Social Impact & Sustainable Shopping
Great experiences and doing good aren’t a trade-off. These verified shops, markets and social enterprises put your spending toward fair wages, local makers and community projects.
Baixa
A haberdashery championing Portuguese heritage wools from native sheep breeds.
★ 4.5
$$
Lavapies
A restaurant with a twist, run by the charity Mensajeros de la Paz: paying diners at lunch fund a proper sit-down dinner, served with waiters and tablecloths, for people experiencing homelessness at night. Eat well, and do genuine good.
★ 4.6
$$
Latin Quarter
The fabled English-language bookshop opposite Notre-Dame, which still houses writers above the stacks.
★ 4.6
$
Centre
A beautiful four-floor cafe-bar-restaurant, art space and shop run by the Shedia street-magazine organisation, employing around 30 people who were once homeless – its chefs trained by a Michelin star. Great food, a lovely heritage building, and every euro doing good.
★ 4.7
$$
A curated second-hand and vintage boutique and meeting place gathering sustainable fashion sellers, plus circular services like rental, redesign and alterations.
Esquilino
A vast reclaimed building near Santa Croce turned self-run community and cultural hub – home to concerts, theatre, workshops, a craft-beer lab and social projects supporting the families who live there. A very different, grassroots side of Rome.
★ 4.5
$
SoHo
Sustainable luxury fashion: cruelty-free, vegan materials.
★ 4.9
$$$
A non-profit chain of second-hand stores that funds work training and support for people from disadvantaged backgrounds; its Remake line upcycles old textiles into new pieces.
A Leith social enterprise tackling waste by repairing and reselling electronics and furniture and running community repair workshops, diverting tonnes of goods from landfill each year.
SoHo
Luxury consignment extending the life of designer goods.
★ 4.6
$$$
A well-loved vintage and second-hand chain with several Brussels branches, offering curated pre-loved fashion at friendly prices.
Liben
A gentle “quiet cafe” staffed since 2011 by deaf and hard-of-hearing baristas – order by pointing or signing, and enjoy good coffee and cake in a calm space that doubles as job training. Kind and quietly special.
★ 4.6
$
Dalston
A charity fashion shop reworking donated clothes to fund garment-worker projects.
★ 4.4
$
Various
A heart-warming social project born in Berlin where refugees and locals cook and eat together – cooking classes led by newcomers, shared meals and events that build friendships across cultures. Book a class for a delicious, genuinely connecting evening.
★ 4.6
$
A well-known Finnish thrift chain with several Helsinki stores, dedicated to sustainable fashion, with sale proceeds funding humanitarian aid projects around the world.
Union Square
GrowNYC’s flagship farmers market with ~140 regional, producer-only growers.
★ 4.5
$
Le Marais
The French sneaker label built on fair-trade Amazonian rubber and organic cotton, with in-store repairs.
★ 4.4
$$
Wieden
A gloriously cosy “grandmas’-living-room” cafe where seniors bake the cakes and serve alongside younger staff – a social enterprise fighting old-age poverty and loneliness. Come for the famous Germ-Buchteln and a slice of Omas Kuchen.
★ 4.6
$