with code CLEANGIFT https://www.dropps.com/ 
5. Lomi: up to $204 off https://lomi.com/ 
6. Kind Laundry: buy 2 get 1 free https://www.kindlaundry.com/

Home Goods

1. Anchal: 30% off sitewide https://anchalproject.org/
2. Avocado Mattress: 10% off sitewide  https://www.avocadogreenmattress.com/
3. Buffy: 20-50% off https://buffy.co/ 
4. Coyuchi: 20% off https://www.coyuchi.com/ 
5. Savvy Rest: 20% off https://savvyrest.com/
6. The Little Market: up to 60% off select styles https://www.thelittlemarket.com/
7. The Citizenry: up to 30% off https://www.the-citizenry.com/

Beauty & Skincare

1. Biossance: 30% off sitewide with code GIVE30 https://biossance.com/
2. Kinship: 25% off sitewide https://lovekinship.com/
3. Youth to the People: 25% off sitewide https://www.youthtothepeople.com/
4. Herbivore Botanicals: 25% off sitewide  https://www.herbivorebotanicals.com
5. True Botanicals: 20%-30% off sitewide https://truebotanicals.com/ 
6. Saie: 25% off https://saiehello.com/ 
7. Glow Recipe: 20% off sitewide with code GLOWFORIT
8. Attitude: 25% off https://attitudeliving.com/
9. Everist: 20% off sitewide https://helloeverist.com/
10. Leaf: 20% OFF sitewide https://leafshave.com/ 
11. Cocokind: 25% off sitewide https://www.cocokind.com/ 
12. Pacifica: 30% off sitewide https://www.pacificabeauty.com/ 
13. Beautycounter: 20% off https://www.beautycounter.com/ 
14. Tretique: 25% off https://www.trestique.com/  
15. Activist skincare: up to 25% off https://activistskincare.com/ 
16. Solara: 25% off sitewide https://solarasuncare.com/
17. Tata Harper: 25% off orders over $100 https://www.tataharperskincare.com/
18. Common Heir: 20% off with code EARLYACCESS20 https://commonheir.com/ 
19. Axiology: 30% off with code PLASTICFREEHOLIDAY22 https://axiologybeauty.com/

Pets

1. Wild One: 30% OFF sitewide https://wildone.com/

Food & Kitchen

1. Great Jones: up to 50% off through November 28th https://greatjonesgoods.com/
2. Made In: up to 30% off https://madeincookware.com/
3. Our Place: up to 30% off https://fromourplace.com/ 
4. Caraway: up to 20% off https://www.carawayhome.com/ 
5. Keep Cup: 30% off sitewide https://us.keepcup.com/ 
6. Stasher: 25% off sitewide https://www.stasherbag.com/
7. Farmfluence: 20% off with code LIVKINDLY https://farmfluence.co/
8. Hive Brands: 20% off sitewide with code HAPPYPLANET https://hivebrands.com/
9. Thrive Market: 30% off https://thrivemarket.com/
10. Flamingo Estate: 20 off sitewide https://flamingoestate.com/collections/all
11. Lettuce grow: 20% off sitewide with code GREENFRIDAY https://www.lettucegrow.com/

Latest Deals

1. Otherland: up to 35% off https://www.otherland.com/
2. Dieux Skin: 15% off with code FAITHFUL15 & 10% off bundles with code HEAVEN10: https://www.dieuxskin.com/
3. Earthling Co: 25% off sitewide with code CYBERSALE https://theearthlingco.com/
4. Milk Makeup: 25% off all orders over $45 https://milkmakeup.com/
5. Caudalie: up to 50% off select products https://us.caudalie.com/
6. Souper Cubes: 20% off sitewide starting November 25th + more Cyber Week deals  https://www.soupercubes.com/
7. ONE HOPE Wine: up to 40% off https://www.onehopewine.com/
8. Brightland: up to 30% off https://brightland.co/
9. Rothy’s: up to 47% off https://rothys.com/collections/the-archive-event-sale
10. Bathing Culture: 20% off through Monday, November 28th https://bathingculture.com/
11. Paravel: up to 30% off https://tourparavel.com/
12. Sheets & Giggles: save up to 40%, plus donated 5% to charity https://sheetsgiggles.com/
13. Puracy: up to 60% off https://puracy.com/

For months, LIVEKINDLY’s editors, on a never-ending quest towards zero waste, have looked for ways to give up wasteful paper towels, with one wee caveat. As much as we care about the environment, we want a practical solution that doesn’t involve us, like, living off the grid or washing a dozen dish towels each day.

Then we discovered Papaya Reusable Paper Towels. (Hear that? That’s the sound of angels sighing.) They’re compostable, washable, not to mention simple to use—and easy to organize, as each set comes with drying hooks you can hang anywhere. We were floored to learn that one Papaya towel replaces 17 rolls of disposable paper towels —which means this game-changing environmental move is also saving us a ton of money. 

Let’s face it: We’re addicted to paper towels

The first-ever paper towel, according to business legend, was a happy accident that sought to avoid waste. In 1907, Arthur Scott, president of Philadelphia’s Scott Paper Company, had a dilemma on his hands: an entire railroad car of toilet tissue was rolled too thick for its intended usage. Unwilling to let the paper go to waste, he decided to cut it into larger pieces and sell them as disposable paper towels. Easy to use, multipurpose, and eliminating the need for laundering, they were nothing short of revolutionary.

But Scott’s good intentions led to a whole heap of trouble for the environment. Americans alone use 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year, which adds up to about 80 rolls per person. That’s a lot of trash going into landfills, which emit large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 

But all the trash that creates isn’t our only problem. Paper towels are made by using significant water and tree-pulp resources. (In order to get certain paper towels pristinely white, chlorine and formaldehyde are added to the wood pulp, putting chemicals directly into contact with our skin and the surfaces we use.) The paper-making process likewise requires gas, to make these products and move them across the country. This is why the paper and pulp industry has become the fourth largest energy-consuming industry in the world. So reducing paper-towel dependence, even incrementally, could have a significant, positive impact on the environment.

The solution is a godsend

First, the superficial stuff: Papaya’s Reusable Paper Towels are utterly Instagrammable. No, really, their designs are so chic we don’t have to hide them when friends swing by, like we do with our stained dish towels.

Aesthetics aside, we were admittedly skeptical at first. Could these little sheets really work for cleaning, drying, washing, or even smudging off our makeup? The proof is in the paper, because these did work when it came to all of the above. (For more ideas on maxing them out, check out our pointers below.)

The versatility is great, but we’re most excited about their smell—inasmuch as, they don’t have one! That means no more stinky kitchen sponges or cleaning rags to contend with; Papaya easily replaces them. The cotton and cellulose they’re made from is quick-drying, which means odor-causing bacteria doesn’t get a chance to set up shop. After using them a few times, you can give them a simple wash-and-wring with dish soap. And when they’re ready for a deeper clean (Papaya suggests once a week), you can toss them in the dishwasher or washing machine—then hang to dry.

One Papaya Reusable Paper Towel can last us up to nine months. They’re also zero waste: at the end of their life-cycle, unlike a dishrag, these paper towels can go right into the compost bin. Or you can even throw them in the trash and rest easy knowing they’ll soon return to the earth.

