Earlier this week, I announced the beginning of a new blog series: A Year of Green Living.  I’ll be sharing my personal research and testing of a wide variety of eco-friendly products. We won’t address organic and natural clothing in this series since that’s been the mainstay of the blog to date, and there are already over 100 posts on that topic. OK, let’s get started!

First up in the series is Natural Deodorant.  As an athlete who tends to sweat a lot, finding an all-natural deodorant that actually worked was more than frustrating.  I tried brand after brand only to find that half way through the day I had developed a noticeable aroma and/or that in the middle of my workout I didn’t want to lift my arms anymore.  For almost 6 months, I felt like I had a ripe stench nearly every day.  Eventually, I did find a deodorant that works, even for sweaty athletes.

Here are the criteria by which I judged the deodorants I tried:

• It had to last all day and night.  If I put it on after my shower in the morning, I wanted to wake up the next morning without underarm odor.
• If I was working out that day, the deodorant had to cover underarm odor throughout the full length of the workout (no matter how long that was.)
• It had to be free of aluminum, parabens and phthalates.  (This article explains the worst chemical offenders in deodorants and why they’re bad.)
• It had to smell nice using only essential oils or natural fragrances, no chemical perfumes.  (Most of the brands I tried offered a fragrance free option for those who may have sensitivities to any type of fragrance.)

The Winners

#1: Terressentials Super Protection Deodorant

Pros: This is my go-to brand and I was so happy to finally find it.  I mostly use Zen Spice, which smells amazing, but occasionally also get Lavender Fresh just for a change of pace.  This deodorant got me through marathon training this summer.  While my whole body smelled of sweat after a 4-5 hour run in 80 degree temperatures, my underarm odor was completely diffused with this fantastic roll-on.

Cons: It does leave white lines on your clothing when it’s wet.  So if you get dressed right after putting it on, you have to be careful about not touching the outside of your shirt.  It has always washed out, though.  Also, this brand hasn’t really broken into the natural foods markets yet, so it has to be purchased online unless you live in Maryland.

#2: Schmidt’s Deodorant

Pros: For those who prefer a solid stick deodorant over a roll on, Schmidt’s is my second choice. I’ve only used the Lavender Sage, but the Bergamot Lime smells divine – a great choice for men, too.  It keeps odors at bay for a full 24 hours, and works almost as well at the gym as Terressentials.

Cons: I find it a little sticky going on, which is why I favor Terressentials, but otherwise it’s a close second.  I tried the deodorant jar and found the application absolutely ridiculous.  I still have 3/4 of a jar sitting in my cabinet, so I don’t recommend that variety 

#3: Crystal Deodorant Stick

Pros: I wasn’t really expecting the crystal deodorant to work.  It seemed more like a gimmick than a real solution.  But I was pretty shocked at how well it kept odors at bay.  It might also be a great choice for someone with chemical sensitivities.  The trick with this is that you have to add a little water to the top to loosen it up before using.  Then you really have to be sure to rub it on for a while, about 10 full seconds under each arm.  This is also the cheapest solution to natural deodorant that I found, because it seems to last forever.  It’s also easy to find at drug stores, grocery stores, online and even some department stores.

Cons: It has no smell at all, which might be great for some folks, but I personally prefer an essential oil scent.  While 10 seconds per arm is really no time at all, it’s a little more effort than the normal swipe and go of a roll on or stick.

#4. North Coast Organics Deodorant

Pros: This brand is similarly effective to Schmidt’s at #2.  The AL SOL scent is very refreshing.

Cons: I found it even more sticky going on than Schmidt’s so I don’t ever buy it myself.  However, everyone has different preferences and this brand does work.

The Losers

I did the big deodorant sampling many years ago, and I no longer have the complete list of brands I tried.  There were so many from my local natural foods store, it’s ridiculous.  Here are some of the ones that I remember and/or still have in my bathroom because I only used them once or twice and hated to throw away the whole thing.  Some of these would last most of the day, but have me getting up in the morning smelling like I hadn’t showered in 2 weeks.  Others were so bad that I was embarrassed before I’d even left work.  In some cases, I tried more than a few scents of the same brand.

