Fashion impact

**Reblogged from November 2011**

I know there are even more things that I could do to make my life greener (like stop smoking..), but clothes is something that I know, so for me it has been an easy place to start. As you can see from the chart below, just buying clothes that are made from organic cotton, does not contribute much to the green movement (about 10%) although ad-men would love to convince us otherwise... This is the reason why cheap fast fashion brands that have try to clean up their image by lauching a small "green collection" every now and then do not get me jumping up and down from happiness. It is pure green washing for the brand. Instead you should have a good look at your own closet and the ways that you use to clean up and keep your clothes. 

Consumer care amounts to almost 30% of the enviromental impact of your fashion consumption. That is the same amount as manufacturing impacts. It really makes a huge difference what laundry detergent you use and the way you take care of your wardrobe. I use Ecover (ecological) and soapnuts (complitely organic) for washing mine. Especially the soap nuts have been a positive surprise. They are 100% natural so they do not have a chemicals that could cause alllergies or bleach that fades colors in my clothes. I use them mostly on my denims as a lot of them have elastane and chemical detergents destroy it. I have also reduced the amounts that I machine wash my clothes. Instead I try to use them as many time as possible and take out to freshen up. Washing laundry less contributes to your community directly as it effects the water and energy use of your home. 

I buy most of my clothes second hand which actually is a type of "locally produced". 20% of the enviromental effects in the textile industry come from logistics. Second hand clothes usually comes from near by communities so the logistics effect is minimal compared to imported clothes. Second hand clothes are recycled so the effect for raw materials and manufacturing is 0%! And if I feel like doing some impulse buying, I always go shopping from vintage and second hand to keep my fashion addiction at an acceptable level. I do buy some of my clothes and shoes new, but when I do, I make sure they are from quality materials and with a classic design (in my personal taste) so they do not break fast and I can keep using them for many seasons. 

 Check out the Household textile enviromental impact calculator the next time you inventory your wardrobe (yes, you should do that!). I do this clean up at least twice a year and take out all the clothes that I have not used in a year to UFF, Fida or other charities. This way if I´m not using them they are recycled fast so someone else is still able/willing to buy them while they are still in fashion.

 

"From the design board to the tumble dryer, textile manufacturing has a huge environmental footprint. It pollutes as much as 200 tons of water per ton of fabric, uses a suite of harmful chemicals, and consumes tremendous amounts of energy for steam and hot water needed in dyeing and finishing processes. Compounding this situation is the fact that the industry has migrated to countries abroad with still-developing environmental regulatory systems, such as China, India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, seriously degrading local drinking water resources. Starting in China, the world’s largest center of manufacturing, NRDC’s team visited more than a dozen textile mills and selected five ‘typical’ dyeing and finishing mills for in-depth pollution prevention assessments. The assessments revealed ten simple, practical, low-cost, and quick payback opportunities to reduce water, energy, and chemical use." From Environmental Challenges of the Textile Industry - NRDC (Case study China). Although their message is clear, I think the NRDC missed an important recource is this video - recycled materials. They already exists in the market, are locally recoursable and If we´re going to keep consuming so much, they must be officially harvested better into textile business. Make them a fashion business! Top photo Jeannene Walker.

Perler Beads High Fashion by Sabine Ducasse

Photos: Sabine Ducasse.

This is my philosophy in trashion:

If you know and can do a craft/artisan technique, any technique, take it out of the original context and put it in a form and function of high fashion. Trashion is born.

"As DIY crafts go, perler beads are about as simple as they come — lay them out, sit an iron on top for a few seconds, and they’ll stick together. (We won’t say ‘easy’ because even perler beads are easy to screw up.) While our creativity was limited to ironing 2-D representations of our favorite cartoon characters, designer Sabine Ducasse’s Melting Pot collection wraps a wearable, iron-melted sheet of the little dots around a person. Ducasse’s retro style pops off her model, bending around the shoulders like a set of pixelated wings. Even the styling is retro, in an 8-bit, psychedelic way, but Ducasse’s throwback to old toys was modern enough to win her a scholarship at the International Fashion Academy. The contest’s “East Meets West” theme was perfect for the French-born, Shanghai-based designer, whose collection saw the hemispheres and the decades literally melt into each other." 

Via Wired.com

Fighting against time

Photos: Mikko Rasila

It´s going to be a bit boring here for the next days/weeks as I´m finishing my book materials for the publisher.. But I have not forgotten about you! Bare with me. A few more weeks and then it is off to print. Can´t wait... to get an 9 hour sleep again. Can´t remember what that felt like. 

My DIY fashion book (with 30 clothes customizing tutorials) will be published mid October (in Finnish only).
Other fun stuff and surprises coming later this month for all my readers! 

Also, I´m planning to visit Dublin/Ireland in October! 

