The Green Stylist

I Love Eco loves smart design especially when it is carried out with as much thought and consideration as Dr. Kate Fletcher “Local Wisdom” project. I must first apologize for not writing an article on Kate ages ago… I’m so sorry Kate!  I began several articles and threw them aside with frustration because they never truly explained your accomplishments and beautiful ways of thinking about sustainable fashion.  I continue to learn and be inspired by your projects. With that said, I would like to announce the project, “Local Wisdom – A unique fashion project recording and celebrating the clothes-based ingenuity of our communities.” Visit the Local Wisdom project website for further details about the research event and how to participate and what clothing to bring to the events. The research events will take place in Totnes, UK on Saturday June 6th 2009 from 10am-4pm in association with Transition Towns Totnes Sustainable Makers and in Bollington, UK on Sunday July 5th 2009 from 10am-4pm a part of Three Shires Textile Festival. I hope it’s a huge success!

About the Project:

Good ideas happen everywhere and often involve creative acts with the things we have around us, like our clothes. These creative actions and ideas are rarely acknowledged and never make it onto catwalks or business agendas, yet we think they have potential to help solve some of the problems we face as a global community.
The Local Wisdom project recognizes, honours and gives credit to the many creative ideas and actions that involve our garments. These acts typically need little money or materials to make them happen, but instead tap into an abundance of experience, ingenuity and freethinking. This project captures and celebrates this ‘local wisdom’, uncovering its value and giving it a platform to flourish and inspire. Local Wisdom is a research project funded by London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.

What it involves:

Gathering stories about garments using photographs and spoken testimony from volunteer members of the public in two regional UK towns. The public will be invited to bring along garments that:
• are shared between people
• are enjoying a third, fourth or fifth life
• have never been laundered (and aren’t leather!)
• have the character of a particular place in them
• surprise you each time you wear them
• have been let out, tucked in, re-worked, embellished
• show the careful attention of their creator/owner
• can be added to and taken away from (but are wearable both ways)
• make you feel part of a community (but not a uniform)

Outcomes:

Photographs, information and oral histories about garments
from the grassroots whose design and use saves resources,
helps us form strong connections with each other and builds
an awareness of the world around us.
Fashion ‘events’ that recognize and encourage a community’s
potential to create its own future.

No Comments | In: Care & Use Phase, Local Sustainability, Needs & Consumption, News, Recycling, Reuse & End-life | | #

The Emancipation Network came onto my radar in the form of a Christmas gift shown above.  Good design that is organic and fair are my favorite things and I wanted to share this little zip purse.  First, the design aspects.  It is contructed using plastic bags that are held together with twine and it is lined with cotton muslin.  It’s quite a tight weave and I love the technique that was used (it is similar to the way kitchen rag carpets are made).  The colors are great, I love the diagonal layout and for a little clutch it’s pretty well thought-out.  There are many other products to chose from on the MadeBySurvivors.com online store.   Second, I’d like to highlight the Fair Trade and ethical aspects of this purse.  You must give credit to movies and the capabilities of video to send a message because the film, “The Day My God Died” by Andrew Levine inspired the founders, Sarah Symons and John Berger of The Emancipation Network to get to work.

No Comments | In: Ethics & Fair Trade, Local Sustainability, Materials, Needs & Consumption | | #

Fashion should not get left out of discussions with respect to global warming and pollution. Textile and clothing account for 7% of global exports according to the Climate Network Neutral division (CN Net) of the United Nations Environment Protection (UNEP) agency. It is also estimated that we dispose of as much as 1 million of textiles every year. What does that equate to? Chris Jordan’s amazing photographs captures this tragic reality. To some, fashion is a simple means a necessity and to others is represents their identity, their mood, their passions and their expression in a world where we are slowly looking like each other. Are you a trendsetter? A classicist? If so, what is classic to you? Let us all try and consume less by buying pieces and respect our planet!

2 Comments | In: Needs & Consumption | | #

(clockwise from Top Right)

• Katherine Hamnett “Clean Up Or Die” organic cotton jersey T-Shirt.  The phrase may not be in true Holiday spirit, but the message cannot be ignored to insure future generations a Happy Holidays. £40.00.
• Gaiam’s printed Prosperity Yoga Mat is subtle and stylish.  I absolutely love what this company stands for, they provide wonderful products and services promoting a healthier lifestyle.  $22.
• I Love Eco cannot get enough of Alba’s Pineapple Quench Clear Lip Gloss!  Made with certified organic emollients, such as sunflower oil, beeswax and enriched with pineapple and Vitamin E it makes your lips truly shine. $4.95. (Alba’s shampoo’s are SULFATE-FREE as well)
• 100% organic cotton Fruit & Veggie Toys for the babies.  $6.50 each.
• This Ecoist Chica Rosa clutch (in black) is adorable and versatile to match any outfit!  $39.
• It’s been pubslished everywhere, and I hope it makes it under your tree.  Solio’s solar powered charger for all your portable gadgets.  $99.95 at SustainableNYC.
• Pacifica’s Soy Candles make great gifts.  1.5oz. $22.
• Cozy up by the candle with Loyale’s “Pomeroy” throw made from 100% organic cotton faux-fur & 100% organic cotton twill lining.  Made in NYC as well, which is nice for anyone living locally.  $196.
• Organic perfume using synthetic and preservative free oils and alcohol by Tsi-La.  Visit their website for the complete collection, sizes and prices.
• If you’re able to splurge, for that special someone, in these economic times why not ensure a carbon free ride to work, to the grocery store or for pleasure with a bicycle. The UK company,  Brompton makes wonderful models that fold-up if you have a quick ride from the train or maybe you could breathe new life into an old vintage bike (like the one shown) and fix-it-up with a new basket and bell.
• Remember… REDUCE REUSE AND RECYCLE!
• On the note of recycling, why not spare those plastic bags from the landfill and buy a handmade tote made from recycled plastic grocery bags by Julia Lauren (julialauren.etsy.com).  Don’t miss the other handmade goodies on Etsy. Totes $30.
• And for the person who has everything there is Organic Avenue’s L.O.V.E. program.  Currently only available in NYC they prepare organic, fresh, vegan smoothies, soups and salads daily and can be delivered right to your door – it’s quite the eco-service!  For more information about the company, visit their website.