• Hugo Naturals Solid Deodorant
• Tom’s of Maine Solid Deodorant
• Aubrey Organics E Plus High C Roll on
• Jason’s Natural Solid Deodorant
• Via Nature Stick Deodorant
• GeoDeo Detox Deodorant – this one was marginally effective and smelled nice, but had a lot of questionable ingredients for a “natural” deodorant.

I should mention that I like other products from some of these brands, so this is not meant to dis the whole brand, just their deodorant.  Also, I imagine that deodorant effectivity may depend on each person’s personal chemistry, but hopefully this will provide a good place to start.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about sustainable products other than clothing.  I’ve been asked about organic bedding, natural cosmetics and body care, chemical free cleaning products and a host of other things.  The assumption is that someone who cares about the effect of clothing on our bodies, the environment and the people who make them, might also take the time to research other commonly used items.

As it turns out, as part of my turtle approach to greening my whole life, I spent years (literally) doing research and trying new products.  In a few cases, I wasted some money trying to find effective natural alternatives to commonly used items.  This year, I thought I would share some of that “off-topic” knowledge to my customers and followers.  Since my business is organic clothing, not blogging, I don’t have sponsors or get free items from vendors.  I am able to provide truly unbiased assessments of products currently on the market that I personally use or have tried.

That said, I’m starting a new blog series called “A Year of Green Living.”  I’ll provide everything from tips on natural deodorants to reviews of books and movies.  I hope you’ll follow along and let me know what you think and maybe offer up tips of your own along the way.  Let me know what topics you’d like to hear more about and we’ll add them in.

As a conscious business owner, I get a little conflicted this time of year.  While we definitely want folks buying sustainable gifts, and organic clothing fits the bill nicely of course, it’s hard to condone or to ignore the commercialism that comes this time of year.  And yet, we count on the extra holiday sales to keep our books balanced.

On a completely unrelated topic, I’ve gotten a lot of eco-living questions lately unrelated to clothing.  Many people assume that since I know a lot about eco-fashion, that I might have done a little research on greening other parts of life.  So I was just pondering the idea of highlighting some of my favorite conscious businesses in the blog for next year.

Then lo and behold, as a little holiday miracle, the following gem just landed in my personal inbox today from the awesome organic coffee company, Dean’s Beans.  Here it is in it’s entirety.

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday… WTF Wednesday

My first sit-down, face-to-face meeting with Dean was supposed to last 10 to 15 minutes. It was my intention to pitch him on my experience, explain away the inadequacies in my resume, and impress him with my innovative pseudo-millennial-tampered-with-an-old-soul approach to marketing. Within moments of meeting him, the resume was pushed to the side, my stress about finding the proper number of professional references was put to rest when he quickly called a former coworker of mine (whom he had known for 30 years), and told me that he didn’t doubt her judgement of my character. The conversation, very naturally, and very quickly, turned into a thorough examination of my soul.

Dean’s Beans, as I have come to know the company, carries itself like a man who has just seen his doctor and been given a few months left to live. There is a fundamental focus on the soul of the company, the legacy we are leaving behind, and the quality of the relationships that we are building. No one enters into an unmeaningful relationship in the final moments of their life. They don’t have the time, and every moment must be savored and spent with the people that are as excited about you as you are about them. Dean’s Beans as a company is alive and well, but as a company, they carry themselves as if every move is the defining moment of their legacy. It has to be ethical, it has to build meaningful relationships, and it has to feed the company’s soul.

Now, what does any of this have to do with the mad dash of consumerism that takes place after Thanksgiving?

Having had my soul thoroughly examined by every member of Dean’s team at his beanery in Orange, I was hired and given the title of Chief Media Magnet. As the go-to guy for all things marketing, I immediately extended my brain to the opportunities that the holiday season provides. I even began composing tweets, email blasts, and other social media pieces about the importance of supporting this amazing company in the holiday season- especially during the feeding-frenzy of online shopping at the end of November and beginning of December.

Except that none of it felt right.

