Hillcrest Mall

When it comes to eco-friendly clothing, consider shopping for brands that use sustainable materials such as organic cotton, recycled polyester and natural fibres like linen and bamboo. These materials are better for the environment and often have a lower carbon footprint than sustainable materials (plus, they feel like a cloud on your skin!). Additionally, look for brands that use as few natural resources as possible throughout their products’ life cycle, as well as companies that support ethical labour practices.

Canadian brand Matt and Nat (available at Hudson’s Bay) produces high-quality, timeless products made from different recycled materials such as nylons, cardboard, rubber, cork and windshield resins. Additionally, their linings are made solely of 100% recycled plastic bottles. Sustainable activewear brand Girlfriend Collective (available at Hudson’s Bay) is another pick you can feel good about, thanks to its ethically-made activewear with recycled materials in sizes XXS-6XL. Finally, American Eagle’s Real Good collection not only uses sustainably produced and sourced materials, but also has reduced the amount of water used per pair of jeans by 14%.

If you’re wanting to incorporate sustainability practices into your beauty routine, there are a few things to look out for. You’ll want to find brands that use sustainable beauty ingredients (that is, those formulated without harmful ingredients) and sustainable packaging that has as little waste as possible (think: reusable glass jars and compostable cardboard). And just like we mentioned, look for companies that take steps to lower their impact throughout their entire supply chain and that create products with the well-being of animals, people and the planet in mind.

A great place to start is by checking out Sephora’s “Clean at Sephora” program which features products that are free from over 50 harmful ingredients, including sulfates, parabens and phthalates. Our top picks include Biossance, Tata Harper and Rose Inc.

Other sustainable beauty brands we love include L’Occitane en Provence (available at Hudson’s Bay), The Body Shop and Salt & Stone (available at Hudson’s Bay).

Another way to incorporate more sustainability practices into your everyday life is to recycle and repurpose items you already own.

Sephora, The Body Shop and MAC Cosmetics have beauty recycling programs which allow you to recycle beauty items such as compacts, lipsticks and concealer, foundation and mascara tubes. From there, the items are sorted, separated and used to create new products. Additionally, H&M has a Garment Collecting program that collects any brand’s unwanted clothes or textiles in any condition (bonus: you receive a thank-you voucher to use towards your next purchase).

At Hillcrest, we take pride in our growing sustainability program. We are proud to share that from 2017-2020, we received a BOMA Best Gold Certification, which recognizes excellence in energy and environmental management and performance in commercial real estate.

We have a fully integrated recycling program and offer bicycle racks and car charging for those using more sustainable methods of transportation to visit our centre.

Finally, our rooftop is the proud home of honeybees. Thanks to the wonderful, lush gardens of Richmond Hill residents, our bee population has thrived and swelled close to 70,000.

To learn more about sustainability at Hillcrest, click here.