Zero Waste Living! or How Trash Becomes a Rarity

Spring is accelerating, and every morning we wake up to see more and more greenery and blooming flowers. We are inevitably overwhelmed by the urge to go into nature and spend as much free time as possible breathing the fresh air. However, all the positive emotions are instantly evoked by the view that we also see in forests, parks, near lakes and rivers. That is the trash piling up and polluting our planet together with our bodies. Although the problem worries people worldwide, it is up to each of us to start tackling it. 

New Trend or Life-long Mission?

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure – this saying has been with us for what seems like forever, yet as we mentioned, one person is enough to make a change. Quite recently various social media platforms and people on them started to go crazy due to this relatively new trend – zero waste living. As some, of course, saw this just as another crazy trend to gain more attention, for thousands of people going zero waste is a conscious action they take to free the planet from waste. 

Even though the term ‘zero waste’ was first used only in the early 2000s, this environment-saving practice began way earlier in the 1980s. Back then, ‘zero waste’ was better known as ‘total recycling’ – Daniel Knapp and his wife tried to prove to everyone that all types of waste could be diverted from landfill and reused within the community. They then breathed in the life to the concept by opening a salvation market. A decade later, the same man set up a program to eliminate all waste in Australia by 2010. It formed a strong and successful concept with other initiatives, which now is known as Zero Waste Living. It is pretty amazing to see such an idea evolve and include more and more people each year united to save the planet from over polluting.

Basic Deeds Saves All

If we tried to explain the concept of zero waste living to our grandmothers, we should just say that we are aiming to send nothing to a landfill. The practice includes reducing what we need, reusing as much as we can once things cannot fulfil their original purpose, sending as little as possible to recycling centres, and composting. As all four components constitute the unified zero-waste system, they, of course, should be standard in every people’s lives. However, all should also be aware that recycling is the second to last option as growing consumerism goes hand in hand with mixed materials, which are almost impossible to recycle.

By committing to zero waste living, we generally redefine the system and move from a linear economy to a circular economy. It means quitting the practice of making new materials every time they are needed and then getting rid of them when they don’t. As we connect two ends of a line and make it into a circle, we stop creating materials from scratch because we have plenty of them that we can use repeatedly. For example, various countries have adopted the practice of a deposit-refund system, where people purchasing beverages pay an additional amount of money, usually ten or twenty cents, which they receive back after returning bottles to deposit stations. Even though it seems like a small step, this initiative has already helped free nature from millions of plastic and glass bottles as well as metal cans. Therefore, a cleaner planet and healthier human lives all start with taking small yet incredibly responsible steps.

Same Vision – Different Devotion

We can all leave a positive footprint on earth if we put in the effort and turn all our thoughts in that direction. Yet as expected, people take different paths towards an outcome of clean and unpolluted nature. One of them is more like going backwards than moving forward. Many people would instead continue accumulating vast amounts of trash every day rather than rethinking their practices and making some changes; we can call such people ‘those who do not care.’ Another group of people may genuinely want to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they use but are forced against such a decision. Switching to more ecological, natural and recycled ideas is a more considerable burden for one’s bank account than buying factory-produced cheaper but often disposable items. Indeed, zero waste products are usually sold in small local shops and made from sustainable yet more expensive material alternatives – wood, bamboo, metal, glass, etc. So to say, people who decided to switch to this nature-friendly movement should have bigger expenses in mind.

Even though zero waste living now seems like a well-known practice with a clear goal in the minds of those who are determined to live more responsibly, there are at least two different levels of this sustainable devotion. Moving from a comfortable life using plastic goods to far more responsible consumption may be too much of an extreme change. Therefore, people start with the low-impact lifestyle, which focuses on holistically reducing one’s environmental impact – together with second-hand shopping, plant-based diet and similar practices, people are getting closer to their intention. Zero waste life includes all of the mentioned actions, but it focuses more on eliminating waste, as said. Many are hesitant to devote their life to zero waste as social media is filled with videos and stories of people fitting all of their trash accumulated within a year into a small glass jar. However, only the most extreme cases of a zero-waste lifestyle can be fit into a jar as it is quite a struggle to find all necessary goods unpacked or packed in recyclable materials. Despite differences, all situations are commendable as they add to a safer environment and brighter future of billions.

First Steps are the Hardest 

We all know how much courage it takes to turn your life upside down. Therefore, we encourage to begin with small steps and gradually include more and more zero waste lifestyle practices into everyday life. For this very reason, we decided to help you by giving some tips our teammates swear by switching from unrecyclable plastics to one tiny glass jar containing all of your trash and other natural resources-preserving practices. Let’s begin!

Hobbies. We all can agree on how excellent new books smell: the smell of comfort on the rainiest autumn day. No matter how therapeutic paper books can be, this habit hurts the earth’s lungs – many trees are cut to produce one book, which most people will read only once after buying it. Solving this problem and becoming a zero-waster could be done two ways. One requires you to visit used book shops, search for people willing to exchange books or register for local library membership. All these ideas still give you the experience of holding an actual book in your hands; however, the following tips are more technological. Trees are saved by listening to audiobooks or reading electronic versions on a tablet. 

