We want to take a moment to recognize Fashion Revolution Week, because it's one of the main reasons Hazel & Rose even exists.

Exactly 5 years ago today, over 1100 people lost their lives when the Rana Plaza garment factory building collapsed in Bangladesh. Both of us wanted to share how that event impacted us and our businesses.

Emma:
I remember hearing the news and feeling horrified. I brought it up at my job and was even more shocked to hear that no one else had heard about the disaster - and I worked in retail. This catastrophe happened in our own industry, and we weren't talking about it.

That day marked a change for me personally that meant dropping fast fashion like the very bad habit that it was and researching how I could be a more thoughtful consumer. I found sustainable and ethical blogs that became invaluable resources (blogs like Ecocult and Style Wise and Selva Beat) as well as brands who were doing things right (hi, every brand now carried at Hazel & Rose and SO MANY MORE) and other small shops who were carrying sustainable and ethical brands (that's how I came to find Semblance and meet Bobbi!). The idea for this shop began to blossom in my brain.

Bobbi:
Starting a shop in a small rural farm community opened my eyes to the importance of supporting small business. This realization pushed me to recognize that shopping small and voting with my dollar was the tip of the iceberg. That I had the power and the responsibility to not only shop small and sell items made by other small businesses but to do so in the most sustainable and ethic manner possible.  This was a huge reason I wanted to join forces with Emma at Hazel & Rose. I hoped that if we came together we could pool our talents and do something more impactful than we could individually. 
 

Fashion is the fourth most pollutant industry in the world. Fast fashion is simply unacceptable, period.

Thrift, buy secondhand, trade, swap, mend, and shop sustainable and ethical options when you can.

Ask #whomademyclothes, not just online via social media, but also in person at the shops you patron. Shopowners listen to shoppers, and voting with your dollar is a very real thing. We truly love telling the stories of the brands we carry, and we believe that fashion should be a conversation.

The Fashion Revolution movement is an ongoing one, and will not thrive if we don't support one another and demand change. We are always happy to talk with you about living sustainably and ethically and brainstorm what we can all do to be better.

Love, Bobbi & Emma

Click here to take action.