Sustainable fruit and wegetable grosery bags

More and more cities (San Francisco, LA, Modbury in Devon England,...) have banned plastic bags from super markets and shopping malls. Still waiting for your hometown to follow suit? Do your part by implementing your own personal bag ban: Stock up on reusable shopping bags (hit up Envirosax to purchase a well-designed set of five, or go the DIY route and sew your own). Avoid leaving stores with new bags at all costs, and find a way to re-use the ones that have made their way into your home. One method of keeping them out of the landfill: Crocheting another plastic — but reuseable — bag yourself.

Taking your own tote shopper with you gives you something to carry your shopping home, but what to do with those small vegetable and fruit bags? You have to pack your veggies somewhere to weigh them! A few Etsy sellers have an exellent alternative - tulle fruitbags. The see-through material means the cashier can read the produce number/barcode, and the bags can easily be washed and reused. A few dollars gets you a variety of sizes and colors from fabrik.etsy.com and ficklefaerie.etsy.com.

Ecological home cleaning range - Ecover

First of all I rarely write about stuff that´s not related to DIY or recycling, but this time I´ll make an exeption... A lot of us buy organic food, secondhand clothes and other sustainable products. But what about the chemichals you use to clean your home and doing your laundry? I´ve discovered a new ecological product range this week - Ecover. This company is not exactly news, because they have been up since 1980. Ecover has been a trendsetter from the very start: as a pioneering company, it marketed a phosphate-free washing powder even before phosphates were branded as a problem. It´s environmental policy extends to all departments of the company, from production to marketing.

Ecover offers a full range of home cleaners from dish washing tablets to household cleaners and laundry washing products. Even non-chlorine bleach and shower gel! Their website lists all ingredients used in the products and packing materials. I have now changed all possible home cleaners in my house to Ecover and wll continue doing so as soon as my local supermarket widens their selection (in Finland Ecover is available from Stockmann and Prisma). They clean as good as any other brand + I have a clear concience. I highly recommend them.

Here are some reasons to use Ecover instead of conventional cleaners:
- quick and complete biodegradability
- minimum impact on aquatic life
- against animal testing
- detergent agents are vegetable based, no petrochemical based ingredients
- fresh perfume from plant based ingredients
- no residue of unnecessary chemicals
- some products also available as refill
- packages are 100% recycable

“Environmentally friendly“ detergents do not exist. Detergents are always a burden on the environment in one way or another. Ecover strives to keep this burden as low as possible. Production is aimed at minimising the noxiousness of the products for water life and guaranteeing rapid and complete biological degradability. Ecover primarily uses plant raw materials and commonly occurring minerals. Petrochemical raw materials are as good as completely excluded as they are mostly poorly degradable and often poisonous for water life.

Ecover has been awarded recognition and prizes on many occasions for its special contributions and achievements in the field of environmentally sound, sustainable development. Perhaps the most prestigious recognition was being named to the Global 500 Roll of Honour of the United Nations Environment Program, which was awarded to Ecover as early as 1993. Outstanding!

Katharina Ludwig contemporary jewellery

Katharina Ludvig is a jewellery artist that I found recently through Bientot Demain blog. Many of her works are about the study of the jewellrys relationship with the body and how the pieces change when introduced to the elements.

The Organ Bottles
"The human body consists to over 70% out of water. The value of water lies in its necessity for the body and all its functions. The body is our most precious tool and we deal and work with it every day. The water bottles in the shape of inner organs, worn as accessory on the body, let you experience the weight and volume of water and remind you of the importance water has for your body." Organ bottles are made of: wool, aluminium dringking cap and silicon drinking pouch. I´d love this project even better if the wool would be organic (or recycled sweaters). But the design is stunning. To me these pieces are a constant reminder on how we should preserve water since our bodies cannot survive with out it. It also proves an another point in crafting, that if you need to make something look comfortable, just cover the whole thing with knit.





