It All Started With Edun

Deb, my friend and trusted fashion cohort, emailed me a link to this picture the other day, with the subject line, "HELP!" She wanted, no needed, this jacket and wondered if I had anyone on the "inside" who could help out. I promptly forwarded the email to my inside connection, who quickly put in a call to an Edun person. The balls were put into motion, so to speak, to get Deb this Edun, ruffle collared, army jacket while I left town to go visit family in MN.
Minnesota is Summer-y, but not quite committed to the vernal concept yet. It's still in the phase of temps rising and falling, clouds and rain coming and going all in the same day, so when we left the house one morning in shorts in a t-shirt, we found that a couple of hours later we were in need of a shopping break to get out of the cold.
When I found this army green wind breaker at J.Crew I thought it perfectly suited the weather and bought it out of pure necessity and knew it would become my friend during this visit. Sure enough, this became my go-to item the entire week. It's NOT the Edun coat, not in fabulous-ness of the exaggerated ruffled collar, nor in the super-rad, socially minded way that company is constructed (J.Crew ≠ Edun), but it worked for my visit.

Side note: I've talked about my love for a certain vintage shop in St. Paul before, and this time I found this adorable Sonia Rykiel bag. I realized there was a green theme happening in my wardrobe.

The whole small, socially minded or artisanal-ly crafted Edun jacket v. J. Crew one makes me think of my green Repettos which were on my feet the whole week.
My sister liked them and didn't own a pair of ballerines, so I bought these red ones for her at the Gap. There's about a $175 difference in price and they look pretty similar. But I argue that it's worth it. As a small business owner and artisan who is trying to make a living producing a quality product in the USA paying a living wage, I will continue to support the small companies of the world who have great products. I love Repetto, just look at this video.
So there you have it: Edun v. J. Crew and Repetto v. Gap. We need both - the big congloms with good style and low prices, and the brilliant small companies of the world who create and give back to their communities. I just hope the latter doesn't get completely obliterated by the former.