Collarspace Discussion Forums


Home  Login  Search 

Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear


View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
 
All Forums >> [Community Discussions] >> Bondage Gear and Apparel >> Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear Page: [1]
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/24/2008 8:32:43 PM   
GoddessGlory


Posts: 20
Joined: 11/21/2006
From: Chicago
Status: offline 		Hello all! I'm Goddess Glory and I'm having a little dilemma and wanna know what you think about it.

For the past year I've been having a little shopping anxiety because I find it really I'm trying my best to be eco-conscious, to think in terms of what effect my purchases have on the planet. In specific I'm finding it hard to sex/fetish gear, tools and clothing that aren't made from nasty plastics or made in China. I've been trying to look EVERYWHERE for BDSM suppliers who keep the planet's health in mine, but I don't think there are any. I'm extremely attracted to latex but knowing what I know about the manfuctering of the fabric I don't want to use it, so I won't. I would feel a lot better if I could find a  designer that used recycled rubber.

Well there is nothing that I can do about the absence of eco-friendly BDSM gear BUT I want to know how you feel about it.

Do you feel guilty about the oil based products (which most of the time are made from Phthalates), or the dead cow skin boots & corsets and how when your dildo is done for it headed straight to the landfill? Do you think fetish consumers should be thinking about stuff like this, do you care?
Profile   Post #: 1
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/25/2008 1:26:45 AM   
subnstudent


Posts: 105
Joined: 9/18/2006
Status: offline 		Should we be thinking about stuff like this? Sure. Is it really practical? I don't think so. Most everything that's made these days is made for consumption and to discard when you're done with it.

It's not really just a Lifestyle problem, it's a People in General sort of problem. Until we get it mainstream and *dominant* in the media and daily life in general, it's not going to be real effective to target any one small subsect of people. However, you, yourself, can do everything you can to help the environment. It's just not fair to expect others to be as interested in it as you are, just for saying so.

_____________________________

*dons obligatory +2 Sign of Opinions and Fire Resistance*

(in reply to GoddessGlory)
Profile   Post #: 2
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/25/2008 6:55:21 AM   
ThunderRoad


Posts: 231
Joined: 3/15/2006
Status: offline 		Nudity is eco-friendly 

(in reply to subnstudent)
Profile   Post #: 3
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/25/2008 9:20:51 AM   
GoddessGlory


Posts: 20
Joined: 11/21/2006
From: Chicago
Status: offline 		Oh no, I'm not expecting anyone to do anything. That wasn't my purpose for being here. My thing is where do we start? Does it mean that the world has to go green before the BDSM community? To kinda answer my own question yes in a way I believe so because I believe a lot of BDSM practices are a reflection of society. We get our taboos and fetishes from society. For example a lot of ideas of humiliation, crossdressing, calling our slaves whores and sluts come from our societal sexual repression and guilt. So will there ever be a time where that the BDSM community won't encourage sexual taboo?

It's a weak excuse that the BDSM community will only move if society moves, especially when folk wanna make it seem like it's an alternative lifestyle or counterculture. I know that creativity and making my own gear will be an answer to my problem (which I am forced to do) but I think it's sad that there are very few options for ready-made BDSM gear that isn't cheaply made or vegan. If the BDSM community had more options then we could make a change, but we don't, that's why we don't think and we don't care. Wouldn't you like things to play with that were of better quality, that didn't kill tree or animal, or didn't have nasty chemicals in the plastic, that was better for your health, or would last forever or was recycled?

So will BDSM ever evolve or grow in that sense, or will we only play within the box that is given to us?

I'm not trying to say anything about anyone, it's just a valid concern. I just believe that any change in society comes from the bottom up. It takes small communities like ours to make big changes, otherwise the system makes them for us. This is the reason that every community in America has a McDonalds, Starbucks and Walmart. The same thing is going on here with the Bondage gear, latex, clothes and shoes. Shouldn't we expect better for our lifestyle?

< Message edited by GoddessGlory -- 2/25/2008 9:31:18 AM >

(in reply to subnstudent)
Profile   Post #: 4
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/25/2008 9:42:11 AM   
MsIncontrol


Posts: 261
Joined: 10/3/2007
Status: offline 		I am a very Eco-friendly person.  We recycle and compost almost everything, we are down to one bag of land fill waste per week and trying to reduce that as well.  We save as much energy as possible by purchasing recycled material, buying fuel efficient vehicles and products.