 Black Friday has reached an almost comical level of chaos in most stores, to the point where REI publicly announced that they aren’t participating this year… ironically the publicity has been a major boon for the company, and others like Nordstrom have followed suit and are making beaucoup bucks. Small Business Saturday is getting a ton of love this year from congress, the president, and small business owners world-wide. BUT IT WAS CREATED AND CONCEIVED BY AMERICAN EXPRESS IN 2010! There is a foul odor emanating from any “selfless” promotion propagated by a huge corporation like American Express.

Now all of this isn’t to say that that these days of shopping are intrinsically evil. Thousands of small, wonderful businesses really benefit from this time of year, and this increased exposure. Heck- we sure do! But to ally ourselves with them? It feels like that’s a dicey defining moment to our legacy, and I now judge all of my actions by that company standard.

Therefore- I propose that you celebrate WTF Wednesday with us this year. It’s a wonderful way for you to plant your tongue firmly in your cheek, all while supporting the stores that you want to support. We are able to engage in meaningful, direct development work all across the coffeelands, partly due to the sales we make this time of year. We are so incredibly grateful that our customers have given us the opportunity to operate in this way- and we know that as we seek out only truly meaningful relationships, you are all a huge part of that.

As the newest member of the Dean’s Beans family, I want to thank you for feeding my soul.

Drink Deep.

Robin Stewart DeMartino
(the new guy)

We just completed an overhaul of our FAQ. In addition to updating previous answers with new products, links and more detailed information, we’ve also added some new questions that we’ve received quite a lot recently.  The question that’s come up most often is Why don’t bras and panties ever seem to go on sale?” So, here’s why.

We have a very hard time keeping bras and panties in stock. Bra and panty manufacturers seem to go out of business on us every few months. Because of that, we end up taking bigger risks with intimates, buying and stocking more than we normally would on other items and then having to warehouse them.

We put twice as much time and effort into getting the bras and panties in and keeping them stocked than anything else in the store. In addition, most Europeans are used to paying a lot more for bras than we are here in the US. So an $80 or $90 bra is common as is a $40 or $50 pair of underwear. (We’ve tried a few of those, but they just don’t really sell here). So to keep prices reasonable everyday, we take a smaller profit on bras and panties. This is even true of the panties we manufacture in-house. We wanted to keep the price range to $12-$18 per pair regardless of the cost of production.

Please take a look at some of the other US companies selling organic cotton panties – like Blue Canoe or PACT. You’ll find we’re the only company that has a very large selection of organic panties for less than $20 each. And the few brands we carry that are more readily available in the USA are offered at 10% off every single day. (For example, all of our Blue Canoe products are at least 10% off every day without a sale.)

If you’ve made it this far, we can tell you that our Anniversary is in July. We premiered our webstore July 22, 2005. Each July we do a one-week sale that includes every single item in the store – including bras, panties and clearance items – as a celebration of our anniversary. So this is the one time of year to stock up and save.

Be sure you are signed up for our newsletter so you don’t miss the announcement.  It’s mailed only once per month, so it’s not an overwhelming amount of e-mail.

I’m so excited to introduce the exclusive, limited edition Happy Twists Butterfly Bra. It’s a soft, unpadded, underwire bra with tie straps and hook-and-eye back closure.

In addition to working with Love Nature in Italy on our exclusive distribution arrangement, we’ve also been working with Occidente in France.  Occidente’s line is a bit more whimsical.  They have fun, fresh lingerie more suited to special occasions rather than everyday basics.

We fell in love with the outline of this underwire bra with tie straps, and had them design one for us with the lovely butterfly fabric (GOTS certified, of course) from our favorite Forest Faery Dress.  (And what better item to wear it with?)

The only downside is that it is a limited edition.  So once they’re gone… well, you know.

You’ve just made your first eco-fashion purchase.  You’re enamored with your $25 organic cotton t-shirt and matching $50 shorts.  You’re touting the benefits of your new eco-duds to one of your friends when she whips out a t-shirt made from organic cotton that she just bought at Big Mart for $5.  Ouch! What just happened?

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you may be familiar with my suggestions on what to look for when purchasing truly eco-friendly clothing.

1. What is the source material the fabric is made from?
2. How is it processed?
3. What dyes are used?
4. Was the final garment treated with toxic chemical finishing agents?
5. Were the workers who made it treated equitably in a safe working environment?