Our fave thing about Papaya paper towels is how customizable they are. You can snag ’em in packs of two, four, or six—or like us, build out a subscription box for freshies whenever you need them, or want to gift them (and you will!). The hooks are a key differentiator, making it easy to station them like little soldiers fighting messes: one for the sink, one on the backsplash, and one on the kiddo’s highchair to wipe his often messy mouth (good for pet paws, too). We’ve got even more ways below. To grab our exclusive 20% discount, use code LIVEKINDLY20 on Papaya’s site.

Unique ways to use your Papaya Reusable Paper Towels

Win the war on dust

We’re constantly confronted with the fact that we routinely forget to dust (why is it everywhere, all the time?). Well, not anymore. Just run a damp Papaya Reusable Paper Towel wherever dust collects and watch it disappear, lint-free. Rinse and repeat.

Learn to love doing dishes (hear us out)

A sink full of dirty dishes used to fill us with dread—but not anymore. Papaya paper towels make this chore, dare we say, fun? We use two: One to clean every inch of our utensils, measuring cups, and kitchen tools. The other we keep on hand to mop up excess water on washed dishes to cut down on drying time.

Pimp your ride

Our cars collect a lot of gunk—from coffee spills and dusty dashboards, to muddy boots and kid messes (So. Many. Cheerios.). Nothing gets into nooks and crannies like a Papaya paper towel. Just wet it, wring it, and wipe the day away. If only it could do something about this traffic…

Glow-up your beauty routine

We love to keep a clean Papaya towel handy to take the day off our face, but our favorite beauty secret is using one to clean all those makeup tools. Brushes, sponges, and rollers (even that jade gua sha massager) work better when they’re free from product buildup. It’s official: clean is the new glam.

Pet pampering

We used to constantly launder smelly rags after wiping our pups’ paws and eyes, but now they’ve got their own designated Papaya paper towels (should we get them monogrammed?).

Streak-free your mirrors

Disposable paper towels were our best mirror cleaners, but Papayas are our new leave-no-trace answer to streaks and mirror-glomming fibers. Morning affirmations, here we come.

So I was thrilled when I found that interior designers were heralding a new era of maximalist design, complete with layered wallpapers, color-bursting chandeliers, and ornate sideboards. Ah, my time has come, I thought vaingloriously. 

There was just one problem. Our current system of fast decor is harmful to the environment, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noting in 2018 that end-of-life furniture and furnishings in the United States comprised 12.1 million tons of waste—and that’s not even counting carpets and rugs. Along with my stuff-loving aesthetic, I’d also just vowed to go more sustainable and low-waste, which begged a million-dollar question: How does one live  a zero-waste lifestyle as a maximalist?

Figuring out how to go low-waste my way had to start with getting  to the root of why I loved maximalism so much. Maximalism is associated with self-expression and, for me personally, my upbringing. I grew up in the eighties and nineties, emulating my beautiful, brightly-clad mother, who wasn’t afraid to don a full outfit composed of fuchsia or bright turquoise. I remember her tennis outfits fondly, complete with bright headbands and skirts with the neon squiggles that were so popular in the eighties. She’d pile layer upon layer of clothing upon one another, somehow making it all work together. And she’d crown it all with a hot pink lipstick kiss and Aquanet-sprayed bangs.

On special occasions, my mother dressed me in the saturated colors of traditional hanbok that we would buy during summers in South Korea, but for daily wear I would layer two neon skirts on top of one another, and sometimes two t-shirts and four necklaces (one a Bonne Bell Lip Smackers, natch). Madonna wasn’t extra enough for me; I wanted to be a cross between Paula Abdul, Debbie Gibson and Salt-N-Pepa. Accessories were vital: hot pink Keds with beaded safety pins and the signatures of your friends, electric blue scrunchies, and at least four or five neon slap bracelets. Capitalist choices, like choosing the pink rollerskates over the staid white ones, felt like freedom and expression to teenage me.

As a thirty-something in a tiny Brooklyn apartment, my style was a cross between Lemonade-era Beyoncé (the freedom and movement of that mustard-colored, off-the-shoulder Cavalli dress with all its flouncy layers!) and Louis XIV (more mirrors, more gold, and more brocade, please). But my excess stuff ended up in the landfill. When I moved out of my apartment to go cross-country, I threw away what I couldn’t give away, from an ornate dresser, to linens and candlesticks. I felt horrible sending those items to the landfill, and vowed never to do it again.

But I still wanted to express my personal style and “more is more” maximalism in my new west coast home. Though it’s more streamlined, I’ve figured out a few ways to go low-waste—and in some cases, even zero waste—while still enjoying life as a maximalist to the fullest.

Express maximalism beyond materialism

My central view toward expressing maximalism is playfulness and openness to ideas, philosophies, and conversations that your space can perpetuate. The first tenet of doing zero-waste maximalism is learning to express your more-is-more aesthetic beyond materialism. Maximalism is about expressionism that paints the house with your mood, whatever it may be. Use the power of your five senses to enliven your house. So for example, place speakers in the right places in your house, so you can hear your music wherever you are. Your moment of maximalism in the day might be opening up the windows to soak in nature or city sounds. Flinging open the curtains to let in all the sunshine might be your approach to maximalism—or conversely, closing the curtains and turning your lamps and spotlights so that they hone in on a wall of gothic black velvet paintings might be your approach to more. Your maximalism could be using what you do have in other configurations, like piling pillows on the floor and gathering textured faux fur blankets around them, or painting a mural on the wall with leftover house paint—whatever helps you add flair without purchasing more. 

Repurpose everything

It can take creativity or fresh eyes to devise a second life for an item, so ask your community for suggestions. Instead of throwing out artificial flowers you already have, can you turn them into a piece of apparel or your children’s outdoor fairyland? Instead of throwing out a bookshelf, can you transform it into a shoe rack, a record shelf, or a bench? Your sofa could be the perfect addition to your neighbor’s ADU or garage hangout, while a van’s seats could make a cool vintage-themed theater. Your leftover fabric makes a fun Halloween costume for your friends, and old towels and rugs may be helpful at the local animal shelter.

Be the lifeblood of a local gifting group

The high-waste issue with being a maximalist and having a lot of stuff is that when you get tired of an item, you want to get rid of it—and there’s a lot to get rid of. If you can’t repurpose an item by sanding it down and painting it another color, give it away in a local gifting group like Freecycle or Buy Nothing, which has an app as well as various hyperlocal groups. These groups, which exist across the globe, help you find a recipient for your trash who will love it like it’s brand-new. You can also find your new home decor or organization items in these groups, and even ask for them by posting what’s called an “ask.”

I furnished my baby’s room almost entirely with cute paintings and rugs from Buy Nothing, as well as clothing him in stylish, colorful outfits without any of the waste of kids’ fast fashion. The best part was the friendships I made in the group, which helped me befriend other maximalists, DIYers, and vivid expressionists.

Master the multi-step barter system

Do you remember the famous story of the person who started with just one red paperclip and bartered his way up to a house? This brilliant soul knew that each item along the way had inherent value to someone, as long as he could find that someone. 