Beauty. Most of the women wash their hair once every two days or even every day. Despite global quarantine and pandemic shifted their usual hair washing schedule, we can guarantee most of them using shampoos, conditioners and rejuvenating hair masks from plastic bottles. When they are empty, they are tossed straight to the bin and later end up in landfills worldwide. Solid shampoo bars have been available for quite some time, yet they are not that popular as shampoo bottles just for their packaging. Soon we will offer a fantastic solid shampoo with all the best hemp qualities – be patient!

Food. Oh, how sweet it is sometimes to take a day off from cooking and how convenient it is to have delicious food delivered right to your doorstep! Food delivery is a relatively new concept, yet it produces very much plastic packaging, which cannot be recycled and takes hundreds of years to decompose. Again, we can tackle this problem from two perspectives – restaurant and cafes should switch to recycled cardboard packaging and cutlery. As people mostly order food due to craving and impulses, one should be prepared for such situations in advance by filling their freezers with quick-to-made healthy food. Besides, we highly encourage you to buy all of the food in farmers markets – it is both more ecological and cheaper!

Many companies and brands are now changing their strategies to be as sustainable as possible. Biomedicanna is no exception in encouraging our customers to take care of nature; we at the same time are taking care of ourselves – our bodies, skin, mind, and well-being. We are advocating the reuse of items, thus preventing them from entering the landfill, so all of our cosmetic containers are perfect for a second life in your home – pour a bath salt, light a candle or put the jewellery. Remember, love for ourselves starts from loving our surroundings.

Interview with Rosita: Sustainable Clothing is Much More than You Might Think

It is worldwide acceptable to celebrate spring just like any other season. However, here at Biomedicanna, we know that spring is much more important to us and our lives than we might think in the first place. As nature rebirths, we, the people, change in many ways, starting with practices that are closest to us. Clothes are often called our second skin, which must transform together with us and embody sustainability and responsibility to ourselves and everything around us, or that’s how it used to be. Today we invite you to rethink fashion and start diminishing the impact our clothing habits have on nature.

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As the first month of spring is already half over, we share with you our fantastic interview with Rosita. Rosita Kužmarskytė has been working as a freelance fashion designer and product developer for several years and recently opened her fashion design studio 'KUZ', which helps fashion brands and emerging designers run a responsible and efficient fashion business.

-Rosita, tell us a bit more about yourself and your work as a fashion design studio founder.

-I am the founder of the 'KUZ' fashion design studio. Every day, we help ambitious people and small companies start their clothing businesses by providing guidance and assistance. This activity idea came to me quite organically. After finishing my university studies in fashion technologies and business, I moved to Riga, Latvia, but finding a job seemed very tricky as I did not know the local language. Therefore, I decided to start freelancing and doing what I knew best at that time. During my studies, I did an internship in London, where I could perfect my skills in technical drawings. Technical drawings are the main tool to transfer rough ideas to technical language, which can be used and understood by pattern makers and tailors. Orders to draw technical sketches started piling up very quickly, together with questions regarding materials, contacts of professional tailors, etc. I soon expanded my services – everyone was interested in learning how the idea of clothing on paper gets turned into reality because you do not have to be a professional with lots of experience to understand the basics of the process. 

At one point, I had so many orders that I had to give out some of them to my colleagues, hired a tailor myself, but I burned out quickly as it all became too much for me. I seriously thought about quitting freelancing and applied for a junior designer position in Poland's fast-fashion company. Things were going well – I successfully went through three of four selection stages and was one of few people out of one hundred something group to get an invitation to an interview. The last stage showed to be too tough for me, and it crushed my creative spirit as after being declined, only one tiny step stopped me from getting that job. Besides, I was told I would only be allowed to create one particular type of clothes, for example, pants; designing pants for one week seems fine, but three months or three years seemed to be too much for me. I am an extrovert, and I want to express myself differently through different projects; therefore, the mentioned job would be too monotonous and boring.

That was the turning point when I decided to move back to Vilnius, Lithuania, and open my fashion design studio. I gathered a small team, and the motivation was so strong it only took us a month to finish the studio, and the majority of the equipment – mannequins, sewing machines, materials, etc. – were our own as we all come from the same background with the same dreams. That was the beginning; however, I still do not call myself a designer to this very day – I design commercial clothing, and there is not much artistic inspiration in what I do every day. Well, I need the inspiration to create, but the process is very different. I make up the mood board, see which lines and styles work and which do not; once I come up with this structural work, I start combining the whole collection and developing the things that look great.

-Was it difficult to find new clients? Were they surprised about your studio's work? 

