by Rachel DeCavage
owner & creative director of cinder + salt and Oasis Home & Supply
I love love love owning & operating cinder + salt, and as we celebrated our tenth birthday this past winter I was finally starting to feel proud of this little brand (yay!). Running a small business is such a rollercoaster (of emotions, priorities, obligations, etc) but one thing was becoming clear… it was getting hard to define the role of sustainable living products in our clothing stores. What has made sense is expanded our self care options with solid haircare bars, natural fiber towels and facial tools & a plethora of vegan & natural skin treatments.
While I think there’s always space for some gifty items and unique home goods, having a random table of dish brushes, soap, metal straws and produce bags was clearly confusing some of our newer customers (who didn’t know we had previously dedicated about 100sf to sustainable living gear at our first store).
I have this dream of having, like, ten little shops - each with a different style and filling a different need, and a ‘sustainable living general store’ was pretty high on the list. So I decided it was finally time to launch Oasis Home & Supply!
Oasis Home & Supply is a sister store of cinder + salt, meaning that we’re guided by the same core ethos (great design, fair prices & putting the planet first), our product line will appeal to the same people AND you can order online and pick up at either cinder + salt store.
In fact, most of the sustainable living products from cinder + salt have simply moved next door and are now available at Oasis. So, if you’re looking for a replacement head for your dish brush, a refill of your fave detergent or a new batch of produce bags, we gotchu! We have all that good stuff, and then some.
Admittedly, I think the sustainability movement is centered too much on cleaning. Cleansers, detergents and tools are all quick, simple and painless ways to switch to more green materials. But I literally HATE cleaning… there is almost nothing I’m less interested in than cleaning. And yet, I find sustainable subs for things in my home all. the. time. I wanted a place to share all the other stuff that I come across that helps me eliminate plastics and other chemicals from my life.
Most everyday products we use are loaded with chemicals, including furniture, cookware & soft goods. Our soft goods are loaded with flame retardants; our cookware is coated in PFAS’s; our furniture is held together by glues and resins. It’s a lot of shit! And none of it is good for us. But throwing away perfectly good decor, tools or pans doesn’t help the environment either, so if your gear is still in good shape, continue to use it. And when you’re ready to replace something, replace it BETTER.
I think a lot about "future garbage" such as paper towels. Hundreds of thousands of people are spending their hard-earned money, every day, on goods that are designed to be thrown away, and most of the time I don’t even think it registers. We’re all convinced we need to buy single-use things for convenience, but I can’t tell you how inconvenient it is to continuously go out and buy the same stuff, over and over and over. To empty the trash over and over and over. I don’t really vibe with garbage, and I want to spend more of my time sharing solutions that are convenient, budget-friendly and low-waste.
There are so many facets to living sustainably, but the most important one is just using less. You don’t need to spend more money to live more green… you should be spending less! I’m excited to have made it my (new) mission to source heirloom quality home goods that you can use for a lifetime & then pass down. I’m passionate about plastic free & long lasting cleaning supplies, tools & food storage to make your dollars go further. And I’m always thinking about what it means to have a beautiful home, that’s not low key leaking toxins into everything you touch.
Whether you're developing a home garden, enjoy hosting dinner parties, love to decorate for every season, or simply want to create less waste, Oasis Home & Supply is here to help.
Take a peek at our new sister store (!!!) and use code HELLOHELLO for 10% off your first order. I promise you won’t regret it!