Spotlight on: Organic Basics

[AD: This post is in collaboration with Organic Basics, who sent me a couple of items (aka GIFTED!); after road testing the pieces, I’m writing this blog post as my own review of the items, and all opinions and words are my own. Links in this post are Affiliate links, which means, should you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, I will get a tiny commission from the sale, at no extra cost to you.]

Good Evening!

Hope you’re all enjoying this super-sunny, Bank Holiday weekend?

I certainly am!

For today’s post, I’m shining a spotlight on Danish brand, Organic Basics: a sustainable, ethical brand making both men’s and women’s basics from underwear to t-shirts/vests as well as Activewear.

They also sell a few accessories such as Bamboo toothbrushes, water bottles and Guppy (laundry) washing bags.

Accessories to help ensure you can be that tiny bit more environmentally friendly… in your day to day life.

As you all know, I’ve signed up to #slowfashionseason which means not buying any new clothing /fast fashion pieces during the 3 month period from 21st June – 21st September.

Any brands who have contacted me since 21st June, regarding gifted items… have been politely turned down, primarily because I simply didn’t get a response back to my querying the brand’s sustainability ethos.

This isn’t about me never buying from a high street store again… at some point, I am sure I will.

It’s more about challenging the brands and making it known that we, the consumer (bloggers and instragrammers included…) DO care about this issue.

I figured, I need to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.

I’m fast approaching, the final month of #slowfashionseason and areas in my wardrobe I’m lacking in are:

• Underwear /basics and
• Knitwear
• Yoga leggings

I’d just started researching sustainable underwear options and came across Organic Basics (OB), ear marking them for my Autumn purchases, once I’d completed #slowfashionseason.

Rather fortuitously for me, and by sheer coincidence, I might add, the brand contacted me a couple of weeks ago about working with them…

It’s a great opportunity for me, which I’m grateful for, and of course, I get to to share my review, with you.

So… what was it about Organic Basics which jumped out at me so much?

Their opening gambit, for starters:

The fashion industry is a dirty bastard. So we put sustainable thinking at the center of everything – that means we only choose fabrics that care for our environment and we only ever partner with factories that care about their impact, too.
When we say sustainability is our core mission we don’t mean that sustainability is nice to have – we mean that it’s the only way we act.

This sums up, perfectly… my current thinking.

Secondly… and I apologise for another quote directly from the OB’s website, as it feels like I’m simply re-hashing their website here… but this, OB’s number #1 rule of fashion:

Design everything to last. That means investing in quality fabrics and workmanship – but it also means designing with simplicity and function in mind.

Also struck a chord with me.

• Basically Better Made.
• Conscious Created.
• Designed to last.

Everything I’m currently looking for in a brand.

In the interest of transparency: I was gifted a £90 voucher to use against any item of my choice from the OB range.

I chose two triangle bras, one in Rose Nude (£36):

And a second, in Black (£36):

I used the remainder towards a pack of two, Bikini Briefs in Rose Nude (£30):

Partly because I like a pant with good rear coverage, partly because I like match-matchy, but then there’s that other part of me which doesn’t mind mis-matching either!

All cotton used by OB is GOTS certified, organic cotton, which means:

“We use GOTS (Licence number: USB TEX 2015) certified organic cotton and those four letters actually mean a lot for you and the planet. This collection is made in hand-picked, chemical free organic cotton that’s grown on the coast of the Aegean Sea. It’s widely regarded as some of the most soft and durable cotton in the world. The GOTS standard also guarantees that the people that made this are paid living wages and treated like humans.”

You can find out more about the Sustainable Practices and Factories used by OB, here.

I love the brand’s transparency: all the information is there, at the click of a mouse… just as it *should* be.

Back to the underwear pieces I chose:

I blogged about ‘Smalls‘ back in 2017, and how difficult it is, for someone as petite as me, with a 28 back in traditional bra sizing, to find anything half-way decent.