-Soon after the studio's opening, various orders started to accumulate, revealing clients' needs. For some time, we worked only with foreign clients; I thought that Lithuanians did not need my services. Therefore, I did not advertise my studio much. However, a few posts and comments in various Facebook groups were very significant – surprisingly, there were so many people interested in the KUZ activity. It turned out that Lithuanians as well want to get broader consultations regarding clothing design. The times when we only cared about selling some colourful sweaters are behind – creators wish to have a unique and responsible clothing development process. 

Sustainability practice in production made-to-order is not common yet. This method is applied when garments are made only when the business gets orders from their customers wishing to buy them and prevents businesses from having unnecessary stock. Usually, enterprises announce that they are collecting orders to purchase a specific clothing model, and after two or three weeks, buyers receive the finished product. Now everyone is so impatient and wants to get the product as soon as possible, but this habit does not go hand in hand with sustainability. The made-to-order business model fits my fashion design studio's idea because it allows brand creators to concentrate only on the artistic (research) side of clothing, not worrying too much about the technical work that my team does. 

-Do clients usually accept the idea of sustainability behind the made-to-order clothing well?

- We offer our clients this model, but we cannot force them to choose it. As we work with many different businesses and individuals who have different needs, ideas, and opportunities, the made-to-order model, of course, does not fit everyone. In most cases, the company's choice also depends on the buyer – some buy deliberately and are okay with waiting; others shop impulsively and choose trendy things combining eco-friendly fabrics and material for packaging. There were many cases when I did not accept the order as people asked me to design and make technical drawings based on items from luxury, high-fashion brands. Such inquiries oppose my approach to clothing design – I do not want to ruin my well-being for additional finances. My work goal is to be surrounded by like-minded persons, and working with this type of person is more of a joy. 

Regarding sustainable fashion, each person or brand that contacts me with their clothing ideas is unique and exciting. For example, one of my clients wanted to incorporate their country’s national clothing patterns into the modern streetwear design – the final work is breathtaking - colourful & empowering. The business owner brings her own story into the brand based and production is based on the made-to-order model. In this case, sustainability does not mean producing minimal amounts of items or using certified cotton only – it’s also about bringing a unique story to the market.

-Getting back to the studio, what are the services that your studio offers?

-We engage in the designing process, starting with the idea and bringing it up until the manufacturing. We create clothing pieces, consult and help explain what businesses need to put into their brand's product to stand out from the competitors, what materials they should use, how to communicate clothing's quality, etc. We discuss all of this during the first meeting, which usually lasts longer than the rest of the process. Then a structured search for inspirations takes place, later come technical drawings, and if the clients are happy, we do a mock-up to see which materials would look better. Later pattern makers prepare the patterns according to which we prepare prototypes and show them to our clients for their feedback – maybe the pockets are too low or too high, perhaps the shoulders are too broad. We get notes on every little detail and send comments to our pattern makers to make adjustments. 

This process takes up one or two, a maximum of three prototypes, to perfect the piece to the client’s perfection. Later a pre-production sample reaches the tailor to be followed accurately. It’s interesting how several years ago, this whole process used to be considered unnecessary. A designer or a person with an idea came up to a tailor with rough sketches or just pictures to follow. A tailor is a person to cut and sew the fabrics in high quality but not read the client’s mind, and that is followed by dissatisfaction, anger, and miscommunication. Many times people give up not understanding why their idea couldn’t be realised. The whole process of collecting ideas, thinking everything upfront, and combining design and tailoring skills makes most of our daily work allowing designers to enjoy their artistic process and tailor‘s receiving clear orders on how to prepare their garments. This process minimises the sampling stage leaving clients with faster and better results which links perfectly with sustainability.

Not only are we talking about sustainability with our clients, but we are also trying to be an example to others. After projects, our studio fills with various fabric pieces, but none of it ends up in a landfill or somewhere else – we use them for other projects and ideas. Disapproved prototypes are also transformed into other pieces of clothing (prototypes too). When we cut materials, we try to place everything as neatly as possible to have as little clothing scraps as we can, which can’t be achieved with large manufacturers because saving time is more important for them than saving fabric or the environment.

I also notice that people prefer to wear clothing that does not wrinkle, so naturally, brands would want their clothing to be made using such materials. Usually, they use mixed materials, cotton and polyester, which are the most harmful to the environment as no one can recycle them. In the studio, all prototypes are made using a hundred per cent cotton material, which we can later take to recycling centres. We can recycle all genuine and not mixed materials; otherwise, we can still transform them. 

-You talk about the technical side of designing clothes more often than you mention actual design work. What is the reasoning behind that?

-Despite having a university diploma in fashion technologies and business, design is a more personal activity. I studied design independently as I spent most of my time in Riga in a library reading books and taking courses about it. 

When I design clothes, most importantly, I try to meet consumers' needs and think about producing costs, materials, sewing technologies, longevity and durability, versatility and comfort, ways of reusing clothes, etc. Versatility and the ability to transform one piece of clothing into another, I think, are some of the most important properties for which I look in clothes. 