More about that later when things are confirmed... Stay tuned.

:D

Watermark for safety

Yesterday I found a blog in blogger that has copied my blog 100%, all posts. As this probably is the works of some evil computer program with the soul purpose to lure my readers to their site and install viruses and other crap, I will not link the blog here as I don´t want anyone clicking the link.. But the thing that I found a copy of my blog is not important (that´s my problem, not yours)...

But what was good, is that again I remembered how important it is to watermark your images to protect them from misuse. It does not need to be a huge print over the image, but a logo at some corner. Maybe even add your blog address to it with a small print. It will not prevent copying and doing a watermark makes the posting a bit more slower as you have to Photoshop all images one by one, but it is worth the trouble.. Like in this case this watermark is the only proof that I have that this other blog is the copy and mine is the original.

Matter of Style does the picture watermark beautifully. See her blog for examples.

I have reported the copyblog to Google. Hopefully they will shut it down soon.

I´ve Only Just Begun - the short music film by Elias Koskimies

"March 2012. Law that banned "homosexual propaganda" was signed in St. Petersburg, Russia.

August 2012. Venuz Vulgar started his long journey to save his imprisoned friends.

He wasn't alone.

People like Venuz never are."

Usually this blog doesn´t feature things not related to DIY fashion, but occasionally I will make an exception.  I´m deeply concerned with the St. Petersburg "homosexual propaganda law"effective this March and the treatment of the Pussy Riot members in Moscow in the recent months. For those who have not heard about this law, it for example prevents gay couples of holding hands and kissing in public on the streets of St. Petersburg. Some want this law to effect all of Russia. Three members of the feminist music collective called Pussy Riot were arrested in March for performing a song against Vladimir Putin´s election campaign. They have been jailed since. Human rights are taking a big step back in our east neighbor Russia and it is just wrong. We are not living in the Middle Ages anymore.

Two weeks ago I had the privilege to be a part of making a short music film by director Elias Koskimies called I´ve Only Just Begun. "I've Only Just Begun is dedicated not only to activist Nikolai Alexeyev and Pussy Riot but all the fearless people under the rainbow." he says. Elias wrote the story of Venuz Vulgar and his group of friends (some might call them "freaks") travelling to St.Petersburg to free their friends. On their way they meet (and fight) different groups trying to stop them. Over 60 people came together and made this short film among them film/media professionals and regular people like me supporting the act. I played one of the neonazis in the film.

"God Created The Rainbow For People - Not For Gays." 

Being gay is not "propaganda". If we (all people on earth) are ever going to get our shit together and stop fingthing each other we need to stop worrying about who loved who and who do you call God.

If you feel as strongly about having the right to be who you are, please sign Amnesty´s petition to free the Pussy Riot girls and share this video. 

DIY vintage t-shirt treatment

Photos: Happenstance + Men´s Health. Via True Blue me And You.

Second hand shops sell more and more "new" clothes so finding an authentic vintage look is not always so easy. Men's Health released a tutorial on how to treat your new t-shirt with some basic household supplies to get the worn look. In addition to the soda treatment and sanding the print, also the neckline and sleeve openings have to be treated lightly with sandpaper. Neck opening should be stretched a bit when it comes off wash. For these treatments use more patience than force. A good vintage treatment takes time. If you want to change the color to a more older looking yellowish tone, let the shirt soak in a bucket full of strong espresso coffee for a day or two.

What you need:

1/4 cups (1/2 dl) sodium carbonate washing soda

2 (5 dl)cups salt

fine-grit sandpaper

new T-shirt

Recycling clothes - a dieing business?

I orignally posted this back in August 2008, but since the title is still valid (more than ever actually), I´ll repost this for my new readers. 

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One of the things that I was surprised (and shocked) to read from Matilda Lee´s Eco chic - the savvy shopper´s guide to ethical fashion is that if things continue the way they have for the last ten years, the business of recycling clothes will eventually go OUT OF BUSINESS. It´s not that the world will run out of clothes and accessories but the quality of our clothes has degraded so much that an increasing number of them are not reusable or recycable anymore. In 2007 in UK less than 8%(!!) of all donated clothes actually ended up being resold in charity shops. A part are recycled as industry wipe cloths and others shipped as charitable aid to the third world countries. Some 7% are not even woth being recycled or further donated, so they end up in landfills. And this is just the clothes people bother to donate to charity. In the UK three out of four unwanted clothes a thrown straight to the bin with out the chance of being reused.