Facilitating a three-way trade isn’t as hard as you think, but if it’s easier, organize an interior design swap or a clothing swap where lots of friends can come together and barter at once, eliminating your need to store anything over time. If shopping is what you love, there are few things better than a swap party, because you can take all you want without shoppers’ remorse. If you took too much, bring the items back to the next swap. My friends and I often laugh when we show up for drinks and someone is sporting a pair of pants that five of us have owned—we’re literally The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Be patient

The tendency nowadays is to furnish a house or an apartment as soon as you move in. My mother told me that she didn’t decorate her first house right away, but instead collected meaningful items over the years from travels, friends, and thrift shopping. I think it’s so much more beautiful to furnish a house this way. I want the items within to express the maximalist me, instead of whatever trendy items CB2 happened to be selling that year (no shade, CB2–love you, but I believe our fast furniture habit needs to slow down and recycle). So resist trends and assimilation, and wait for what intuitively makes your heart sing when you see it (yes, I believe in furniture love at first sight).

DIY it before you buy it

Sometimes, your house holds all the ingredients you need to craft an item—and you can make it extra by designing it yourself. Craving a sunny yellow item? The answer is turmeric, which I use to dye my canvas totes, bedsheets, t-shirts, and pants, soaking them longer to make them extra bright. When the tie-dye trend was in full force, I followed YouTube videos to make wildly tie-dyed shirts at home using a mixture of natural and synthetic dyes. During the macrame rage, I joined a fiber arts group online and made my own macrame wall hangings with leftover rope, string and yarn. When store-bought Christmas wreaths bored me with their simplicity, I invited friends over and we harvested from our yards to make our own, the base of the wreath fashioned with luscious fir branches and leftover craft wire, and the branches weighed down with an excess of bougainvillea flowers and mandarins from a neighbor’s tree. 

I’m not a crafty person at all, so some of these projects took me several tries—but it felt better than buying one more trendy item that I knew would end up in the landfill. If you’re struggling to DIY, check out library books and YouTube, classes at your local botanic garden, craft shop, and mall, and online courses like Skillshare.

Get thrifty

To decorate your maximalist way—without the guilt—head to thrift shops like Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore and Goodwill. My local hospital also has a furniture shop where it sells gently used chairs and sofas. Check local wallpaper shops for leftover samples, and fabric stores or thrift shops for reupholstering. Head to your hardware store or local junkyard for creative solutions—hanging vintage nails or hooks in your kitchen so you can see all your bright aprons won’t cost much, or create any waste. And of course, ask your local community center, church, or Buy Nothing group for what you need, too.

My journey to low-waste maximalism has actually been a lot more fun than I expected to be. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot of skills and knowledge, sharing them with my community to help them low-waste their lives. I’ve also met a lot of people who feel similarly: we all want to live life to its utmost (no FOMO here), while boosting the environment. Learning the tactics of low-waste maximalism has allowed me to express myself fully, without contributing to fast furniture. Who says you can’t have it all?

The views expressed in opinion pieces are those of the author(s) and do not represent the policy or position of LIVEKINDLY.

Millions of tons of deadstock is wasted, but it doesn’t need to be that way

Much of fashion’s waste problem is hard to solve. Post-consumer garments are not easy to recycle, because this involves materials being separated. But often, clothes are made with a blend of synthetic and natural fabrics, like polyester and cotton, and there are things like elastic, zips, and buttons to consider. But yarns of fabric that haven’t been blended or sewn into complicated garments yet are much easier to divert from the landfill. 

Last year, textile tracking and trading platform Reverse Resources conducted an extensive investigation into factory textile waste. The platform predicted that the fashion industry is wasting around nine million tons of textiles every year that could be rescued and made into something new. In other words, there’s a heck of a lot more deadstock being sent to the landfill or the incinerator than there needs to be.

“There’s a percentage of waste material that is actually fine for reuse,” agrees Stephanie Benedetto, the founder of deadstock marketplace Queen of Raw. “That’s as well as the material that was ordered and never used, or excess sample yardage. But historically there has been no avenue to resell it. So it winds up being indefinitely warehoused, or burned.”

Millions of tons of deadstock is created because the world’s biggest fashion brands have a huge overproduction problem. It all began in the nineties and 2000s, when fast fashion giants Zara and H&M were starting to open stores around the world. This duo and companies like them birthed a business model that prioritized fast and cheap production above all else. Now, we’re living in a time when brands make thousands of garments every month to keep up with the marketplace. And all of those designs leave wasted offcuts behind. Remember: 15 percent of every production run isn’t used. “They churn through new styles to make more, faster,” says Benedetto. “That’s what has led to the sheer volume of waste.”

Brands need to dismantle and rebuild their business models. Sustainability is incompatible with overproduction. But until that happens, brands can at least try to minimize their impact by making use of all the deadstock they create. And if anything’s going to motivate them to do so, it’s profits. “Covid has caused a crisis of supply and fundamental uncertainty,” says Benedetto. (She’s not wrong: In Europe, the first year of the pandemic saw clothing sales decline by more than 43 percent.) “So having 15 percent of your bottom line eaten up by waste is something that brands can’t afford to do any more,” she adds. 

Benedetto is leading the way in showing the fashion world just how profitable deadstock can be. Queen of Raw buys up rolls of unused or rejected fabric, and sells them directly to a customer base of 500,000. Some are individuals looking for cheap materials, others are fashion students, while many are emerging small designers and brands. It also sells to Fortune 500 companies, via a resale engine called Materia MX.

Queen of Raw is not alone. Fabcycle, Reformation, Christy Dawn, and OhSevenDays are all examples of brands utilizing or selling on rejected or unused fabric from factories. In fact, the upcycled textiles market is growing. By 2027, it could reach a value of $7.6 billion globally.

The problems with using deadstock in fashion

On the surface, using deadstock seems like a straightforward way to minimize textile waste. But the solution has its drawbacks. Selina Ho, the founder of sustainable fashion consultancy ReCloseted, is a fan of deadstock. But she’s wary that some are cashing in on demand for surplus fabrics, and they are exacerbating, not helping, the textile waste crisis.

As outlined earlier, a lot of deadstock comes from brands overproducing. Ho says some factories take advantage of that, and intentionally produce even more in order to sell fabric to “jobbers.” These are middlemen fabric suppliers, who build a profitable business model around reselling surplus fabric, thus creating more supply and demand for overproduction. In this sense, the excess fabric isn’t really deadstock. It’s just more available stock produced by the factory. To be true deadstock, the fabric should have been rejected or left unused by brands.

Research is limited in this area, and it’s difficult to quantify just how much this is happening. But it’s worth noting that buying and selling surplus fabric isn’t restricted or regulated by any external body, and it’s down to brands to trace their supply chains to ensure factories are being responsible. “There is a general fabric overproduction problem going on,” says Ho. She added that it’s vital that brands “dig deeper and ask questions, even if it’s deadstock fabric that, at the surface level, sounds sustainable.”

Megan Mummery, the founder of OhSevenDays, used to source from fabric middlemen. But now she is digging deeper. She goes directly to the mills, a step that she says allows her more visibility over the entire supply chain. “We said, ‘look this is our model, do you have leftover quantities that we can get directly from you?,’” she recalls. “Rather than going to the middleman and not knowing where the fabric came from. So now we can have a little bit more transparency around our sourcing.”

