unSUSTainable

I’ve been meaning to write this entry ever since I walked past the shop to get my haircut a couple of weeks ago. That day as I was running late so I took a short cut through the food hall where on the left I saw a large sign with the words written, ‘Sust, closing down’.

Sust was the only shop in the vicinity specifically focussed on trading ethically sound products. I suppose it didn’t help that it used to be next to Sainsbury’s but I always thought it was a great idea and for a good cause. Yet when I stared at the sign I realised just how much of a rubbish supporter of ethically produced goods I was. When I went into Sust I used to walk around thinking, ‘yep, I’ll buy that Mexican silver chain next week.’ Or, ‘maybe next month I’ll buy that hand crafted wooden dolphin.’ Instead I used to compromise (and to offset my guilt perhaps) on a chocolate linseed bar or some odourless environmentally friendly soap. Basically nothing over £20 it seemed. Although in my defence I did buy some bongos from there for £25 and I once even bought some CFC free deodorant which was spray-on. The bongos are great and I’ve still got them although hardly played they look good on my shelf. The spray-on deodorant was a bit of disaster though and the protection only lasted for a couple of hours.

So with customers like me there wasn’t much hope for the shop. But that got me thinking whilst I was getting my hair chopped that Sust didn’t really do that much wrong. I mean it was very competitively priced and although it hadn’t the marketing budget of Tescos it was still well known around these parts. Where it suffered was from my laziness. Although fairtrade coffee was sold there aplenty I wouldn’t go out of my way there just to buy coffee and soap. I don’t like going to town because I spend money and it is pretty boring so I just want to go to one place and get in and out before subliminal advertising overpowers my conscious mind and I find myself buying those little French yogurts for no apparent reason other than it’s buy 6 get the 7th free, or whatever. Never do I think that I need a chain or a ring and although they had wonderful clothing there most of it was a bit too extreme for me. So perhaps that’s one of the reasons why Sust folded because lazy fools like me didn’t bother making the effort to always buy their coffee and other small essentials there. Or when I had to buy a new belt because my old one snapped (perhaps that is for another entry) why didn’t I think of going to Sust and look at their choice. Instead I went to FatFace and bought one that was way too expensive but I bought it because I wanted to be sure this one wouldn’t snap in public.

Still I wish I had bought so much more. Everything there was practically handcrafted and helped those in the third world. But as my sideburns were being trimmed I concluded (or made myself feel better) that even if I shopped there everyday I probably couldn’t have helped it from going bust. I do wish I’d gotten that poncho though. That thing was badass!

P.S. I forgot to mention that after my haircut I went into Sust and they gave me a list of websites that they used to source their products so I’ve put them up here.

www.namaste-uk.com
www.nomadsclothing.co.uk
www.onevillage.com
www.patchoulifair.co.uk
www.sharedearth.co.uk
www.siestacrafts.co.uk
www.sunlover-uk.com
www.montezumas.co.uk