The Perfect Maxi Dress: How I Wear Eco Fashion

First of all, the Nomads clothing origin story is pretty romantic!

Duncan and Vicky met while backpacking around India in the late 1980s. With only £200 left in their pockets, they used the money to fill up a trunk of wonderful ethnic clothes and head back to the UK.

They soon returned to India with the profits they had made, mixing business with pleasure; staying at Buddhist retreats, discovering crafts at local markets and picking up gorgeous handmade fabrics along the way. A shared love of India and its culture inspired them to start up their own clothing company.

I recently took Nomads’ gorgeous organic cotton, Azo-dye-free Rosewood Maxi Dress  for a spin on the beach at Cape Lookout in Oregon (read our travel article on this incredible natural area!), a huge beach that requires a bit of a hike to get to. The dress was the perfect weight for a maxi—thick enough that it was totally opaque, and had a nice drape, and with a full skirt perfect for swirling, and a lovely stretch that made it perfectly comfortable.

Nomads has been making fair-trade, ethical clothing since 1989, which means they have tons of experience, and it shows in the breadth of their designs. That isn’t just lip-service—the company has a fair-trade policy which includes the following for the people that make their clothes:

• Employees are working of their own free will.
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
• Providing safe and clean working conditions.
• No children under the age of 16 make our products.
• Paying a fair wage to workers that is either at or above the national average. Paying producers in advance so that they do not go into debt buying materials.
• Providing regular breaks and holidays.
• Equality for men and women in pay opportunity.
• Providing regular work as established by national law and practice.
• Not tolerating harsh or inhumane treatment.
• Increasing awareness for the need to shop responsibly and to push the multi-nationals into working towards Fair Trade on a global level.

Go Nomads! That is an awesome list.

Give people more than a two-minute walk from the parking lot to the beach and you’ll find that the popularity of the beach drops off pretty quickly, no matter how beautiful it is. Seems a bit sad, but it’s also such a delight to have a beach mostly to yourself in the middle of the summer.

It was a perfect midsummer’s day on the Oregon coast (which rarely gets very hot); in the lower 80s, a breeze was blowing the Pacific waves into shore.

Of course, Nomads makes plenty more than dresses; their cardigans and shoulder-warmers are particularly interesting (and diverse), and some oh-so-pretty patterned skirts. I just love all their prints; if you like the one on my dress, above, you’ll love Nomads others.

Nomads is having a big summer sale right now, so you can get ethical fashion pieces to enjoy for the next three months at a sweet discount.

 

Read more about the Escape to Cape Lookout, Oregon here!