All the donated clothes come to the sorting centres as bulk so there´s no way of for the company to know how much of it can be reused or recycled. Sorting and shipping tons of clothes is a timeconsuming job that of cource costs a lot of money even though the material is "free". The recycle companies also pay for each unusable rag-ton that is dumped as landfill. And the tons are piling up. In the year 2000 some 65% of our donated clothes were still recycable in some way. In 2007 the number had dropped to 40% because we buy more and more poor quality rags. Eventually the waste costs of our donated clothes will be higher than the profits recieved from reselling secondhand. Get my drift? No wonder clothing recycle companies have so little percenage to give to charity since most of it is wasted in sorting and driving our polyester rags to the landfill... So what can you do? Here are my suggestions. 

First, don´t buy shit. If you do deside to buy new clothes, make sure they are of good quality (preferably eco fibres) so they will survive to the second and third round. Buy secodhand as much as possible. Secondly, take good care and repair your clothes and accessories so they can be worn longer. Or customize them to a more fashionable and unique form. A new additional alternative is to arrange clothing-swap-evenings with your friends to exchange fashions with out money. Third, if you have clothes in your wardrobe that you do not use, donate them now. Fashion trends have become so fast that your clothes will "expire" if you hold on to them too long. And who wants to buy them then? Don´t throw any away. Fashion-swap is also an alternative. Here´s a good article about what happens to your donated clothes by Paula Bock for The Seattle Times if you´re intrested in reading more about this issue.

DIY tutorial - Alexander McQueen De Manta Clutch

A Matter Of Style made a tutorial for Style.it on how to make the Summer 2012 Alexander McQueen De Manta clutch. The text is in Italian but the images are really good and you can find the English text from A Matter Of Style. There are many variations from this bag so check them out before choosing your materials.

Via True Blue Me And You.

10 places to find inspiration

Most of my inspiration comes from the internet. I browse through thousands of images in a week at fashion runway collection sites, Tumblr, Pinterest and Bloglovin. Because of this I have about 50 000 inspiration images saved on my laptop and it is an easy place to start a project. Plus I can always refer to my earlier blogposts. But sometimes the internet is not enough. After hours of sitting inside typing it gets a bit boring and inspiration / motivation can get lost. The Beautiful Mess girls made a list of their 10 places to get inspired (outside of the www) and I thought I also should share mine. After all there is life outside the net.

1. Coffee shop

Have a cup and just watch people. Listen to their stories and read a book or a fashion magazine. Use the time away from your laptop to draw something or just scribble to your note book. 

2. Museums

I´ve always loved museums. My favorite place in Helsinki in the Natural History museum. Stuffed animals, the bone collection and thousands of insects. Just walk, photograph, study and admire the wonderful design style (shapes, colors and textures) of nature. Some people rather see these things in the woods, I´ll take my walk inside the stone halls.

3. Library

What they don´t have, you probably don´t need. Books with pictures, books with poetry or unbelievable fairytales, beautiful illustrations. Also the silence of a library is a good distraction from your normal hectic life and give that boost of concentration you need for your project.

4. A random walk / bike ride / road trip

Take your camera and go explore your neighborhood. Walk/bike to places you´ve never been before. Flip a coin to turn left or right. Take pictures of everything on the way. Geo-tag them so you find them again if needed. If you´re lucky you might find a new interesting shops or stumble upon a trash container for some unscheduled dumpster diving. If nothing else, you get some fresh air to clear your thoughts. Remember good shoes and a bag for found treasures.

5. Second hand shops

I´m sure your neighborhood has second hand shops that you´ve never visited. Take a day, mark them all to a map and take a tour. Try on everything red.

6. Antique stores

Every town should have an antique shop that sells curiosities. We have one in Helsinki. I love the guy who runs it and it is a good spot for something extraordinary. And a cup of tea.

7. (Old) book shop

If the library is the place for finding information on newer things, the old book shop is good for some vintage flair. I usually look up old comics, 60´s trash novels, biology and nature books (for graphics) and art books. 

8. Art exhibition

Art inspires me. I study the compositions and colors. Especially humoristic art made with recycled materials is a good place for a trashionista to get going. I feel many people are affraid of art as they feel they should have an educated opinion on it. I never do.. To me art is subjective, if you like/dislike it, you do, and that´s all. No need for explanations.

9. The hardware store

I adore hardware stores. They are filled with small metal knick knacks and other useful glue / paint / plastic / chain thingies that I have no idea what they should be used for. But I can think of a few other places to put them, like clothes and accessories. 

10. Beyond your comfort zone

Most of the good stuff happens outside your comfort zone. Do something that scares (but does not stress) you, break a routine. The feeling that you get from achieving something (could be a small thing) you didn't think you´d do is such a rush and very good for inspiration!

Photos: Timo Santala / We Love Helsinki, Pinterest and Laura Lawson.

DIY idea - garter leggings

Even though I´ve always thought that leggings are not pants, these look mighty nice. You´ll need scissors, suspender clips and a sewing machine.

Inspiration photos via Nasty Gal.