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🛒 Relearning how to shop
Plus Labor Day sales that actually matter, how to search on Etsy, and a classic film recc
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Good Digs is a design and decor newsletter from The Good Trade. Every other Thursday, one of our editors pulls back the curtain on their space, inspirations, and reflections on home.
💛 A letter from our editor, Ashley
How I’m shopping is changing radically these days. It’s not just that I’m working on shifting my relationship to money — which, oof, if you’ve tried to navigate this and made it through, please sound off in the comments — but also that the whole shopping landscape is changing, too.
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Just this morning, Laura Reilly at Magain just released her fall shopping spreadsheet with super specific recommendations from herself and other select editors based on what they actually buy and wear. It’s at once incredibly simple and the first of its kind. Rec League is becoming a frequent destination of mine for really real favorites of people with taste. And, of course, simple word of mouth and curated shops are the realest source of the magic that is a solid, beloved purchase.
Speaking of curated shops, I walked into Lauren Snyder’s The Primary Essentials store last weekend on a whim. I’ve been visiting for years, and I’m still stunned at the incredibly unique and beautiful selection that ranges in price points and styles. It draws a very fine line between inspiration and accessibility. This visit, I discovered a book about home objects in the 17th century that was both beautifully designed and incredibly illuminating and fun to flip through.
This real immersion in others’ lives, materials, and history stands in contrast to what feels weightless and uncanny about products marketed to me through the algorithm. You know the way that products on TikTok Shop or Temu beg the question: Is it even real? When you encounter things that are made to last, you also realize the consideration that is demanded when you’re designing something that won’t degrade or be destroyed. It’s this place where history informs what is new. Okay, so, that’s a lot of ink spilled before coming to what occasions all this talk: Labor Day Sales.
As an editor, Labor Day is a busy time testing and updating pieces ahead of the big shopping day. What I’m appreciating most this year, though, is the restraint my colleagues exercise in what is worthy of featuring — and what feels like empty consumerism. Just this week, I’ve had multiple conversations about brand ethics and how to navigate what feels aligned for our readers versus what goes against the grain of our ethos. So, when it comes to a big shopping day like this, our main priority is to allow for the space to evaluate what you’re spending on.
For me personally, I try to avoid buying anything that I’ve not thought about before — instead, I’m purchasing one, maybe two items, that are something I need, just with a slightly lighter price tag. So, below, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite resources for making thoughtful purchases and I’m sharing our sales, in case there is something you’re looking for.
Labor Day sales | Hand-selected by our editors, these are sales from actually sustainable brands that we return to over and over. If you need advice on a purchase, drop your question in the comments, and one of us will respond with our best advice.
Watch Frederik Wiseman’s “The Store” | A classic film by an all-time documentarian about Neiman Marcus in the early ‘80s that shows what it was like to shop, and to sell, at that time.
How to search on Etsy | It seems that every time I start to think about home decor, I turn to Delaney at Tremont Home. Her recent Reel covering tips for searching Etsy for what you want is a godsend.