But there are also problems with the fabric itself to overcome. Genuine deadstock can often be rejected because it’s damaged. “Sometimes, there’s a couple of holes here or there so they can’t really sell it,” explains Mummery. “They call it second quality fabrics.”

She’s careful about her sourcing process; OhSevenDays designs incorporate durable, high-quality sustainable materials, like tencel, cupro, and linen. But ultimately, Mummery admits it’s tricky making clothes this way. “It’s an ongoing struggle,” she says. “You never quite know how to lie the patterns down, or how many pieces are going to end up with faults and how many aren’t.”

Deadstock is not perfect, but it’s better than the landfill

By design, deadstock isn’t without its flaws. But for Benedetto, it represents hope in an industry that is turning into one big ugly pile of waste. Because as well as taking up space in landfills, fashion is quite literally soaking up the world’s water supply. The entire market uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water a year. To break that down further: it takes 7,500 liters of water to make just one pair of jeans.

It might be extra work for brands, but keeping genuine deadstock in circulation can help reduce fashion’s water reliance considerably. According to Queen of Raw, purchasing just one yard of fabric from its marketplace saves 700 gallons.

“The possibility space is massive for everyone, from the startup to the big business,” says Benedetto. “For me, deadstock material is probably the most powerful untapped sourcing mechanism there is. Ignoring it is ignoring an easy way to start moving towards the future the fashion industry and the world needs.”

And when garments do come back damaged because of faults in the deadstock fabric, brands can get creative. They don’t have to throw them in the trash and create more waste. OhSevenDays’ Zero Waste Misfit range offers clothes with stains, rips, or marks for discounted rates, for example. “I was like, ‘this is crazy that such a tiny thing will make this perfect garment go to trash,’” says Mummery. “In my mind, having an area where people can shop for tiny little faulted items makes so much more sense.”

There’s a long road ahead for the fashion industry when it comes to waste reduction. And each step is going to involve acceptance: that it’s producing too much, that the planet and humanity can’t cope under the strain, but also, that, when it comes to building a more planet-friendly future, waste is one of its most valuable assets. 

Our predecessors lived a somewhat-circular lifestyle not by design, but out of necessity. But today, we throw things away when they break, tear, or simply because we don’t want them anymore. We’re creating more trash than we ever have. According to a study by the risk-assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft, the world generates 2.1 billion tons of garbage every year, which would stretch out to nearly 25,000 miles if laid out in a neat line. (That’s just over the Earth’s circumference.)

This landfill waste, which is made up of mountains of food, packaging, old clothes, unwanted electronics, and more, is the third-largest source of human-caused methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In addition to that, plastic pollution’s meteoric rise during the second half of the 20th century has led to microplastics everywhere—in the oceans, in the air, in the soil, and in our food. Scary, right? 

The examples in Child’s book offer just a few examples of the ways in which the domestic sphere (and more specifically, women) has reduced, reused, and repurposed throughout history. Really, up until the early 20th century, neither the rich nor the poor saw worn-out sheets, broken bowls, or empty bottles as garbage. 

“Sheets should be turned ‘sides to middle’ before they are allowed to get very thin,” British author Isabella Beeton wrote in her 1861 book, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. This meant cutting them lengthways down the center, then sewing together the outside edges. Countless domestic advice books and magazines instructed women to repair, repurpose, donate, or refashion old clothes to keep up with the latest styles. (Not surprisingly, a lot of this domestic work fell on women’s shoulders.)

Can ‘zero-waste’ fix anything?

If you care about sustainability and you’ve spent a minute on social media, then you know what zero-waste means and what the lifestyle supposedly looks like: metal water bottles, reusable utensils, and highly organized cabinets stocked with mason jars filled with pantry essentials. It’s the eco-friendly way of life that’s been on the rise for the past decade: Google searches for “zero-waste” more than doubled between August 2012 and August 2021, peaking in January 2020.

The zero-waste lifestyle feels like it could be a panacea to our non-biodegradable trash problem. You can buy solid shampoo and conditioner instead of the stuff that comes in plastic bottles. You can sign up for a refillable cleaning product subscription, where you’ll be mailed new supplies on the regular. (You might even make your own cleaning products and clean with ratty old towels cut into rags.) And, you can visit a supermarket with a package-free section to stock up on pantry staples. 

It’s better for the planet, but—and that’s a very big “but”—it’s not accessible to everyone. You need a lot of time, money, and ideally, both of those things, to do it perfectly. A lot of times, convenience wins out. And, convenience is really why we started wasting so much. 

When did taking good care of our belongings so that they last as long as possible become such a foreign concept? And when did wasting so much become both normal and easy to do? 

The evolution of throwaway culture

“There’s no one particular date when people started throwing things away,” Susan Strasser, an award-winning historian and the author of the book Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash. This is because there was no one specific historical event that acted as the catalyst for throwaway culture. 

We know that the Paris Agreement was signed in April 2016, for example, but if we look at how our habits have changed, then we’ll see a messy timeline of our move from “zero-waste” to mass consumerism. “Older people tend to hang on to habits that younger people don’t adopt, cities adapt faster than the countryside, and the rich pick up these changes faster than the poor,” adds Strasser. Nothing happens at once. 

But, the Industrial Revolution during the later 19th century is a good place to look for where the shift towards consumer culture started. With it, came the rise of the middle class and a whole new population of people with disposable income to spend on newly manufactured goods.

Households may have used to save the wood ash from their stoves, refine it into potash, turn that potash into lye, and combine it with leftover animal fat to make soap. But, the process of making soap is time-consuming and labor-intensive (and, yes, they learned that lye is toxic). And, so when industrialization brought soap, and when companies employed advertising tactics that made it desirable, people chose the convenient route. 

That isn’t to say that when people stopped making soap that they abandoned DIYing altogether. While some younger people in cities bought the latest manufactured goods, they still took good care of their belongings, particularly their clothes. “People were sewing for many decades after they stopped making soap,” explains Strasser. Upper-class women would send their garments away to the original designer to be reworked in the latest style. Women who couldn’t afford the luxury could buy patterns for the most fashionable new collars and sleeves, so they could remake their old dresses. Clothes were also passed on from rich to poor. The secondhand clothing market was so popular during the 16th century that there’s a Venetian proverb that says: “Never inquire who owns the clothes a person is wearing.”

It wasn’t called “zero-waste” back then, but history provides countless other examples of the ways we wasted less. Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics, is said to originate from the 15th century. Before the 1860s, paper was made from cotton, and factories relied on cloth scraps that thrifty housewives sold to peddlers or that were salvaged from the streets by “rag pickers”—lower class men, women, and children—for mere pennies. 

Novelty and advertising take over

In the later decades of the 19th century, thanks to industrialization, society began to look a little more like it does today: advertising agencies took the sudden influx of sellable goods and played on people’s FOMO. The US magazine industry exploded in the late 1800s, and periodicals like Ladies’ Home Journal, which ran from 1883 to 2016, were packed with gender-targeted advertisements for made-to-order dresses in the latest fashion, tooth powders, hair removal products, and trendy perfumes. 

