It’s nice to know that on trendy Sheinkin Street in Tel Aviv, where many new clothing stores last only a few months, the Shtaim second-hand clothing store – a store with both an environmental and social conscience – has been able to thrive since 2001. (Update 2022 – the shop is out of business).
Located at 38 Sheinkin the store was opened by two former lawyers, Monica Adler and Daniella Levansart, who have an affinity for second-hand clothing and items as well as a strong desire to promote recycling.
The items for sale at Shtaim are obviously second-hand and therefore recycled, but the store even goes a few steps further than that in terms of advancing their green ideology.
The store collects all kinds of fabrics, materials, and scraps and redesigns them into useful everyday items, such as two-sided tote bags, wallets, and notebook covers. Shtaim also has a collection of thin cloth shopping bags, which it hopes customers will use as an alternative to plastic bags.
It gets even better. The cloth bags sold at Shtaim are sewn in a factory in Beer Sheva that hires people with disabilities. The factory carefully screens each person and finds him or her a job according to his or her capabilities. A devoted staff at the factory also supports the employees and escorts them throughout their work assimilation process.
So one cloth bag at Shtaim equals less fabric ending up in a landfill, fewer plastic bags, and a paycheck for a disabled person. Not bad.
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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