However, from every service that we offer in our studio, design and concept creation are my favourite tasks. During the meeting with clients, I try to get to know them and their viewpoints as best as possible – their style, aesthetics, target price, etc. Many clients allow me to have complete artistic freedom, but what is beautiful and pleasing to me will not necessarily be liked by them. My thorough questionnaire may seem a little annoying to some clients– does she have no idea that she is trying to get everything from us? No, I have many ideas, but it would be naive to think that different people's views will always coincide. There are, of course, times when I do lack the inspiration to design. Still, after cultural and branding research, I come back knowing what message the brand tries to communicate for its customers and make that message more persuasive and influential.

-You previously mentioned that while designing the original clothing, you already think about how it will look after transforming it into another item. Is such a trait personal and authentic, or is it becoming a rule that all designers and companies follow?

-Yes, this has already become necessary in the fashion industry. As for me, transforming clothes and giving them a second life is quite essential – my grandma was a tailor herself, and we together re-sewed many second-handed men's jackets into women's coats. Such a hobby began a long time ago, but at that time, we did not think about sustainability – we looked for ways to be more pretty cheaper.

In a broader sense, sustainable clothing is much more than only using recycled, certified materials or transforming a piece of clothing into a different, more useful item. Many companies boast about their sustainability, but maybe only one per cent of all their activities are sustainable. However, it is still better than nothing. We can also understand sustainability from a logistical point of view – if a brand sells their items only in their native country, they are sustainable as they avoid additional transportation costs and eliminate the effect that transport has on the environment. The product packaging can also be recycled; thus, sustainable – same with multifunctional items, quality materials, capsule collections, 3D clothing design software, etc. 

When planning their next collection, designers always need to think about the future of created garments – if we want to be sustainable, how can we achieve this goal? There are many sustainable innovations already adopted by fashion designers and various brands, so sustainability is no longer just second-hand clothing or cut-and-sewn shirts. Only recently, sustainability became a cool thing or a trend.

-Why do you think we are still struggling to convert the fast-fashion industry into a sustainable market fully? Is this at all possible?

-In my opinion, fast-fashion will never entirely disappear – we can only limit its severe impact on the environment. Fast-fashion symbolises cheap and economic practice that is accessible to everyone, and to be honest, not everyone can allow themselves to buy sustainable clothing items as their production is more expensive than fast-fashion items. For example, in fast-fashion fabrics, five hundred tailors can work on a different part of the garment and finish sewing thousands of t-shirts in one day. Suppose we follow the made-to-order model in sustainable business. In that case, there will only be as many items as needed, and one tailor will cut and sew each clothing item individually. 

What we can do in this case, albeit in a small part, and try to reduce the harmful clothing industry’s effects. We can see those fast fashion companies adopt various aspects of sustainable fashion, but their work is still a different practice.

-You briefly mentioned the hobby that you and your grandma shared. Do you still own some of those transformed items?

-Ironically, I hated transformed coats for a very long time as everyone around me wore trendy jackets from various shops, and I wore coats. Now I cannot imagine my life without coats – I do not even know how many coats I own! The majority of them are transformed – my grandma re-sewed many of them, many I did myself.

-Second-handed and transformed clothing make up a significant part of your life. Maybe you remember when the last time you shopped fast-fashion brands online or in the store was?

-I need to think about when it was. (laughs) It might be last summer in Riga, but regarding fast-fashion, I only shop there for plain white t-shirts. Everything else I buy in a second-hand shop called Humana, find on Vinted or design and sew myself. I even regret spending money in fast-fashion shops. Besides, I prefer to organise my closet and dress following capsule collection’s principles, so fast-fashion shops are too trendy for me. 

-What was the most valuable clothing item you managed to find and buy at a second-hand shop? Is it possible to find some hidden gems there, or is it happens only in the movies?

-I usually do not visit second-hand shops on the day when they have new items delivered – I'm not too fond of crowds in there, and besides, I am not a big fan of great designer names. However, once I went there on such a day and saw clothing items from high-fashion stores, they tend to sell quickly. I also nearly witnessed a fight between a few ladies for a designer bag – I do not know whether it was worth something, but it was fun. (laughs) Sometimes second-hand shops even sell new and never-worn items, so it is worth checking them.

-Maybe you have some advice you can share with our readers to help them have a more sustainable relationship with their wardrobes, shopping habits, clothing style?

-My first advice is to clean your closet, sell or give away clothing that does not fit you, or you just do not want to wear anymore. It might look like after that you will have nothing to wear but will see, there are even easier to mix and match between and come up with a fresh look. Next thing, shop responsibly, meaning buy only when you know at least five other outfits that could go together with your new item. Lastly, look for local fashion designers, visit pop-ups, and, of course, second-hand shops.

-Thank you.