“People responded to branding and the novelty that technological advancements allowed. Buying things advertised in national magazines became the modern way for young people, people in cities, and rich people to shop,” Strasser explains. “They set the pattern for these changes in daily life. And then that increase in manufacturing capabilities led to more products and more packaging.” (Let’s pause here to reflect how many items we’ve purchased off Instagram…)

With more products came more trash and the need to do something about it because if there was one thing that the forward-thinking consumers didn’t want to be associated with, it was being out-of-style. “The whole concept of newness became central to the way things were advertised,” says Strasser. 

That still holds true today; no matter where you go, our daily lives are bombarded with advertisements for new things. People embraced the idea of “out with the old, in with the new.” 

And, thanks to the rapid rise of municipal waste collection in the 19th century, people could easily dispose of their belongings rather than hold onto them, or throw them onto the street, as was the case with New York City and many other urban environments.

From the age of plastic into a zero-waste future

Many of the early mass-produced products were packaged in metal or glass, but in 1907, a Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland would invent something that would shake up consumer culture: the very-first fully synthetic plastic, called Bakelite. It was affordable, durable, and it could easily be mass-produced to make telephones, radios, and even jewelry. And, it was long-lasting to boot. In fact, it won’t biodegrade. (eBay is a treasure trove for vintage Bakelike.)

It was also during these early decades of the 1900s that companies like Dow Chemical and ExxonMobil—two of the biggest producers of single-use plastic today—helped the plastic industry skyrocket. From 1950 to 2015, plastic production increased 200-fold, going from 2 million to 381 million metric tons per year. Plastic—found in water bottles, shopping bags, straws, cosmetics, household cleaning products, utensils, and our clothes—very quickly became ubiquitous. But, plastic isn’t alone: the production of napkins and paper towels led to a shift away from cloth and towards something that could be forgotten about once used to clean up messes. (Heck, disposable paper dresses were even a thing in the 1960s.)

So, that brings us to today and our existing trash problem. World leaders have promised a global treaty to handle plastic pollution, but it remains to be seen what that will entail. Mega-corporations like Amazon, Walmart, and Nestlé make sustainability promises that they consistently fall short on.

People are understandably frustrated with the state of overconsumption and are taking to TikTok, Instagram, books, podcasts, and blog posts to share the little, practical ways that we can consume, and waste, less. Instead of buying soup stock in a carton, we can make it from food scraps. Always have a reusable bag with you, shop from your local farmer’s market, and develop a meal plan every week to cut back on waste. Sustainability influencers are more in demand than ever (for better or worse). We can’t go back completely to the zero-waste lifestyle practices of our predecessors. The 40-plus-hour workweek expected of most of us just won’t allow it unless we’re willing to forgo our time to rest in favor of girlbossing our way into a picture-perfect zero-waste lifestyle. 

This brings us back to shampoo bars, plastic-free cosmetics, refillable deodorants, and the countless other zero-waste products that have hit the market over the past few years. Are they truly helping the planet, or are we being given the illusion of choice, considering how fast every single industry (Food, fashion, beauty, furniture… the list goes on) is nowadays? 

The reality is, the real responsibility of combatting overproduction lies with corporations and lawmakers. Using more sustainable materials, like recycled polyester or organic cotton is a start for companies like Amazon or Adidas, but they also need to produce less. And, laws need to be put in place to hold them accountable for their carbon footprint.

But that doesn’t mean our consumer choices are powerless. When we support a small brand using deadstock fabric, an emerging beauty company pioneering the new wave of upcycled skincare, or a local zero-waste business, we’re making an impact on that founder’s vision that we can return, at least a little, to the more planet-friendly ways to make the most out of the resources that already exist. 

This is the kind of hybrid plant-care/self-care that they’re bringing to their first book, You Grow, Gurl! Plant Kween’s Lush Guide to Growing Your Garden, out on March 22.

Becoming the Plant Kween

Today, Griffin’s apartment is filled with more than 200 plants, all of which you can find photos of on their account, often paired with a caption offering nuggets of wisdom about watering schedules, authentic self-love, and family memories that helped the “Plant Kween” become who they are today. By their own account, their Instagram success is unexpected—but they’ve hit 360,000 followers and have created campaigns for a wide variety of companies, like Warby Parker, Ruggable, and KitchenAid. They even created a series about plant care for Architectural Digest. Griffin’s joy is hard to miss, whether they’re posing among parlor palms in a red floral dress, or lounging in a fluffy white robe with persnickety staghorn ferns. 

Griffin, who works as the assistant director of NYU LGBTQ+ Center, never loses sight of the influence that caring for house plants has on us. We spoke with Instagram’s resident plant educator extraordinaire about how our house plants can help us be more mindful of ourselves, their family’s green legacy, and how their love of plants extends to being kinder to the Earth. 

LIVEKINDLY: The last time we spoke, you shared some very timely spring plant care tips. And, your Instagram continues to be this wonderful green space full of gorgeous plants, tips on keeping them alive, and so many nuggets of joy and wisdom about self-care and being yourself all year round. What led you down this path of becoming a hybrid plant-care/self-care educator?

Christopher Griffin: My plant journey started without me really knowing. My grandmother grew up on a farm in Clayton, Georgia, and our family grew most of our own food. So gardening, whether it was indoor or outdoor, is ingrained in my family’s legacy. My grandmother left Georgia and eventually settled in Philadelphia. She started a little garden for herself—a little oasis of joy that brought her roots and family legacy to Philadelphia. She had the best garden on the block—she was even known as “the plant lady.” 

When I was five or six, she just took me under her wing. I never got to experience my great-grandmother’s farm in its heyday, but my grandmother did. And the lush lessons she learned she passed on to me.

As a kid, I got to see my grandmother, this strong, beautiful Black woman create her own spaces of joy, which she shared with me. She let me pick out plants to take home and was like, “When you come over to my house, you have to water them. ‘Cause they’re your responsibility.” And that’s how it really started. My grandmother was the original “green goddess” in my life.

LIVEKINDLY: And eventually, that led to you buying your own plants. When did that happen?

Griffin: Even though I knew that I enjoyed plants, it wasn’t until I bought my first one (in the summer of 2016) that I realized how special of an interaction that was for me. I was reliving the memories of my grandmother, and as a nurturer, I got to put love into something and the response was growth.

Plant Kween started from me documenting my own experience, for my own purposes. Back then I wasn’t really seeing a lot of folks like me in the online plant community—Black, brown, and non-binary. So I was like, let me start putting my joy out there. It became like a diary entry, documenting my thoughts and ponderings as I navigate plant parenthood. I’m a storyteller, so I like to talk a lot (laughs).

LIVEKINDLY: So you were growing your Instagram following, documenting your growing indoor jungle. Was there anything about your followers’ response that surprised you?

Griffin: There was a moment back when I started the account when nobody knew who was in charge of it. It was all about the plants, so no one ever saw me. But then I decided that I need to get in front of the camera. As a Black non-binary person who had been bullied, who had been harassed, just for existing unapologetically, I knew how real cyberbullying was. So that was one of my first hesitations. But once I put myself out there, I got back so much love, happiness, and connection with other people. That’s something that every person of color, trans or non-binary person, deserves. The community building surprised me, and it’s something that I’ve really come to love about being online.