Cheap “organic” clothing is the new trend in green-washing.  Big companies source a small amount of organically grown cotton and then insert it into their current production system.  This clean, organically grown cotton is then dyed with conventional dyes, finished with a chemical soup of toxins to make it softer, wrinkle free, and machine washable, and then sewn in potentially unsafe factories by workers earning subsistence wages.

Am I exaggerating?  Maybe.  It’s unlikely that all of these things would be true of every Big Mart garment labeled organic.  And big box stores can weather smaller profit margins because they’re selling greater quantities.   However, if you think about all the things that need to go into making any t-shirt, and shipping it half way around the world, you’ll realize it is very likely that some serious corners need to be cut to offer that shirt for $5. For organics specifically, certifications such as GOTS, OEKO-TEX 100, and Fair Trade are also expensive to get and maintain, and those prices have to be factored in somewhere.

You may be thinking, “If I only have five bucks, isn’t it better to get the shirt that at least has some organic material in it than one that doesn’t?”  While that may be true if those were your only choices, there are better options.  Instead of that cheap “organic” shirt, I offer up the following alternatives:

1. Buy better quality, gently used items at charity shops, thrift or consignment stores or on eBay.
2. Host a clothing swap with your friends and family.  How many of us have clothing that we don’t like or doesn’t fit that’s barely worn (or in some cases still new with the tags on)?
3. Save up to buy fewer, higher-quality, lower-impact pieces.  They may be more expensive but they’ll also last longer, be better for the environment, and make a positive impact on the workers that create and sell them.

Watch the video below to see the issues with “fast fashion.”

So is organic clothing expensive? Really?  Like many other things, you most often get what you pay for.

In February we announced that Love Nature was rethinking their line and might discontinue production.  Months later, with a lot of negotiation, I’m extremely excited to announce that FaeriesDance.com will be exclusively selling a limited selection of Love Nature favorites.

Our agreement spans 5 organic cotton bras and 4 panties.  We’ll be getting the largest quantity of the all-time favorite Alba line including:

• Alba Padded Underwire Bra in Almond and Rose
• Alba No Wire Support Bra in Almond, Heather Grey and a new surprise color!
• Alba Ribbed Bikini Brief in Almond and Rose
• Alba Mélange Thong in Almond and Rose

Two pieces from the Princess Line:

• Princess Padded Underwire Bra in Natural and Rose
• Princess Full Brief in Natural and Cherry (shown top)

One bra from the Fairy Tale Collection:

• Fairy Tale Padded Underwire Bra in solid Natural without the print

And a matching bra and panty set:

• Daisy Padded Underwire Bra
• New Brazilian bikini style to match this bra

We specifically tried to focus on bras that had features unique to Love Nature.  That’s why 4 of the 5 are their signature organic cotton padded bras with polyester-free, cotton padding.  The Alba No Wire bra, our best-selling bra of all time, rounded out the fifth (shown left).

Love Nature is a subsidiary of the Italian lingerie brand Lormar.  While Lormar has decided not to move forward with Love Nature, they still have access to the production facilities.  The most difficult issue we faced was ensuring that Lormar could still source all of the incredible eco-fabrics that were used in the Love Nature line.  So their production team had to check each style for availability of the fabrics, the cotton paddings and the trims.  That, combined with the high quantities required to produce each style, forced us to stick with just a few designs.

For a small business like ours, the quantities are staggering.  We’re literally getting thousands of bras and hundreds of panties.  Even at our most ambitious growth predictions, we should have stock for the next 5 years.  However, this agreement was a one-time only offer from Lormar.  So we don’t expect to be able to restock again once these are gone.

That said, there are a couple of minor negatives.

• We expect a small price increase due to the high Euro to Dollar rate at the moment and the cost of warehousing all this stock for an extended period.
• No more cute, embroidered linen drawstring bags.
• The upfront cost of this endeavor is delaying phase 3 of our in-house manufacturing project.  This means we won’t be producing men’s underwear for a while longer.  Good news, though – we’ve found an excellent alternative for the guys (but that’s a post for another day).
• Sadly, the other 60+ Love Nature organic lingerie items – including all of those lovely PJs and nighties – are still discontinued.  Don’t wait to get the one you’ve been coveting.

