Getting Back to Basics

First things first, the products in this post were given to me for free by Organic Basics. They offered me the opportunity to become part of their affiliate programme and initially I said no because I’m not here to sell people things they don’t need. They accepted my response very graciously. However, I thought about it for a while. A long while. In fact, the person who first contacted me had left the company by the time I’d made up my mind. Eventually, I decided to go for it because by joining their affiliate programme I can offer you a discount. Cost often comes up as the main barrier to buying sustainably/ethically, so this might ease that particular worry a little. Apply the code SOPHIEBENSONXOBCO15 at the checkout for 15% off your total. The links included within this post are affiliate links which will earn me a 15% commission for every sale I generate. Don’t need or can’t stretch to some new undies at the moment? No worries.

Now, I’m hardly a basics person outwardly. I’m certainly not a jeans and t-shirt person. But I’m very much a comfortable underwear and quality essentials person. I love having a stack of easy basics for hanging out at home in and I rely on great vests, t-shirts and tights as the foundations of my outfits. This year I’ve been slowly replacing and upgrading what I already had, filling the gaps of the pieces that were so far gone I had to relegate them to bike cleaning rags. So Organic Basics got in touch at exactly the right moment. 

They offered me some products to try, so I chose the Organic Cotton Tee in black and the Organic Cotton Triangle Bra in rose. It all arrived in beautifully simple, 100% recycled and recyclable packaging. No plastic in sight and the postal envelope was reusable too.

Given that my previous basics were mainly ancient Topshop relics, I was slightly over-enthusiastic about the quality of the OB pieces, demanding my boyfriend feel how soft they are. They are soft though, he admitted. The reason they’re so dreamily soft is because Organic Basics don’t fuck about when it comes to ensuring they work with only high quality fabrics. Eschewing the environmentally damaging synthetic fabrics you’d usually find in any loungewear department, the brand only work with class A and B fibres such as GOTS certified organic cotton and innovative SilverTech 2.0, made from mechanically recycled materials.

Alongside a focus on better, more sustainable fabrics, Organic Basics are serious about ethical manufacturing, partnering with GOTS certified organic farms and working with select factories that guarantee fair pay, fair working hours and time off. You’ll find a transparent overview of their factories here.

Admittedly, all of that doesn’t mean a lot if they’re producing garbage products that no one wants to buy. Luckily, that’s not the case. I wore both the T-shirt and the bra for two days on the trot before writing this to ensure that I wasn’t peddling something that I wouldn’t wear myself and can confirm non-garbage status.

 

 

I’ll start with the bra. My benchmark for a good bra is that I’m entirely unaware of its presence all day long. This one did the job. The band is wider than I’m used to and I was worried it would be a little restrictive. It’s not. Once I’d adjusted the straps to the perfect height, it was super comfortable and didn’t bug me at all. With a 15% discount you’ll pay just over £30 which I consider a good price for a quality, ethically made, organic cotton bra. The only issues? Currently the bra ‘provides light support for A-C cups’ and comes in limited tones. It would be great to see an expansion of sizes and most certainly a rethink of the use of the term ‘nude’ in their colourways, however I have seen the brand respond thoughtfully to that point on social so maybe that’s on the horizon. As it stands, though, if you’re a triangle bra kind of person with a not too generous amount of boob, this is a really solid choice. 

Onto the t-shirt. I had a full day of slobbing around the house in it and then another full day of acting like a fully functioning human who wears actual clothes and goes to markets of an afternoon. It passed the test. It didn’t ride up on my hips or roll at the hem. Most importantly, it’s not cut stupidly close at the armpits causing day-long readjusting and a generous dose of sweating. Join me, won’t you, as I pretend to relax in and then layer up the t-shirt in question for the purposes of this post.

The main story here is, of course, how cute my cat is. But she’s being cute as I’m wearing the t-shirt and the t-shirt did not restrict me in kissing her sweet, sweet forehead. 10/10.

Next, I went upstairs and pretended I always get ready for a day out while someone takes pictures of me. To be fair, I was actually getting ready to go out, I was  just being a bit dramatic in how I went about it. Pretence aside, the t-shirt is basically the perfect layering piece. The cut is slim enough that it’s not bulky under your clothes but not so tight that it becomes a clingy nightmare all day long. 

I’ve been recommending Organic Basics for a long time now based purely off their ethics and comparatively affordable price points so I’m glad to find that their quality and fit were deserving of the recommendations. Of course, you don’t have to hold a cat aloft Simba-style (I would though, tbh) or fake a getting ready sequence to enjoy yours. Wear them however you want. They’re just flat out, genuinely great basics made with people and the planet in mind.