LIVEKINDLY: Plants are a lot more than decoration. They’re living things that respond to the care that we put into them, which can be rewarding. Does that resonate with you?

Griffin: There’s something simple, yet intricate, and beautiful about plants. Bringing them into our homes has obvious aesthetic benefits. But studies show that having them around can help reduce stress and anxiety. And from my experience, the love that we put into our plants can be a mirror into how we’re treating ourselves. 

LIVEKINDLY: How does your love for plants help connect you to nature?

Griffin: This appreciation for nature has manifested into a journey to green up the spaces I call home. But being a plant person can be more than just building that fabulous plant fam … it can extend into a whole lifestyle, from environmental politics, to the food you choose to eat, to the clothes you wear, to the products you use… It’s a whole world out there, and this queen is learning more and more each day. I am getting better about practicing routines, habits, and ways of being that are ultimately healthier for me and healthier for this beautiful precious planet we call home.

LIVEKINDLY: What are some of the ways that you bring sustainability into plant care?

Griffin: I reuse planters instead of throwing them away and I compost non-infested house plant matter and soil. I also fertilize my house plants with eggshells, loose tea leaves, banana peels, and coffee grinds. And, I support local plant shops and avoid buying plants online to reduce packaging waste and cut carbon emissions.

LIVEKINDLY: What are some of the lessons you’ve learned from your plants?

Griffin: You know, the first thing I realized when I started is that this whole “green thumb” rhetoric, that you need some intrinsic skills in order to take care of plants, is completely false. It just provokes anxiety. 

Another thing I’ve learned is patience. Growth can be slow. It takes time, energy, dedication, and resilience. So that’s reminded me that I need to be patient with myself. 

I also learned a lot while I was writing my book. I did a whole chapter on water—it’s so interesting to me because it’s this thing we’re so used to having access to that we don’t really think about it. So I looked into what tap water actually is. What’s in it? How does it get to us? Writing my book made me more aware of my surroundings and how these essential, mundane things that we take for granted are really so intricate. The research I did gave me a moment to reflect on the things we take for granted, the resources we use without question, and how they eventually reach us. But the usage of various resources without understanding how they make their way into our homes is irresponsible, and so I have begun to be more mindful, and investigative what I have access to and the items I bring into my home. 

Caring for plants has also taught me to be intentional with myself, and to listen to what my body is telling me. And one more thing about plants: when you pay attention to them, you notice that they each have their own personalities. The greenery that we bring into our homes is beautiful, but they’re living, breathing things that have their own energy. And that’s been something amazing to connect with.

The department store chain has revealed a new initiative called Target Zero. The idea is simple: every refillable, reusable, compostable, or recycled beauty, personal care, and household product will be marked with the Target Zero icon in stores and online. By doing so, Target hopes to signpost its most sustainable items and encourage consumers to shop mindfully.

The initiative is a key part of Target’s wider sustainability strategy, Target Forward, which pledges to design, but also elevate, sustainable brands. The strategy also lays out plans for Target to reduce the virgin plastic in its own brand packaging by 20 percent by 2025.

Reducing beauty’s significant environmental impact 

It’s vital that beauty brands, in particular, do everything they can to reduce their impact on the environment. Every year, the industry produces around 120 billion units of packaging.

One example of a beauty brand set to carry the Target Zero badge is Burt’s Bees. The carbon-neutral company isn’t vegan, due to its reliance on beeswax and honey, but it is committed to sustainable packaging. It has even designed lip balms encased in plastic-free metal tins, exclusively for Target. Vegan, cruelty-free beauty brand Pacifica will also carry the Target Zero icon. And another brand, called PLUS, has developed a waterless, solid body wash for the retailer.

According to Target, this is one of the first times it has sought to engage its brand partners in its Target Forward strategy.

The retailer’s senior vice president of corporate responsibility, Amanda Nusz, said: “Target Zero unlocks important progress toward our Target Forward ambitions, each of which requires collaboration from our partners and action from our guests to be realized.”

Jill Sando, Target’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, added that the retailer’s aim is to “give brands investing in reduced waste products and packaging an opportunity to have those products highlighted by Target.”

Learn more about Target Zero here. 

Resilience: The ability to bounce back and recover from a difficult experience. Like water, food, and oxygen, it’s necessary for survival. It’s something that McKernan says he learned from one of his animal rescues, Andy. And boy, was Andy resilient. The Holstein calf miraculously survived a barn fire in Southern Ohio, suffering burns to 65 percent of his body. He required around-the-clock wound and pain management care. But through it all, McKernan says Andy’s joyful, kind spirit remained unwavering. “I witnessed his will to live and his enjoyment of being comforted by people—I swear that steer smiled at you,” he says.

Andy put up one heck of a fight. His soul was mighty, but the damage to his little body was too great, and he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. McKernan was there for Andy during his hardest and most traumatic experience. And Andy made sure to return the favor. At the time, McKernan was going through a separation with his longtime partner. “He was there during a time when I needed to connect with someone,” McKernan explains. “He made me really feel the human-animal connection. I’m still kind of speechless about him.”

The connection between human and non-human animals has long been documented. In 1898, Florence Nightingale, a founder of modern nursing, wrote that “a small pet animal is often an excellent companion for the sick.” 

Studies have shown that a positive relationship between humans and animals has numerous mental, emotional, and physical benefits. As a result, animals—such as dogs, cats, and horses—are often used in animal therapy settings, also known as animal-assisted intervention. The animals visit the likes of hospitals, nursing homes, retirement homes, hospices, and schools to help adults and children heal from a wide variety of mental health conditions like anxiety, grief, and depression.

“We have connections with all different types of animals across every culture around the world. Different types of animals are important to different types of communities and cultures in different ways,” explains Philip Tedeschi, a clinical professor at the University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection. “This concept of the human-animal bond is getting at the significance of a mutual relationship between a human animal and a non-human animal. As we’ve started to study the importance of these kinds of relationships, we have found that one of the more remarkable outcomes is our need for social support and companionship. It doesn’t have to be a human being, it can be a non-human animal that can provide this kind of connection.”

The human-animal bond

Animals have certainly provided companionship to McKernan. You could even say they’re one of the reasons he’s alive today.

Five months after Andy passed, McKernan landed the deal of a lifetime: His own television show on Animal Planet. But on a personal level, he was strapped firmly into an emotional rollercoaster that showed no signs of slowing down. “I was feeling all the pressure of an animal rescue…of the TV show and running a sanctuary. And the pressure was just insane to deal with. When I tried to talk to people about it—how I was struggling—they’d tell me, ‘You need to just keep rescuing animals. You need to get back to work.’”

McKernan was grappling with intense feelings of hopelessness. Like a volcano on the verge of an eruption, the hot, smoldering magma of emotions coursed through his body until the pressure could not be contained: McKernan decided to end his life.

“When you make that decision to try to commit suicide, you are the loneliest person on earth,” he explains. “People that do decide to end their life are very lonely. And they don’t seek help. They don’t think there’s any other way out of what’s happening. And that’s how I felt.” 

