Greening up a kid's closet

*This will not be a post about not dressing your daughters in pink - although probably many of us feel there is too much of it in their closet - it is about buying smart and green.*

Today there are many options to buy better, greener projects for our little ones. From organic cottons to 'conscious' clothing lines (not sure what that makes the standard clothes in that same store) but I want to refer us to the good old hand me downs, thrift stores and consignment stores/sales.

I feel like baby and toddler fashion is out of control. Really, your toddler needs to wear skinny jeans? One, they are uncomfortable and two such a pain to put on and potty train in. And you will pay a lot of money for them so they can put them on a total of 5-8 times. Waste of money.

And now more importantly the carbon footprint of those jeans is huuuge. The cotton might be grown in the USA with huge water waste supported by subsidies. Then the material might be woven in Nepal or Vietnam and the final product sown in China or Bangladesh. Then it needs to be shipped, once again, to US and distributed locally. It makes my heart skip a beat when i think about it. (Planet Money Team did a bunch of reporting when they designed a t-shirt and followed its creation - I recommend the podcast)/

I will not even touch upon the psychological effects of our kids thinking they always need to wear the newest trend.

I try to buy at least some of my clothes second hand and I try to do the same for my kids. I understand that a trip to a thrift store with a kid, when you are unsure you'll buy that Easter dress you are looking for, might be hard to arrange. There are kids' second hand shops (i.e. once upon a child and many local stores) that might be actually pretty pricey for what you are getting but will have a larger selection.

There are also consignment sales, that is a sale where a lot of moms turn in their used clothes for sale and pay a percent to the organizer (or a non-profit). I personally like those as the bigger ones have a large selection. Chicagoland has many of those, but wherever you are, just search the area.

Of course there are also the good old garage sales during the summer - they are not only an opportunity to reuse and reduce but to build a great community.