Less Is More - Welcome Minimalism into Your Life

Many different changes are continually taking place in nature every single day. Here at Biomedicanna, we believe that people are only a part of this unique system, so we must respect all the natural processes around us and change our lives accordingly, with the goal of not to interfere but to adapt. As we are stepping into spring, we dedicated an entire month of March to highlight the importance of preserving the most precious things and dropping off unnecessary and excess practices. Today we will share our insights on making specific changes both at home and in your lifestyle and focusing only on those things that are really worth it.

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We consider spring a perfect time for changes – as nature is waking up, we also have to wake up after three long months of winter laziness. However, this does not mean a simple getting out of bed in the morning; emotionally, waking up means making necessary and healthy changes. Some of the things that require the most changing and renewing are our homes after the winter, yet we are certainly not talking about layers upon layers of dust or those nasty cobwebs hanging in the corner. There are vast amounts of unnecessary things in our homes that used to cost us a lot of money and now are just hindering our lives. After all, it is very challenging to say goodbye to them, donate them, sell them, or generally get rid of them.

Nevertheless, these positive changes are necessary, and it is better to make them sooner than later as minimal life is much healthier. Minimalism is a lifestyle that frees us from clothes, appliances or goods which make us feel depressed and emotionally drained rather than joyful. Although minimalism has become more and more popular lately, a much more critical philosophy lies behind this trend – how can giving up things help us feel the fullness of life?

Minimalism - Passion, Mission, or else?

For quite a long time, Minimalism was known as an art, music and architecture style that opposed abstract expressionism and promoted objective, logical, and schematic solutions. Clean lines, geometrical shapes and repeating patterns all moved the focus from work itself to the environment in which it gets positioned, played, or demonstrated. Soon enough minimalism was thought about as modernism as the majority of minimalistic art creations were made out of such materials as concrete, glass, metal, etc. Minimalistic movement gradually grew into the worldwide notion that less is more and throughout the years it, of course, crushed all of the borders and dominated more areas than just visual and performing arts. 

Fashion was one of the first areas to which the minimalistic virus spread. Designers soon started to position fabrics and forms over the functionality (these scales later shifted significantly) and create clothing using only monochromatic tones: black, white, grey. Massive social and political changes accompanied the fashion industry’s shift from an overload of accessories to simplifying everything that gets on the runway or in high-street shops. While we are not going to focus on different perceptions of minimalism in fashion, we definitely must highlight its influence on widely acceptable social practices. With growing consumerism and massive amounts of trash and non-recyclable materials accumulating each day, minimalism has also become a way of life destined to have as little belongings as possible and discover many more noble things.

Minimalism - Emotional Attachments and Decluttering

Minimalism from one perspective may seem like complete nonsense, yet from the other, it is a way to help the planet while at the same time helping ourselves. Being generally described as a way to find freedom, the minimalistic approach suggests people live with as little belongings as possible because it allows them to live in a more spacious environment directly and figuratively. Minimalists refuse to own any excess stuff and choose to invest in themselves and their families, friends by creating precious memories rather than holding onto meaningless possessions.

Nevertheless, this lifestyle does not mean disowning everything or being altruistic - minimalists advocate for a simple but not dull environment. You can still have some necessary belongings, yet you should be willing to get rid of things you have not been using for more extended periods. As nowadays we can rent almost anything for as long as we need, the whole idea of owning those things and paying full prices is just silly.

Many people, not only minimalists, know that personal possessions often cost us tremendous headaches and other problems. Our belongings trap us in a vicious circle of indecision, and the more we own, the more helpless we are. The truth is that unnecessary things clutter both our living space and mind, making us worry and overthink as we cannot think straight about organizing them in real life and our minds. Things around us distract us from everyday tasks and, of course, from quality self-care, making us more prone to depression and other mental illnesses.

Getting rid of everything we have to carry on our shoulders will increase our happiness and free our time, but this process is complicated even for professional psychologists. We are struggling to say goodbye to our belongings as we have individual relationships with them. We emotionally attach to things that we link with emotions and experiences when we should either carry those emotions in our hearts and thoughts or get rid of them at all. It takes a lot of time and courage to cut the chains connecting us to our possessions, but in a longer perspective, it is worth it. 

Minimalism - a Mental Shield from Acquiring Too Much

Minimalism is both a way of thinking and a way of like, because in both cases, we detach ourselves from the unnecessary and leave only those who are worth it and enrich our lives. Yet, we would not have so many things if we did not acquire them in one way or another. Many people still think it is appropriate to bring bulky household items or useless souvenirs as gifts - such pieces will only accumulate dust and use space, but their value is little to none. It is quite hard to say goodbye to gifts from our family members, friends or colleagues as we mentally link such items with the love we get and fear to lose these connections while getting rid of things we neither use nor need. In such situations, we must live as an example as we start gifting others our attention, positive emotions and experiences rather than useless stuff. 

