A simple and easy way to limit your carbon footprint, and also potentially save money, is to buy from businesses that are based in your country. This can limit what you have to chose from, but it also means that there has been less transportation in the production.
For example, I live in England so if I buy from a UK based company that farm and manufacture their products within the UK then my footprint is reduced, even if I buy acrylic. I’ve also noticed that sometimes this results in it costing less than a yarn or fabric that needs importing from another country. This requires some basic and oftentimes minimal research, usually you can find the information you need on the brand’s official website. If you can’t locate it despite searching thoroughly, you can email the company and if they refuse to disclose where their materials are grown, harvested and manufactured then you probably don’t want to support them. There should be no reason they should refuse to let you know if their products are fully manufactured in their country, oftentimes a business use it as a badge of pride.
I enjoy West Yorkshire Spinner’s yarns, they’re a Britain based company and from my research they use British farmed materials. I found out from some of my American friends that it costs them more than me to get hold of it due to needing it to be imported, which was what made me realise that it’s not only better for the environment to buy from my own country, but also oftentimes cheaper.