My years of uncomfortable, underwires digging and poking in, are long behind me.

I’m all about the “bralette” nowadays.

And fortunately for me, I’m not super ‘blessed’ in this department, which means that I’m not in need of any scaffold-like support.

The triangle bras are, in a word – brilliant:

• comfortable
• the quality… as in the ‘make’ of each item is, excellent; and
• they wash well and hold their shape – I’ve both machine and hand-washed, just to test them out fully.

I’m fully on board, and will probably go for a Soft Touch Lite Bralette (£42) next time I’m in need of a new bra:

This style is available in a few colours.

And what about the pants I chose?

Or Bikini Briefs, to give them their correct name…?

Well, the size XS was a great fit on me… full coverage and super comfortable.

For Autumn, I will stock up on a few more, probably in black and probably a multi-pack (£48 with 20% off at the moment):

You might say that these are expensive, but I’ve previously paid a similar price for my Bonds briefs, and given the quality… I can tell you, OB is head and shoulders above other briefs I’ve bought in the comfort stakes and again, they seem to wash well.

I’m pretty sure they’re going to last quite a long while too.

The other item I’m very interested to try out is OB’s SilverTech Leggings (£71) from their Activewear range:

I attend a weekly hot yoga class, and have been using the same £9.99 Puma leggings bought in Sports Direct for over 6 years now… which have totally lost their elasticity and I am forever hitching them up.

Which is really annoying, as you can imagine.

Truth be told, they lost their elasticity about 2 years after buying them, but I just seem to carry on using them…

Worse still, the fabric of my current leggings has also worn, and become a little “thin” shall we say… and when you’re squatting down low, and the person behind you has to look at…

… well, I’m sure you get what I’m saying here.

The thing about the price of these OB Leggings is that I think they’d be worth the money: I’d be interested to test out the stretch of tech SilverTech fabric which is 96% recycled nylon (and 4% elastane).

The stretch and opaque factor are the two most important characteristics for me in a pair of yoga leggings!

{Just to say: I also have an even older pair of Asquith leggings (about 11 years old), which again, have lost their elasticity somewhat… but I still hang onto them as they’re useful as a back-up, or I wear them under jeans, for those freezing cold, Winter dog walks… I usually find a use for old items and will only recycle them, once they’ve truly fallen apart!!}

I’m also short on… as in, I don’t have any decent layering singlets:

I love the straight-cut neckline of these Soft touch Tencel Singlets (£30) however, I will admit, I have a couple of very ill-fitting New Look ones… and although they’re a bit tired and grubby, I do think I can continue to wear them layered under a shirt or v-necks.

BUT… when I am next ready to make a purchase, I will be trying out these Organic Basic Singlets.

If you’ve every wondered about the specific impacts of your clothing, it’s worth noting that OB has an Impact Index on their website: a tool which measures the impact of the pieces Organic Basics produce.

As an example, the Impact Index of the Triangle Bra I chose is:

There is also a really helpful A- Z Guide of the Fashion Industry and what we, the consumers can do, to help change it.

 

Given the amount of money I’ve saved myself, since signing up to #slowfashionseason and not buying any new fast fashion, I think I’m finally in a position to invest in some decent basics.

My mind-set on having to have ‘new’ – whatever the latest and greatest high street piece may be… has also reverted back to, when I was skint and would simply aim for style over fashion.

My new mantra in fact, is #stylingnotshopping

But if I am going to shop… I want to try for the very best that I can in terms of sustainability in fashion.

Both underwear and leggings are something which I wouldn’t want to buy second hand, for obvious reasons.

Organic Basics has definitely won me over.

Thank you for reading, and as always… leave a comment below: I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

Bxx

{Please note: Organic Basics also have a Men’s range should that be of interest…? It’s kinda… like… the *law* to buy any men in your life, pants and socks for Christmas/Birthdays etc, right? So why not make them sustainably produced, pants and socks…?!}