Next, we can buy such unnecessary items ourselves. While we are digging the hole and cluttering our lives, it is much easier to come out of the mentioned situation when compared with getting rid of gifted items. We tend to buy things impulsively without thinking about whether we need them or not. After such shopping sprees, we quickly start to regret purchasing something, yet we stall from returning or regifting items as we link them with our labour efforts to earn money in the first place. Secondly, we start to think we may need such things in the future, so it is better to be safe than sorry and have them despite not knowing exactly when we will use them if we are going to use them. 

Minimalism is an approach condemning consumerism, which is fed to humanity every day through different channels. Various marketing strategies get into our heads and make us think we need each and everything we see in stores or online. However, there are several ways to shield ourselves from acquiring too much stuff, which would eventually complicate our lives. Firstly, we have to shop responsibly and quit making impulsive decisions. Therefore, you should think before buying any more expensive item at least for a week before making a purchase; a week is usually enough to rethink our priorities and make some changes to our shopping lists. If you still feel a great desire and need for a specific product after a week, you should make a purchase, yet if you do not have those feelings, you should leave the item sitting on a shelf in a shop. Secondly, have a monthly or weekly budget and do not dare to go over it! As we shop to mask our emotions, we should wait until we have our emotions and feelings under control to avoid impulsive shopping and unnecessary belongings in our home.

Minimalism - a Way to Say Goodbye and Improve

Not acquiring useless things or trying to do so is one thing and getting rid of them is another. Minimalism, however, takes care of both and highlights the importance of saying goodbye to things you will not need from now on to the future in a very focused and respectful way. You may have seen some videos where influencers share their experiences after rummaging through their belongings and choosing what to keep, sell or donate, and get rid of completely. Even if it may sound like a minimalistic approach, we still are left with plenty of stuff that will not bring any value. It is encouraging to donate particular possessions before paving a way to a landfill for them. It allows us to live more sustainably and eco-friendly; selling things before getting rid of them helps owners gather funds to invest in experiences and emotions worth more than silverware or clothing. 

The minimalistic approach to getting rid of new things is to own as less as possible but still meet your needs. One of the best ways to limit yourself to a certain number of belongings is to gather them all into one place as if you were packing and moving out, and throughout a week, only take what you need leaving unnecessary items in a pile. After a week or one and a half, take all that you have not used and get rid of them – sell, donate, or generally get rid of it if their condition does not allow them to be used for one or another. You will be surprised by how little items you are regularly using versus how many just take up space without doing anything useful. Remember, you should not limit yourself to a hundred or fifty belongings just because professional minimalists do so – start by making small steps to achieve significant results both emotionally and physically. 

Minimalistic approach frees us from unnecessary items which haunt us every day – be brave to say goodbye to them once and for all. Carefully plan and rethink your priorities to live more happily and healthier. Mental freedom is just as important as decluttering your physical environment, yet the first is sometimes harder to achieve. We encourage you to try our products to relax and help yourself develop better and more valuable solutions for your outer comfort and inner peace. 

Valentine Day is Over - Love for Yourself Goes On

Here at Biomedicanna, we work long hours to ensure thousands of loyal customers' health and happiness. We dedicated this entire month to remind everyone how important it is to love themselves in many different ways, both emotionally and physically. Even though loving yourself and others are the noblest actions we take daily, we may sometimes run into difficulties and forget what matters the most. Today let's remember what ideas and tips both of our interview heroes have shared about loving others and yourself and how our products can help you love more deeply and passionately.

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Love has many faces and expressions, yet not everyone can experience them equally as love is a very intimate emotion. Each of us has a different relationship with love; thus, we may devote our time and attention to entirely different aspects of our lives. At the same time, love means enjoying joyful moments with others, even if it is a time well-spent pampering ourselves. We can see that love is quite similar to a vast palette of colours, which mix to create one large painting – a happy, healthy and prosperous life. February's interview heroes Dominyka and Dainius both shared their ideas about love. As they come from two different sectors, not surprisingly, their views on love are quite different. 

Dominyka Mikstaite is an owner of brand artumè, which combines healing methods and practices from Tibetan and Western Medicine to help people prevent diseases and preserve and nurture longevity and inner happiness. She understands love as having two components: 'mommy love' means altruistically accepting and unconditionally loving yourself. 'Daddy love' means having the necessary life skills to adapt to all live twists and turns to live to the fullest. 

Dainius Jakucionis is a doctor psychotherapist, who besides helping people solve their psychological and emotional issues, is often a guest speaker in various training and public conferences. He also understands love as two different types: firstly, it is an emotional feeling, which people may have or may not. Secondly, love is an action and, despite knowing the first type of love or not, we can all do something for ourselves each day to show that we care about how we feel.

Despite coming from two entirely different sectors and expressing different approaches towards the same love subject, both Dominyka and Dainius shared similar tips towards achieving health, happiness and purposeful life. Their advice includes spending time in nature, sleeping for at least eight hours each day, creating and maintaining a daily routine that would provide joy rather than sadness and planning little breaks to spend time for yourself only. Besides, both interview heroes highlighted the importance of eating healthy - we tried to cover this topic in our previous blog dedicated to loving yourself through food. We even included a fantastic recipe for delicious pancakes to encourage you to start this tasty journey as soon as possible.