When it comes to our fetish wear and BDSM items like cuffs and restraints.  I haven't previously put environmental concerns before desire.  Thank you for bringing up the topic.  We love both leather and rubber.   I don't purchase much of this stuff and I keep it well maintained and cared for so it last me many many years.  In fact, I have some things for more than 15 years that are just like brand new. 

Personally I am not a vegetarian and wearing leather to me isn't like fur..as it is to some people.  Cows are raised & killed for their food, the leather is a by-product.  Whether or not we buy leather, that cow is going to die.  Unlike say, chinchillas or minks who are raised and killed solely for their hides.

I would be more likely to buy something made from recycled material if it were well made, long lasting and as equally sexy.

I also prefer to buy natural products where available for my lifestyle items.  I buy soy vs. paraffin candles, hemp vs. nylon rope and prefer the REAL thing to a silicone dildo :-)

Great topic!

PS - Don't forget to make sure your local BDSM clubs, meetings and dungeons promote recycling your water bottles and cans.

_____________________________

Happiness is only real when shared. - Christopher McCandless

(in reply to GoddessGlory)
Profile   Post #: 5
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/25/2008 10:19:23 AM   
subnstudent


Posts: 105
Joined: 9/18/2006
Status: offline 		MsIncontrol has the right idea, and on an individual level, that makes sense. I'm just saying we can't expect everyone to go looking for eco friendly resources until the world at large is addressing the problem. It's not a BDSM vs. World conflict, it's an Individuals vs. World conflict. Bdsm is just some of the people in the world, and while it's easier to address a smaller group, not everyone's neccessarily going to care. Tackle it one person, meeting, group at a time, and offer resources and information when you do.

_____________________________

*dons obligatory +2 Sign of Opinions and Fire Resistance*

(in reply to MsIncontrol)
Profile   Post #: 6
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/25/2008 8:19:38 PM   
Elegant


Posts: 1024
Joined: 3/15/2005
Status: offline 		In our fetish business we recycle, upcycle, reuse, donate...whatever we can to reduce landfill use.
  • Many small scraps of leather are made into leather sachets
  • Leftover vegetable tanned leather is donated to friends for their birds (veg tan leather makes good bird toys)
  • Any other leftove leather is donated to the local elementary and middle school for arts and crafts.
  • We use leftover shopping sacks as packing material for shipping products.
  • We reuse boxes from supplies received for shipping products.

Master Archer is an Environmental Scientist and OSHA trainer and we are vey informed on the MDSD for our dyes, solvents, adhesives etc. He even had me stop making a particular leather gag because OSHA just changed the stats on chromium levels that are hazardous when ingested.

Are we 'green'? No, but we do what we can while still offering quality products.






_____________________________

Elegant
~Slave To Master Archer

http://www.FantasiesInLeather.com

(in reply to subnstudent)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/26/2008 6:49:32 AM   
ThunderRoad


Posts: 231
Joined: 3/15/2006
Status: offline 		My parents own and run a business that does a lot of shipping.  A couple years ago, they stopped using styrofoam packing peanuts and started using popcorn.  Just plain air-popped popcorn.  Every couple months they have an intern pop a few garbage bags full.

It's VERY cheap, very easily biodegradable, and if popped without oils pretty much the same as styrofoam.  They put a little insert in their packages that explains why they use it, and get a lot of positive feedback from customers AND repeat business.

(sorry, I know it's offtopic, but I just wanted to toss that up)

(in reply to Elegant)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/26/2008 8:21:26 AM   
azropedntied


Posts: 1829
Joined: 7/25/2005
From: Phx AZ
Status: offline 		I am with Elegant , my own lil Fetish Biz  is very earth  pal like , and  nothing is wasted .I have seen the so called leather subsitude and NO THANKS , your getting leather product mainly as a by product from the food industry . Leather is raised but not like beef bison deer elk for food is .If everyone stopped being a carnivore then yeah leather prices and demand  would rise big time .Do i feel bad that i like latex , rubber ,leather ,bdsm fetish items ?NO i do not Nor do i EVER shop at Mcdonalds ,walmart , or starbucks EVER  that does the world a much better service .
also i am confused you say many absolutes  like no choices, cheaply made products few options , well i  dont wanna sit here all day and pick this apart but i do feel addressing just those issues YES many great craftspeople are out there maybe not in your lifestyle underground sub counter culture  but i have worked with them met them and bought  from them . I have  found crap out there sure  but  MANY more have  high quality product ,maybe not at the walmart bdsm section or at spensers in the mall  but it is out there .

