Kelly Saltzman wants to protect the planet. She uses mason jars and paper straws. She works for a company that values becoming more sustainable. She cares about wildlife. But when she assessed her consumption habits a few years ago, she noticed one area of her life that was lacking in the environmentalist department: clothes shopping.

That realization eventually led to her creating Awoke N’ Aware, a fully sustainable, ethically sourced apparel company, with her boyfriend, Cory Yefet. The apparel industry produces a huge amount of pollution, and Saltzman’s sartorial choices didn’t always fall in line with her other values.

“I was like, that’s something that I can change while still dressing well, and I’m sure other people would want that opportunity to do it, as well,” she said.

Saltzman didn’t act on her realization right away. One day, while on a vacation, Yefet asked Saltzman what she would love to do, and Saltzman said that her dream was to better the planet for wildlife. Yefet had a list of ideas on his phone, and one of them was selling hoodies and donating the proceeds. That very day, they started working on a plan to create an apparel company that would donate part of its proceeds to wildlife charities, and continued working on it for the rest of their vacation.

It was only when they got home and started doing further research into the apparel industry that the pair decided to prioritize ethically sourced materials and sustainability. They tried to shop according to those values and knew how difficult it was.

“And we realized, as we started researching the industry more and more, that it’s impossible to shop well for the planet. And our thought was if we’re trying to save wildlife, then it doesn’t make sense to be destroying the planet. Like for every shirt we sold, one tree is cut down, or 700 litres of water is used, or whatever it may be,” Saltzman said.

“If we’re going to help wildlife, we need to help the planet, too. We didn’t want to just be a band-aid solution, we want to go right down to the deepest level and say, how can we fix this problem from the root?”

For Saltzman and Yefet, fixing the problem from the root meant starting the entire process from scratch. They took over a year to plan their business and ensure they could create all of their apparel using sustainable, ethical processes. For example, Yefet said that included finding organic cotton or vegan dyes. He also mentioned bamboo and cork as sustainable materials that are growing in popularity.

Awoke N’ Aware launched at the Green Living Show in Toronto earlier this year. Its first products were a line of t-shirts featuring a sketch of an animal on the left breast – either a rhino, an elephant or a polar bear. A portion of each sale goes to help protect the animal on the shirt.

The response at the Green Living Show was well beyond what either of them had imagined.

“It was 10 times what we expected. It was so busy.… It was just wild. People really resonate with the fact that you can buy shirts that are done the right way, that make you feel good,” Yefet said. “Seeing people wearing it was a really, really special moment. We had people buying it, and then wearing it around the show for the rest of the day, because they liked it so much.”

The couple is encouraged by their early success, which has been replicated at every show they’ve attended, but recognize that, if they want to make a lasting impact, they’re at the beginning of their journey.

“I would say that we’re feeling good, not great.… I think that there’s so much work to be done still,” said Yefet. “One day, our vision is to say, ‘We had X impact on this change,’ (on) what we’re really passionate about, the reasons why we started this company, which is first, wildlife, and second, the planet.”