It's easy to spot love's versatility, but we all should look for those expressions of love that are closest to us and our way of living. Here at Biomedicanna, our teammates' eyes are burning with passion for sustainable, eco-friendly, vegan and cruelty-free self-care. All of our products check those boxes and are widely used to enrich our daily lives with love, yet they have different purposes and ways to improve our well-being. 

CBD Drops and Paste enhance health and immunity, while our cosmetics line takes care of and protects all types of skin from nature's elements. CBD drops come in a variety of concentration levels as different people have different self-care and medical needs. CBD Paste Raw is the most potent hemp product we offer; nevertheless, all our products contain legal THC amounts. All cosmetics products are also paraben-free and organic as we provide only the highest quality products. CBD Silk Balm will soothe and deeply moisturize dry and itchy skin, nurturing it with quality extracts. Simultaneously, CBD Cooling Gel provides relief to overworked muscles and joints, helping relieve inflammation and soreness. CBD Glide Gel works as an excellent alternative for massage oil, and Face & Body Cream ensures skin nutrition and revitalization.

We use only natural and purest resources to produce our products, so we are not afraid to promise well-being. All of our products are made with love – feel it and try it for yourself. Now is the best time to start investing in yourself and your future!

Newest Trend – Sustainable Fashion!

After a challenging summer, real fashion icons have returned to the cities to conquer its streets and hearts of passers-by: they wear eye-catching accessories and never miss the latest fashion trends. They not afraid to visit second-hand clothing shops and to wide open the closets of mothers and grandmas. The secret of their success and wonderful appearance does not depend on the widest smiles or salon-like hair: their real talent is a sense of style and ability to match unmatchable clothing items together. Modern fashion icons care not only about the breathtaking image but also about the environment: as 13 million tons of textile waste is dumped in landfills every year, sustainable fashion is becoming the major highlight of any clothing combination.

What’s wrong with fast fashion?

Fast fashion is a term used to describe fashion retailers capturing current fashion trends and filling clothing stores with fashionable items similar to the ones seen at Fashion Week. Even if it allows people from all around the world to quickly adopt their wardrobes to fit ongoing trends, fast fashion has more cons rather than pros.

The current fashion industry is built on several different collections presented throughout the year, and millions of people buying at least one new item every season. The sales increase several times a year when prices are chopped massively to empty shopping racks for new items. As low prices lure customers, they are also forced to come back to the same clothing shopping centres over and over again due to fast fashion items also being fast to wear out and rip apart.

For this, you may say thank you to fashion retailers who only care about lowering the manufacturing cost and increasing revenue. This goal is achieved in several ways: firstly, fashion companies use cheaper textiles and sewing materials; secondly, they pay suppliers very small amounts of money for the materials received. Here fast fashion’s problems do not end: the majority of retailers sew their clothes in Asian countries – in factories where children work long hours and get only pennies.

Fast fashion is dependent on acquiring materials as cheaply as possible. As it can take as much as 2 700 litres of water to produce enough cotton material to make a single t-shirt, retailers often choose fake versions of expensive textiles and suppliers, which are known for using harmful chemicals. Of course, some well-known high street fashion shops offer their customers items made from eco-friendly materials and manufactured responsibly. However, these kinds of items are more expensive, from special collections only, and they make up only a small part of all clothes.

Fashion sustainability and us

Sustainable fashion is a social movement encouraging both customers and retailers to transform their habits and businesses towards a greater goal – ecological integrity and environmental awareness. Even though the term sustainable fashion itself concerns clothing as such, it actually has two meanings, including responsible use of already existing clothing items to prevent them from being dumped in landfills and sustainable production of new things to conserve nature and natural resources.

Responsible wearing does not mean being extremely careful not to ruin your clothes with dirt. It stands for choosing second-handed items rather than buying new ones and giving up beloved but not fitting or boring things by handing them over to new people rather than dumping them. Considering the fact that fashion trends come around once every few decades, second-hand clothing shops are a real gold mine, where vigilant buyers may find a designer or never worn items for extremely low prices. There are a few innovative ways allowing customers easier to transfer, donate, or sell their clothing items, which are still in a good shape. Responsible fashion not only saves money but also reduces one’s carbon footprint.

When old clothing items are too worn out and no longer suitable for wearing, some types of materials can be recycled back into clothing fibres, thus, being returned back into stores as new clothing items. As it saves resources, there are plenty of ways and materials, which can be used to produce more sustainable, society, and nature-friendly clothes.

 Hemp clothing is conquering the industry of sustainable fashion as it requires little water to grow and is resistant to most pests and diseases. Hemp’s advantages do not end here as other parts of the hemp plant also have a use; for example, seeds are often processed into oil and praised for its health increasing abilities. Hemp material itself is not only sustainable and versatile but durable and long-lasting; clothes are comfortable to wear, do not cause allergic reactions to the touching skin, and are easily washable.