No Comments | In: Design Services, Ethics & Fair Trade, Local Sustainability, Materials, Needs & Consumption, New Technologies, Organics & Toxicity, Recycling, Reuse & End-life | | #

The beautiful city of San Francisco banned plastic water bottles last year, as did Seattle, and in April of this year, Canada banned the import, sale and manufacture of baby bottles made with polycarbonate.  Whether the reason is to save money, withhold tons of waste from entering landfill or to protect our future generations from a harmful chemical called bisphenol-a (BPA) that mimics humane hormones, the message is clear, North American cities and governments are taking action.  Just look at all of the reusable grocery totes available now.  Hopefully you’re choosing to use one like ours, at I Love Eco, that is made from certified organic materials and printed using water-based inks (and within a closed loop system)… I personally use my “Sans Plastique” tote for a book bag, since I’m always reading. But in case you LOVE fashion and crave a little more design than a basic tote I’ve found an alternative that I wanted to share: Devi Kroell “Multi” bag in black python & rose nylon, $890 - Devi Kroell “Multi” bag in turquoise alligator & grey nylon, $2690.  Aren’t they beautiful and clever at the same time?  While the designer, Devi Kroel may not have had the planet in mind when designing this bag, it’s a breathe of fresh air in a sea of tote bags and it can cleverly zip-up to fit into your handbag.Do you think it’s wrong to incorporates animal skin or nylon canvas (plastic)?  I do, but it’s not that simple.  At the risk of sounding like a sucker for designer bags, I would love to wear this beautifully crafted luxury tote.  This may sound like a departure from my usual critical reasoning but it would be the perfect grocery or shopping tote and it’s far more stylish that ANY cheap, disposable, MADE IN TAIWAN plastic bag that stores dish out. Also, without meaning to, this post has nicely introduced another important sustainability concept: Short-life vs. Long-life.

The Devi Kroell line uses high quality materials and are beautifully made in timeless styles.  Therefore, her collection is a perfect example of long-life goods, you buy them once and their quality and classic lines are sure to last for many years.  (The ever famous Hobo shape is shown here). On the contrary, a short-life item is disposable, usually very trendy, is purchased quickly without much thought and is discarded in just the same way, adding garbage to our landfills. Ideally short-life goods should be made to biodegrade completely or be made of materials that can be recycled completely, so that nothing retires in landfill.Saving our planet will come in many ways and nothing is black and white.  Until we are caught-up and educated on the many life cycles occuring simultaneously around us and until every manufacturing industry considers the end-life of a product, it is ideal for us to use (consume) less and strive for a medium ground.  Buying a classic handbag that you will cherish for years is a perfect example.  Tonight, I think I will dream in the color rose. Sigh…

No Comments | In: Materials, Needs & Consumption | | #

Children in Africa play in our discarded t-shirts from long ago carrying logos from North American companies. The examined life of a t-shirt brings a filmmaker to question and explore the consequences of the second hand clothing industry. Executed to perfection and written as a narrative by Shantha Bloeman, this film examines the global free market and Zambia’s debt to the World Bank and how our used clothing devastated a nation.

The film industry is one of the greatest exports in America, inspiring new generations to look and dress the way we do; but this documentary will show that it’s not the only thing we export that has a dramatic cultural, economic and environmental impact. Third world poverty in Zambia is shown in a way that I couldn’t even describe and the film coherently explains how poverty is related to the free market and Zambia’s debt to the World Bank. Essentially our second hand clothing is a global commodity that has undermined indigenous textiles industries in third world countries.

“Every single clothing factory in Zambia went out of business; we do not have a clothing industry left in the country because of the secondhand clothes are coming in.”
-Mark O’Donnell, spokesman
Zambian Manufacturers Association

I definitely recommend reaching out to purchase your copy, email: info@filmakers.com for further information. The official website for T-shirt Travels can be found HERE. You can also tract a t-shirt from New York to Zambia HEREand watch videos with individuals from the film including an interview with Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director – The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

There is no clip from the movie that I could find, so instead I’ve added a presentation by Pietra Rivoli, Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and author of “The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy”. This book shares the same concepts found in the documentary T-Shirt Travels as it follows the lifespan of a single t-shirt – from harvesting the cotton in Texas through the shirt’s manufacture in China to its eventual sale and a new product in the U.S. and as used clothing in Africa.

So what can we do to help? We can buy clothes that are classic in design and fit so that instead of constantly buying and discarding, we are buying, mending and passing them down the way some jewelry pieces are passed down through generations. Also, ideally we should buy clothing that are organically grown with toxic free dyes that can be safely biodegraded back to the earth (WASTE = FOOD) or purchase clothing that can be recycled to provide inputs for the manufacture of other goods (or the same goods).

I hope that this post raises awareness about the issues involved and that it will encourage designers to really examine their work before it’s made.

No Comments | In: Local Sustainability, Needs & Consumption, Recommended Reading, Recycling, Reuse & End-life | | #