Letter from the Editor: Welcome to Well Spent

April 21, 2011


I started Commerce with a Conscience with the goal of making socially responsible clothing palatable to a wider audience, and thus – hopefully – creating greater consumer demand for sustainably and ethically made goods. While that goal hasn’t changed, my criteria for what gets featured has. Lately, the emphasis has been much less on eco-friendly / fair trade, and much more on first-world-made (mainly USA) / built to last. This shift in focus has come about for two reasons. Firstly, and unfortunately, there is a finite amount of eco / ethical gear out there that actually looks good, and not nearly enough to sustain a whole website. Secondly, I wanted the site to be a more honest reflection of my own spending, since I just don’t feel right trying to sell people on things I don’t own or want.

Because the site’s content has changed in the way it has, it seemed fitting to me that its name change too. And so, starting today, April 25th, Commerce with a Conscience will now be known as Well Spent.

This doesn’t mean I’ll no longer be covering environmentally-responsible apparel, it just means that that’s only going to be a part – not all – of what I write about. My objective of showing that ethics and style need not be mutually exclusive remains the same.

Side note: some of you may have noticed that I’ve taken the Product Guide down. Eventually, I do hope to re-introduce it to the site. However, I need to reconsider its role before I do. In the meantime, I encourage you to take advantage of the site’s new navigation controls for browsing the archives.

I hope you enjoy the new site, and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback / issues / etc.

Thanks for your support,

Brad Bennett
Founder / Editor
brad[at]well-spent[dot]com

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16 Comments

  1. Joe Wasserman
    Posted April 24, 2011 at 5:24 pm | Permalink

    Hey Brad, will the old RSS feed still work, or should I switch over to the new one? Speaking of which, the RSS button in my browser goes to Well Spent’s feed, but the RSS button in the upper-right of your site is broken.

  2. Tinted Lenses
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 7:44 am | Permalink

    Good name and good reasons, Brad. Excited to see this new site evolve!

  3. Andrew M
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 9:19 am | Permalink

    The new site looks great. Congrats on the shift, may the transition be smooth.
    I look forward to this.

    Andrew

  4. Brad
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 9:43 am | Permalink

    Many thanks Andrew!

    Keep up the great work over at It’s Worn.

    bb

  5. Brad
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 9:44 am | Permalink

    Thanks Will!

  6. Brad
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 9:46 am | Permalink

    Hey Joe,

    I changed the name / feed address of the old RSS. But was able to maintain all of my subscribers when I did so. So, you should be fine not updating.

    The RSS button on the upper right should take you here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/wellspent

    The link is working for me. Let me know if it’s not for you.

    Thanks,

    bb

  7. Joe Wasserman
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 4:07 pm | Permalink

    The link is working now. Don’t remember where it was directing before… maybe it was a feedburner issue. Glad it works now, whatever was wrong before!

  8. Brad
    Posted April 25, 2011 at 4:08 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the follow-up Joe. Glad everything’s in order.

    bb

  9. Robert
    Posted April 26, 2011 at 9:29 am | Permalink

    Great new direction for the site, can’t wait to follow along!

  10. Brad
    Posted April 26, 2011 at 1:40 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Robert.

  11. Ryan
    Posted April 26, 2011 at 7:48 pm | Permalink

    Love the site, love the new mission. I’m treading in similar territory over at The New American Consumer. Keep up the good work.

  12. Brad
    Posted April 27, 2011 at 12:40 pm | Permalink

    Hey Ryan,

    Thanks for the note. Really like what you’re doing over at TNAC. Keep it up!

    bb

  13. BreadandRoses2
    Posted April 29, 2011 at 8:24 am | Permalink

    Well Spent is a job well done, Brad! The shift is spot on. I’m looking forward to your new posts.

  14. Brad
    Posted April 29, 2011 at 9:25 am | Permalink

    Thanks Diane!

  15. Amy
    Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:16 pm | Permalink

    Love the new direction! I was so confused when I ended up on your blog today, I was like haven’t I been here? but it wasn’t the same. :)

  16. Brad
    Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:26 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Amy!

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