Why being sustainable is the new black?

With each year, the number of sustainable clothes in stores increases prompting the growing demand: knowing that high fashion houses are fashion trendsetters, they welcome and adapt the sustainability approach influencing high street retailers and people to do the same.

Most popular brands advocate not only for inclusivity and ethnic diversity but also for high fashion sustainability as Paris, Milan, and New York fashion weeks’ catwalks are driven by themes of consumerism, ecology, and global warming. For example, one American fashion designer ensures the sustainability of her clothes by keeper her production small – the physical journey from sketch to garment does not exceed 20 kilometres radius. Other designers ensure they use responsibly sourced and recycled materials, create small runs of each collection to fight against fast fashion, or hires locals to help with the manufacturing process and reduces unemployment. Soon from catwalks, sustainable fashion ideas reach our homes and wardrobes: we gladly buy items that do not harm our planet and contribute to nature’s preservation. Of course, selling such clothes adds up to the brand’s reliability and popularity - as every little help matters, sustainability becomes more and more fashionable.

As a sustainable approach encourages consumers to say that ‘less is more’, capsule wardrobes are the number one thing any person should be doing to actually live by those words; this method allows people to wear different styles by combining basic clothing items. Such an approach should not mean wearing only boring and earthy-colours as sustainable fashion includes using natural dyes and improving the overall look by putting on long-lasting accessories. Also, responsible clothing does not mean wearing thin fabrics processed as little as possible - technologies let manufacturers create thicker fabrics suitable for colder climates, hemp material being one of them.

Sustainable thinking takes over our thoughts and lives – as it saves the planet, it also saves us. We must reduce the amount of textile being dumped, reuse still wearable items, and recycle one’s that are not suitable for wearing. As the popularity of hemp clothing is only growing, it is nice to be your own trendsetter and choose responsibly – we will soon offer quality hemp clothing to suit your body and your needs, so be patient and friendly to nature!

Hemp - The Mother Plant

You probably know that CBD is cannabinoid found in the magical hemp plant. But did you know about all the other fantastic uses of hemp worldwide?

To start, hemp is one of the most useful plants in the whole world. It’s greatly sustainable and can be used to make so many things, it’s truly incredible!

Just to name a few, hemp can be used to build your home, feed your family, dress you in the finest attire, hold your notes, change the worlds plastic problem and even fuel your car!

Hempcrete - the future of housing construction

You may not be able to make an entire house out of hemp, but the great thing is that hemp is quick-growing, requires few pesticides or fertilisers, and the process of turning the harvested hemp into building materials like hempcrete is simple and environment-friendly.

Hemp seeds - small but very versatile

Hemp seeds are rich in protein, omega-3, E and B vitamins, magnesium, potassium and iron. The seeds can be consumed raw or cold pressed to produce hemp seed oil and protein. Hemp seed protein can be used to produce virtually any product made from soybean: tofu, veggie burgers, butter, cheese, salad oils, ice cream, milk, etc. It’s a true superfood!

Hemp textile - the future of sustainable fashion

Despite making up less than 1% of all textile products, hemp is a good source of fabric. Why? Hemp fabric is anti-microbial, has a high tensile strength, breathes better than cotton, and gets softer with age. In order to grow enough cotton to make just one T-shirt, you would need 720 gallons of water. Hemp requires half as much.

Hemp paper - protector of trees

On an annual basis, 1 acre of hemp will produce as much paper as 2 to 4 acres of trees. It also can be produced much quicker as hemp only requires around 120 days to grow. From tissue paper to cardboard, all types of paper products can be produced from hemp.  This makes the raw material super sustainable and eco-friendly!

Hemp plastic - a must for a sustainable future

When made with biodegradable polymers, hemp plastic is completely biodegradable, unlike regular plastics. Compared to petroleum-based plastics, hemp plastic doesn’t contain any toxic substances and is 3.5 times stronger and 5 times stiffer. As a result, hemp plastics are more safe and durable.

Hemp bio-fuel - keeping the ozone clean

Non-toxic bio-diesel is produced by the pressing of hemp seeds to extract their oils & fats. After the extraction, the product is then put through more steps to make it into a usable hemp bio-fuel for your car. Hemp seed oil can also be used as a lubricative, oily ingredient in the processes to produce paint, varnish, detergent or ink. Because hemp seeds account for up to half the weight of a mature hemp plant, hemp seed is a viable source for these products.

No other natural resource offers the potential of hemp. Cannabis Hemp is capable of producing significant quantities of vital every day materials in a much more sustainable fashion. Unlike other crops, hemp can grow in most climates and on most farmland throughout the world with moderate water and fertilizer requirements, few pesticides, and no herbicides.

Hemp is truly the future.

If You have any question, contact us!