We hope you’ll appreciate our efforts.  The most common complaint we hear is when a favorite staple – be it bras, underwear or socks – becomes unavailable.  Of course, we also hope this will bolster our business for the next few years while we scour the planet for more eco-undies.

We expect these items to be available for sale by October, 2014.

We’re so excited to share our new Organic Bikini Panty and Organic Hi Cut Panty.  Both styles are available in five colors from x-small to x-large.

Way back in August of last year I made the decision to have Faerie’s Dance start its own line of organic intimates and loungewear in order to keep consist stock of our highest turnover items.  It took a couple of months to get an ambitious plan in place, but lack of experience and a little bad luck had us riddled with obstacles and delays.  Finally, almost a year after the initial idea was formulated, we have our first 2 styles on sale.  For me, it’s a momentous occasion.

These two designs are first for one simple reason – we were able to iron out the fit details and get them stylish and comfortable with just 2 rounds of prototyping.  Some of the other styles have been more problematic.  The two printed designs from the original plan are now in their fourth prototype sewing.  But the point is to put out a style that will be comfortable and fun to wear.  So producing something that doesn’t have exactly the right fit isn’t an option.

We’re also still learning some surprising lessons.  For example, some of the colors “behave” differently than others in sewing.  We’ve even found that stretched fabric (it’s stretched a little when it’s rolled into bolts) will “ease” after cutting and sewing.  So you have to adjust the machine tension a little from the first couple of sewing days to the last.  While most of these little details have now been worked out, you will find that there’s a 1/2″ size difference from some colors to others in the same size.  And while that is apparently considered “normal” in sewing, we’re working with our producer to really hit a consistent size, stretch and tension every time so that you as a customer will know exactly what you’re getting.  If you like these panties, we want you to be able to buy them again 3 years from now and get the exact same fit.

At this point, our original Phase 1 and Phase 2 plans have been combined.  We’re currently in varying phases of production on 10 additional pieces including panties with covered elastic, a few sleeker styles, some lace panty versions, a cami with bra, leggings, and a bralette.  Our goal is to put out 2 additional styles approximately every 6-8 weeks.

Once we round out this dozen, hopefully in early 2015, we’ll have professional model photos taken of the entire line.  I apologize that it’s taken so long and am at the same time immensely grateful for all of you who’ve been watching this journey and stuck with us.  We’re offering these first two styles for $1 off for a very short time as a Thank You.  (Oh and quick hint: our 9 year anniversary is coming up soon, so watch for something extra special in the July newsletter.)

My partner often helps me pack orders on busy days, and we’ve had quite a few words about what color a color actually is.  What color is aubergine, he’ll ask.  Purple, I answer.  Well then why don’t you call it purple!? What the heck is aubergine? 

A good many chuckles have passed in the warehouse on this topic.  We use the colors that the manufacturers assign, and even I scratch my head occasionally on the choice of color name. 

The other day we were looking at a printed catalog and I pointed out a list of colors that I couldn’t make out because they hadn’t included swatches.  The conversation went something like, “Well, I know a tiger lily is a flower, but I’m really not sure what color it is.  Have you seen one?”  So after another silly round of what color each color is and where these color names come from, he suggested a contest.  So here it is.

Glen’s contest:  Match the color names to the color swatches, for example 1A, 2B, etc.  Leave your answer as a comment here or on our Facebook page with some way to get in touch with you (e-mail, phone, Facebook handle) and the person with the most correct answers will receive one of our new organic panties when they come out in June (or July).  Last day to enter is Sunday, May 25, 2014.

In the very likely event that more than one person ties for the same number of correct answers, we’ll draw randomly to decide who wins. Anyone can play for fun, but you must leave a way for us to contact you if you want to win the prize.

Happy Guessing!

PS – We originally started with 20, but we couldn’t even get it right… lol.

Last August, I announced that Faerie’s Dance would start manufacturing their own line of organic cotton panties.  By October, we’d put a down payment on our fabric and had our first patterns. At the time, I posted that we’d launch those first few designs in late January or February.