McKernan survived. And he realized it was time to seek help. “I didn’t want to continue this endless cycle in my head,” he says. “So I committed myself to a hospital to get treatment for what I was going through.” He suffered from a borderline personality disorder, he had anxiety, and he was severely depressed. He’d lost 45 pounds. “The best thing I ever did was to go to group therapy,” he adds.

The healing power of animals

McKernan worked hard on his recovery, allowing himself time to understand his triggers, and find the right treatment. When he left the hospital, he went straight back to the farm to be with the animals, a kind of therapy he says was calling to him. He says he favored his four-legged companions because they simply let him be. “They didn’t judge me. And I didn’t judge them. We just sat in silence—in peace—and were content with each other,” McKernan says.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studies show human-animal interactions help to decrease levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that can cause a spike in heart rate and blood pressure. Interacting with animals also boosts the feel-good hormone oxytocin.

Animals are also particularly adept at alleviating feelings of loneliness among people, according to Tedeschi. ​​Loneliness is often associated with higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide, as well as health issues like obesity and substance abuse.

“One of the things that we do is evaluate someone’s support system to see if they have healthy relationships in their lives. And that’s almost the best place to start in a clinical intervention,” Tedeschi explains. “Therapeutic animals are fantastic at joining somebody in their life and providing these very unique, very intentional ways of interacting each and every day.” The reassurance and comfort animals provide can be incredibly helpful to a person who is grieving or has experienced loss. 

Animals like dogs can encourage people to get out of bed or off the couch and get physically moving. On a physiological level, being in the presence of an animal activates a person’s biological systems, or their interpersonal neurobiology. “So people are actually more friendly, more approachable, more optimistic, more likely to engage in conversations with other people,” Tedeschi continues.

This ties into the concept of biophilia, the idea that in order for humans to be healthy, they must be in connection with other living parts of the world that are also healthy. “So if you’re in the presence of an animal that is enthusiastic because you got home, because you’re interacting with it, you can literally see the changes in a human being, such as voice tone or body posture, that are activated through this neurobiological system through this interaction with a living being,” says Tedeschi.

How animals and humans can heal each other

Humans are designed as social creatures and exist on a framework of interconnectivity. But humans have lost much of their connections to non-human animals. Once essential to communities for their survival, animals have now been commodified. Humans destroy animal habitats for profit and farm animals for food in a manner that’s not only wasteful but also insufficient. And it’s all due to their disconnection with animals and the natural world.

According to Tedeschi, healthy connections with animals are “important supportive relationships that build social capital into our lives.” 

“[They] build the kinds of support systems that do things like activate our neurobiology,” he continues. “It’s the very same experience you’d have from interacting with other members of your family.”

A 2011 study out of the ​​California Institute of Technology found that neurons located in the amygdala, the region of the brain that regulates emotions, respond favorably to images of animals. “The presence of an animal that is doing well and living with us, in our community or in our home, provides us with a preconscious awareness of our own safety and wellbeing,” Tedeschi adds. “When we’re interacting with other living beings that are demonstrating that they feel comfortable and safe, we are able to take that information and utilize it ourselves to also feel safe.”

But animal-assisted interventions aren’t just beneficial for humans; they’re enriching for the animals, too. Of course, therapeutic animals may experience some level of stress from being in clinical settings. But, Tedeschi explains, not all stress is bad.

“Sometimes it can be beneficial to our systems as well,” he says. “If we’re attentive to their wellbeing and give them the things that they need to flourish, they often can work with us in complex settings without significant challenges to their wellbeing.”

Finding healing at Barn Sanctuary

For McKernan, animals have provided him an emotional outlet—they’ve helped him cope. They still do.

Barn Sanctuary, previously a farm that’d been in McKernan’s family for more than 140 years, has a number of animal residents: cows, goats, turkeys, pigs, and more. McKernan says that when the animals first come to the sanctuary, they’re often frightened. “They’ve been abused, and neglected. When I go hang out with the animals, they’re like: ‘It’s okay Dan. We’ve been through it, too.’ And I can feel the energy of how they’re encouraging me to feel better,” he explains. “They’re rooting for me. I was there to support them and at the same time they’re going to be there to support me.”

Now that he’s in therapy, McKernan says he doesn’t depend on the animals at the sanctuary for emotional support as much as he used to. “I don’t want to just depend on the animals to make me happy. If I did that, I would never be able to grow as a person and communicate with my own kind,” he explains. 

But he says the animals still help him to recharge, especially on the difficult days. “Being around the animals allows me to breathe and calm down when I feel anxious or stressed. It centers me to think about the present,” he says. “I had a panic attack the other day, and I left the office and I went and sat with the animals and they re-centered me. It felt so good. I’m sure a human will do that for me one day.” 

McKernan is now using his experiences to help others. He’s about to publish his first children’s book, This Farm is a Family. Out on April 5, 2022, all proceeds of the book go to helping the sanctuary. The kids’ book follows the story of how a group of rescued farm animals living at the sanctuary help newcomer Buttercup the cow fit in with her new surroundings.

Buttercup’s story mirrors McKernan’s own life as a child. He moved around a lot growing up and often felt shy and anxious with each new school he attended. “I thought this would align perfectly with Buttercup, a cow who was also very shy,” he explains. “I thought it was the perfect story to show the individual stories of the farm animals but also explain that the farm animals are just like you when you’re going to a new school.”

Nowadays, McKernan has a new companion. Mabel, one of McKernan’s more recent rescues, is a freemartin cow that was born with leg deformities on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her pen is nestled right next to Andy’s memorial tree. Like Andy, she was in and out of the hospital and required 24/7 care. “We were told she wouldn’t make it,” McKernan says. “But now, she’s like a powerhouse. She’s running around. She has wonky legs, sure. But she loves being around humans just like Andy did. And I love watching her watch me.”

McKernan sees a bit of Andy in Mabel. And he believes she understands how long and how hard they’ve fought for her to make it. “I think she appreciates it. And I know when I get stressed or depressed—because it’s going to happen again, it’s mental health and that’s normal—she’ll be there for me.”

Vulnerability. That’s what McKernan says Mabel has taught him. “She taught me how to recognize when I’m down. And that it’s okay to feel that way. When I’m very sad I can just go out there and sit with her and be a part of it. And I can speak about being vulnerable and sad, which I’m working on doing more. Being vulnerable is okay.”

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or urges to self-harm, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). The services are free and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Clean beauty is good for the planet and people too

Getting a spot on Alvarez’ website—which serves as a marketplace for clean, sustainable, and ethical beauty brands like Axiology, Naturally London, and Mango People—isn’t easy. The founder’s bar is high: Brands can’t just say they don’t use a few toxic or cruel ingredients and be done with it. They also have to prove it, by offering up their products for the Pretty Well Beauty team to analyze.

The platform’s no-no list is extensive, but among the ingredients it doesn’t allow are wool-derived lanolin and beetle-derived carmine, because of their links with animal exploitation; animal fat, because of environmentally-destructive animal agriculture, and mica, because of its child labour links.

But beyond ingredients, prospective brands also have to demonstrate that their sourcing methods are not exploitative, and that they safeguard the people who work in their supply chains. Because for Alvarez, clean beauty isn’t clean if it isn’t ethical and sustainable too.