(in reply to ThunderRoad)
Profile   Post #: 9
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/26/2008 8:24:07 AM   
azropedntied


Posts: 1829
Joined: 7/25/2005
From: Phx AZ
Status: offline 		Am i green ?
no mainly black , smell of leather , sometimes  red and black and  blue with some purple .Have been known to also have a hint of latex or rubber smell with lots of other colors too , rarely green though .

(in reply to azropedntied)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/26/2008 11:41:07 AM   
sirguym


Posts: 318
Joined: 8/10/2007
Status: offline 		There are hundreds of small businesses that make whips, fetish-wear, dungeon equipment and anything you may need scene-wise.

They often use recycled or suplus materials, (though as often from poverty as eco-fashion).

By taking your trade there, instead of the big firms getting stuff made by slavey labour in the Far-East.

Moreover you can be sure any profits made are put to good use and not exported.

Just take the extra trouble to find them and you will usually get excellent value!

(in reply to azropedntied)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/26/2008 6:20:23 PM   
GoddessGlory


Posts: 20
Joined: 11/21/2006
From: Chicago
Status: offline 		Wow Elegant. I wanna first say sorry if I came off angry or something. I guess I'm frustrated. The question I should have asked is if you guys knew of any BDSM companies that recycle or reuse, or pointers on how to make my own stuff. I guess the lazy bitch in me just wants to buy them already made.

I'll check out your profile.

(in reply to Elegant)
Profile   Post #: 12
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/29/2008 10:11:08 AM   
imagoodboi


Posts: 1
Joined: 2/28/2008
Status: offline 		this is the reason eco-conscious never  goes  mainstream because  someone somewhere else is always  waiting to  get it  started. So to say it doesntmatter is a  big understatement. There are places that do recycle plastics which include  sex toys. So  I am more than happy to hear that you are atleast thinking about your impact on the  planet. One person impact may not change the world but  5 million people who think the same way she does can make an impact, it all starts with  one person!

(in reply to GoddessGlory)
Profile   Post #: 13
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/29/2008 10:25:10 AM   
Elegant


Posts: 1024
Joined: 3/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: GoddessGlory

Wow Elegant. I wanna first say sorry if I came off angry or something. I guess I'm frustrated. The question I should have asked is if you guys knew of any BDSM companies that recycle or reuse, or pointers on how to make my own stuff. I guess the lazy bitch in me just wants to buy them already made.

I'll check out your profile.



I didn't think you ame across as angry at all. It is an interesting and important subject.


_____________________________

Elegant
~Slave To Master Archer

http://www.FantasiesInLeather.com

(in reply to GoddessGlory)
Profile   Post #: 14
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 2/29/2008 10:29:56 AM   
MissHarlet


Posts: 2728
Joined: 9/11/2005
From: El Paso , TX US
Status: offline 		I am attempting to live more green every day and am ashamed to admit I had not thought about BDSM toys etc in that way ...This thread certainly gave me food for thought ....and has given me food for thought ....I will be more concious that is for sure.

_____________________________

Protectress of hearts/souls of all submissives calling Bounty's Place home, by order of Bounty~Proprietor

To be respected you must be respectful, to be loved you must be willing to love,
to be trusted you must be willing to trust.

(in reply to Elegant)
Profile   Post #: 15
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 3/1/2008 2:32:07 AM   
chezzy52


Posts: 220
Joined: 6/26/2007
Status: offline 		I never think about eco-friendly wear or gear..and i am the guy all tree huggers would hate.Why??...because i want the oil companies to drill wherever they want...but with a catch...gas prices come down to about 50 cents a gallon.I am so tired of being raped by these idiots and no one running for office is even talking about it.Now i do recycle and all but stop with the bull about there being no oil.They are finding dino bones everyday especially here in the states..hello..fossil fuels anyone?????