It’s April, and many of you (including myself) are wondering, where the heck are these panties?! Good question.  Let’s recap.

When we left the deposit on the fabric, the manufacturer (a small, family-run, GOTS certified manufacturer in India) told me it would be about 60 days to completion.  So I lined up our Stayton, Oregon based seamstress for end of December and our Portland based printer for early January.  And for about 2 or 3 weeks, we were on schedule.

Once we were ready to get our low-impact dyed colors done, I learned I needed the Pantone color numbers to proceed.  I’d already picked the colors to match the latex-free elastic trims.  Unfortunately, the elastic seller wasn’t able to tell me what the Pantone numbers were.   And it turns out, buying what I thought would be a swatch card is actually a reference encyclopedia running about $900.  After a bit of a confusion and scramble, I mailed pieces of elastic to India and they were able to match the colors that way.

This small glitch put us 2 weeks behind.

Being a small business owner, I’m aware that things can occasionally (read: regularly) go wrong.  So when a machinery part broke down at the fabric manufacturer and they told us (very apologetically) that there would be another two week delay, there really wasn’t much I could do.  (Other than lament that the Hearts A’flutter panties wouldn’t be ready in time for Valentine’s Day.)

At this point, we were 4 weeks behind.

Now, we do a lot of importing.  Our best-selling bra line is from Italy.  When you ship small, lightweight items, they generally need to go by air because there’s not enough weight and/or volume to justify hiring all or part of a sea shipping container.  So I really (really!) should have known better.  But in my excitement of getting our first custom made fabric, I did not account for the time delay of shipping sea versus air.  Air usually takes a week, two tops.  Well for 1300 lbs of fabric, you really can’t ship by air.  (Unless you want to pay a ridiculous amount of money and waste a lot of jet fuel, neither of which are high on my priority list.)  So my allotted “shipping week” was taken over with special forms required for sea shipments.  Then the actual shipping time took an additional 4 weeks.

Suddenly, we were 2 months behind.

Ok, but February 27th is the big day – fabric is arriving!!  I figured a few days for customs clearance, and I would be able to get the fabric to the seamstress first week in March.  I make calls. I schedule.  The fabric arrives!  And I am the lucky winner of a special Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS) exam.  If you just clicked that link, yes, the winner of a VACIS exam also wins the right to pay extra for the exam – even if the cargo is deemed legal and no contraband is found.  To make a way-too-long-story short, customs finally released my fabric on the afternoon of April 4th.  They held it more than 5 weeks. My business was required to pay nearly $400 in additional exam fees, and no contraband was found.

Et voilà, we were now 3 months behind.

So I call the seamstress, and guess what?  She’s in the middle of someone else’s project.  This was not at all unexpected, and I was really grateful that she (a small business owner herself) was still willing to work my project in.  I’m sure some of my delays had her scrambling to find other projects.  She worked in all of the sample sewing and fittings (which are now done! yay!); and is able to start full production April 28th.

And just like that, we are 4 months behind.

I’d love to offer you all a list of the lessons I’ve learned during this experience, but it’s a blog post, not a novel, and room is limited.  And for the sake of all the issues I still haven’t run into and the fact that I haven’t even called the printer back yet, let’s just call it 5 months behind and hope for a July launch.  Just in case.

That said, the single biggest, most overwhelming, really smack-in-head, light bulb on, ah-ha lesson that I’ve come away with is… humility.

I am humbled by the efforts of the fabric maker, customs broker, seamstress and patternmaker in support of my project.

I am grateful to the many customers who’ve asked about the panty status, and who’ve not only been understanding about the delays, but even outraged on my behalf over the extra customs costs.

I am overwhelmed by the vast effort that goes into bringing the simplest of items to market.

And most of all, I am embarrassed by all the times I’ve been frustrated with manufacturers over delays they’ve had.

I’m going to go a little easier on folks from now on, including myself.  How many of you are harder on yourselves than you need to be?

Combining this with the experience of getting judgmental e-mails, I’m going to make an extra effort to be a bit more empathetic all around.

And just like that, I found a little peace through adversity.