Let’s ignore the title of this article for a second, and play a little game of “guess who.” This company bases their business almost ENTIRELY off of knock-offs. They’re fast fashion at its core, using sweatshop labor in the US, subcontracting the cheapest labor possible overseas, and stealing designs from anyone with a modicum of [...]

There’s a reason I’ve never written about TOMS Shoes on this website – several reasons, actually. I subscribe to the proverb “Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime,” and TOMS’ One-for-One program is all about giving [...]

Remember Target’s donations to anti-gay politicians, their promises to change their donation practices (which turned out to be lies) and my request that you boycott Target until they changed their ways? Well, Target is trying to get your business back…again. And they’re doing it without changing their donation practices…again. From Slog, The Stranger’s Blog: (Click [...]

Ahhh, the sweet smell of justice. I love watching greenwashers go down in a gleaming blaze of failure. The CEH, or Center for Environmental Health, has bitchslapped 26 different cosmetic companies in California for labeling their products as “organic” when they didn’t have actual certification (some of them didn’t even have organic ingredients. Like, at [...]

When excrement hits the wind propelling ceiling apparatus with large corporate companies, you can typically expect a big, vague, saccharin statement from their HQ shortly after. The last few days have been rich with criticism of Urban Outfitters’ alleged snatching of Stevie Koerner’s design (dare I say, “obvious snatching” – but alas, read on), and [...]

It’s definitely not a surprise that Urban Outfitters has been stealing independent designers’ hard work for years. There have been many (hundreds?) of blog posts on it, news pieces published, and social media discussion held right out in the open, so you’d think that Urban Outfitters might ease up on the whole stealing thing… Nnnnnnnope. [...]

Resse’s. Kisses. Nutrageous. 5th Avenue. Almond Joy. Caramello. Heath. Kit Kat. Mounds. Mr. Goodbar. Rolo. Symphony. Take5. Whatchamacallit. York. Which is your favorite? Mine’s a tie between Heath and York. In fact, buying me coffee-flavored ice cream with Heath chunks is the fastest way to get to my heart. Excuse me: was. Starting today, I [...]

While watching 30Rock (amazing show, do watch) I came across a conversation between Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) about her “indie”, “made in America” jeans: So funny, but so true!

This article is a follow-up on two others, which expose Target’s choice to fund anti-gay-civil rights legislature.  All emphasis within quotations is mine.  You can read the first article, An Open Letter to Target, here, and the second here. — Guess what I found? A Message From Gregg Steinhafel, Chairman, President and CEO – 8/5/2010 [...]

Here at Awakened Aesthetic, we love independent designers, Etsy, ethical body wash, and all natural makeup.  We love social change and corporate responsibility, and the companies that come forward, every day, to create positive solutions to ecological, social and economical issues we face every day. What we love most, though, is exposing the companies that [...]