To ensure values align, Alvarez sits down with each brand before they are added to the Pretty Well Beauty platform and asks the tough questions about their products. Wishy, washy answers aren’t acceptable, she needs the nitty gritty details. “I can kind of tell within the first few minutes whether or not their ingredients are sourced sustainably,” she says. “When I ask them where they get their products from, and they say ‘oh, you know, we just buy from a third party source in bulk’, that kind of tells me they don’t really know who’s on the ground working.”

Creating a welcoming clean beauty space for people of color

The beauty founder also has another mission: true inclusivity. Years ago, Alvarez headed to the first clean beauty store in New York City. She was eager and excited to see what the store had to offer, but when she stepped inside, her enthusiasm was far from matched. As an Afro-Latina, she felt like she didn’t belong in, what became clear, was a heavily white space. “It felt very exclusive, very elitist,” she recalls.  “My first thought after that experience was ‘I can do something like this, but I can do it in a way that’s more friendly, more welcoming, more inclusive.’”

For people of color, Alvarez’ experience is all too familiar. The beauty world has been dominated by Eurocentric faces for decades, from campaigns to leadership positions to products. In fact, it wasn’t until 2017, when Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty launched, that foundation shades became truly inclusive for people with dark skin tones.

Before she went on to launch her own platform, Alvarez herself was a part of the Fenty Beauty launch. That role, combined with her work on shoots and campaigns for brands like Ralph Lauren and Sephora, gave her a solid foundation of experience to build Pretty Well Beauty. But it didn’t happen overnight. The platform started off as just an Instagram page. “It was just a place for me to talk about clean beauty,” she recalls. “The brands that I felt were really getting it right.” In 2019, Alvarez decided to use her newfound social media presence to leverage a whole business. She left her job at Ralph Lauren, and launched Pretty Well Beauty with 12 brands. Just three years later, it has more than tripled its offering.

Alvarez has big plans for the future, which could include a hair care line and NFTs. But beyond that, she wants to help shape a more sustainable, diverse beauty world. We spoke with the founder about her vision for the future of her industry, how she’s constantly striving to do better for the planet, and why, as a person of color, clean beauty is central to her identity.

Creating a new standard for clean beauty brands

LIVEKINDLY: With Pretty Well Beauty, you are striving to create a “new standard” of clean beauty. Can you explain what that is?

Jazmin Alvarez: I like to use the term “beyond clean.” I consider the entire lifecycle of a product. That means thinking about where the product ends up when it’s going down our sinks. Where is the packaging going once we’ve discarded it? Is it biodegradable if it doesn’t get recycled? Not all clean beauty is created equally. There are ingredients that are indigenous to certain parts of the world that are being grown in places where they’re not meant to grow. They’re stolen from their habitat. But sustainability is about preserving ecosystems and not taking more than what is necessary. It also speaks back to giving back to the communities that you’re borrowing natural resources from. So, making sure that the people who are collecting these ingredients on behalf of your brand are being paid fair wages. They’re not being exploited. That they have economic growth opportunities. It’s making sure that even if packaging were to be tossed on the street, it’s not going to have an environmental impact that would be damaging for 200 years.

LIVEKINDLY: Beauty has a huge packaging problem—it uses 120 billion units every year. How are you working to reduce Pretty Well Beauty’s plastic footprint?

Alvarez: Moving forward, there will be no addition of brands where plastic is their primary packaging and that includes BPA free and PCR plastic. Plastic is not infinitely recyclable. It can only be recycled up to about three times and then it just goes back into our landfills and our oceans.

Clean beauty’s roots go back thousands of years

LIVEKINDLY: You’re a big believer in nature, and the ability of plants to slowly but steadily improve our skin with consistent use over time. Why do you feel such a strong connection to plants and their healing properties?

Alvarez: You know, I’m a person of color. I come from a mixed heritage background, Afro-Latina. Growing up we always used natural ingredients for beauty, for wellness. If I ever got a burn or a scrape, my mom didn’t use traditional drugstore products. She would literally take a piece of fresh aloe plant and rub it on my skin. She would use things from the kitchen to put in my hair like olive oils and eggs. My aunt and I would spend time in the kitchen whipping up face masks using oatmeal, bananas, and avocado. We were just using our instincts. These are things passed down to us from generation to generation.

LIVEKINDLY: So for you, a clean beauty routine is also a connection to identity and heritage?

Alvarez: Clean beauty has existed longer than any of us have been here. It’s the oldest form of self care. In Egypt, Cleopatra was using natural products. She was using earth on her skin. She was using charcoal as eyeliner. She was using naturally pigmented dyes for her lips and her cheeks. There were no store-bought things! You had to make it. That has carried on through many, many cultures around the world. Mostly with Black, African, Indigenous, and Asian people. It’s really important to recognize and to honor those experiences. Because for a lot of us, it was just a way of life. It’s now become commercialized and marketed in a way that has lost a lot of its authenticity.

Working with Rihanna on a history-making beauty launch

LIVEKINDLY: Before you started Pretty Well Beauty, you gathered experience working with some of the biggest names in the industry. But getting involved with Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty launch must have been a highlight.

Alvarez: Rihanna is very different from most celebrities. She doesn’t just put her name on something. She was very much involved in every detail. She’s very professional. She’s very decisive. She’s a little hard to pin down! It was an incredible experience. I did the art buying, the production, and the casting, which is a lot for one person to do. Usually you do one of the three, not all three in one go. But it was great. I was up for the challenge.

LIVEKINDLY: That launch changed the beauty industry overnight. Did you realize at the time how much influence it was going to have?

Alvarez: I knew it was going to be big. But I didn’t realize just how much it was going to impact the beauty industry and culture in the way that it did. She pretty much dropped the proverbial mic. For so many years, a lot of large brands would always say that the reason they didn’t carry darker shades is because they don’t sell. And we all saw what happened when Fenty Beauty launched. Everything sold out in seconds.

LIVEKINDLY: Fenty paved the way for a more diverse industry. And with Pretty Well Beauty, you’re helping to shape a more inclusive and sustainable market too. What’s your vision for beauty’s future?

Alvarez: In an ideal world, I’d love to see more authentic diversity and inclusion. There’s a lot of performance that’s happening, which is really upsetting to see. A lot of brands didn’t really give the platforms and voices to people of color before, now they’re doing it, but they’re doing it to profit. I’d love to see more diversity everywhere you look, not just in certain spaces. I want people to feel that regardless of skin color or hair texture, that there is going to be space for them. And to me, that’s what Pretty Well Beauty represents. It’s a space for all humans. I’m not talking about just people of color, it really does mean everyone. It means men. It means non-binary. And of course, all women. 

Find out more about Alvarez and Pretty Well Beauty here. 

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has published its latest report, which focuses on the devastating impacts of global warming, as well as potential solutions to the climate crisis.

In food news… Tamearra Dyson, the owner of Souley Vegan, is the first contestant to win on the Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay. You can now order vegan breakfast at select IHOP test locations. And the UK has opened its first entirely plant-based school kitchen.

In the world of fashion, sportswear giant Adidas is phasing out virgin polyester in favor of more sustainable materials.

And a council in Brighton, England, has announced a new policy that makes “bee bricks” mandatory in all new buildings above five meters.

Catch the full news recap in the video above.