(in reply to MissHarlet)
Profile   Post #: 16
RE: Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear - 3/1/2008 2:46:02 AM   
DelilahDeb


Posts: 429
Joined: 1/27/2008
Status: offline 		GoddessGlory,
What a wonderful topic!

Stray thoughts:
--real popcorn for packing peanuts made the Wall Street Journal a couple of decades ago. Not only biodegradable, but if you live in the country you can feed it to the pigs or chickens; suburbs can toss in compost; urbans can toss in yard waste. (air-popped without flavoring or grease only, not leftover microwave) fabulous for permaculture yards

--not only leather and rubber...FABRIC comes in biodegradable and not. Cotton, linen, silk, wool, ramie, hemp, angora, mohair, cashmere, camelhair, alpaca, llama, yak...just *some* of the natural fibers available in clothing. Newly available bamboo fiber clothing. Polyester lives for-fecking-EVER. Those poly-cotton sheets? Those polyester leisure suits of the 1970s will probably be unearthed by Romulan or thranx or Centauri archeologists one millenia...intact and as ugly as ever. The earliest nylon (a.k.a. artificial silk) socks never wore out (I knew a man who owned a pair of pre-WWII nylon men's socks that he was still wearing twice a week in 1983!); the manufacturers had to learn to weaken the fiber--early example of planned obsolescence.

unfortunately, most lingerie is heavily plastic, especially the "frilly, sexy" sort. There's real silk out there, but you spend for it. I have no idea where or whether one can recycle pantyhose, for instance. most of the lingerie lace is nylon or acrylic or acetate or...

--dildos, butt plugs, and strap-ons...it is possible to avoid phthalates, at least. Buried at the bottom of one page on the strapless strap-on Feeldoe [www.feeldoe.com/page4.html] is a brief comment about that, and a link to their source for "platinum silicone" [http://www.tantusinc.com/silicone-facts.php] covers details such as the fact that it's phthalate-free. I'm sure there are other similar quality brands out there, I just happen to have run across this lately. More to the point here...one can, at the least, *ask* a toy supplier (adult toy store) where their toys are made, how far they've already been shipped. If we don't let them know that their customers have this concern, they won't begin to check it or change it. [Yes, three-quarters of everything cheap seems to be made in China these days (and the children's toys recalls of last year ought to teach us some basics to beware of!). Another reason to eschew wally-world (Wal-Mart).]

further, there are such entertaining options as erotic art glass...was bartered an art glass dildo last fall by the artist, and neither my sub nor I have any doubt of its effectiveness; available "standard" designs include dildos and butt plugs. [www.stiffliquid.com--the artist's direct web site]

--made in USA vs. next country over or further...one small way to buy green is to minimize how far anything has to travel to get to you. (We're paying a carbon tax in climate change already.) Of course I'd rather buy it from a scene artist, all things being equal, but stuff like food-grade/medical-grade silicone is probably not for the home crafter.

--and, go back to the basics...reduce, re-use, recycle. Along those lines, I have a scheme in mind to run a "white elephant" auction & swap meet among the regional scene (as a benefit for Wet Spot in Paradise)...folks can donate to charity auction or sell with a small percentage charity-overhead toys they'll never use again (because they just love that favorite purchase too much, or because they've been gifted with an excess of floggers/ strap-ons/ cuffs/ high heels, or just because that corset dress they wore twice before getting preggers is never going to fit them again).

Where did it come from? Who made it? What does it cost me/ us/ the world in more than cash? Where will it go when I'm done with it? What happens when it cannot be used any longer?

Those are the questions. And I'm not going to answer every one of 'em any time I shop for kinky goodies...but I've already established a habit of thinking about it when I shop for anything. Besides, I really prefer knowing that Cecilia of WIAN Studios made that particular heavy flogger for me, even if I do have to save for it for a year.

Blessed be,
Delilah Deb

(in reply to MissHarlet)
Profile   Post #: 17
Page:   [1]
All Forums >> [Community Discussions] >> Bondage Gear and Apparel >> Eco-Conscious Fetish Wear Page: [1]
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts




Collarchat.com © 2025
Terms of Service Privacy Policy Spam Policy

0.094