Ice jewellery
As a Finn I love ice. It has an organic texture that reclects light beautifully. These pieces made from metal (gold) jewellery chain/ring/earring base and ice. The metal base or chain is submerged in an ice-cude container and frozen. When the piece is worn it melts and therefore changes its shape until it is complitely gone. I concider this as the eco-lovers bling! These pieces are a perfect statement on global warming. The design is genious and simple DIY-project for home crafters (at least the necklace). And the best part is that it can be remade again and again. Always in a different and unique form.





Pigment shirts
Katharina has designed also tees that have small crums of pigment color added to them. Invisible to the eye until you pour water on the garment. A changing fashion art piece that would go perfectly with the ice jewellery!

Natalie "Alabama" Chanin interiors

Alabama Chanin is a sustainable label by designer Natalie Chanin. I adore her style in interior design and creating unique decor pieces. Her home textiles have some beautifull embroidery and the lamps are just pure trashion. She also has a sustainable eco-label that produces clothes and jewellry. Her "necktie-chair" is of course my favorite!



Now where could I find those gorgeous cow jaw-bones to make my own bonelamp....

The story of stuff -documentary with Annie Leonard

The story of stuff -documentary with Annie Leonard

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. This documentary exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

I think this is a good documentary from an important issue made in a cartoon form (suitable also for children). You are able to download the documentary from the website for free distribution or order a DVD.

Eco-fashion fantasies and Earth Pledge FutureFashion Show 2008

I was reading Jill Danyelles´s blog The Laboratory today when I found her post on Earth Pledge FutureFashion Show 2008 held January 31st just before NY Fashion Week started. In this post she makes are very good point in critisizing the shows designerlist and basic purpose. I mean it DOES seem a bit hypocritical that most of the designers on this eco-fashion-show just did this one outfit for FutureFashion (that´s not even going to be manufactured for sales) but have done nothing or hardly anything for changing their selling labels more sustainable or organic. If brands produce eco-frocks like these, they could have at least be auctioned at Ebay for charity... But no. They just ended up on display at Barneys departmentstore window. It´s a shame.

You can have a look at these gorgeous FutureFashion outfits and other show coverage at Style.com, Treehugger, Inhabitat, Fashion Windows blog and Fashionista.



I read all the articles that I could find about this show and I was happy to see that the show (plus the eco-textile industry) got a lot of good press. But I still agree with Jill that this could have been handled sooo much better. I think the show should have been organized complitely with labels that are all ready 100% sustainable fashion design. The consumer masses need to be proven that sustainable can be ultra fenimine and gorgeous as it it when done correctly. Which is why I would have loved to see more color in this FutureFashion show.. Ecru is classic but a bit boring.

Many major fashion labels have occasional launhces of small organic collections, but honestly how long do we have to wait until Dior, Prada or more maintream labels like H&M and Zara go complitely sustainable?? Only a small part of the fashion community has realized the potential, possibilities and responsibility of sustainable fashion. If you want the masses to follow the change has to be made on corporate level since it´s going to take way too long for all the world to edjucate themselves on eco-materials and sustainable fashion consumption.

You would think that fashion CEOs would realize the marketing potential of eco-fashion. The technology of making organic fashion is all ready available and in use. It´s just a matter of will to make the change from conventional production to organic in brand-large-scale. If I would be one of those CEO´s I´d make sure all my designers are trained to know the full production lifeline and eco-materials so they would make the best of them in all our collections. I mean if the designer does not think sustainably, then who does?!

Just imagine if a international brand H&M or Gap would announce they are now 100% sustainable. We could go there to shop fashion with out bugging the floorstaf with stricky questions about the origin of each item and material... And you would find shops in almost every city you could think of shopping in.

Another fashion fantasy I have is to someday shop in a sustainable departmentstore where every item available from clothes to the bagels sold in the cafe would be eco, fairtrade or sustainable. Of course all sales staff would be trained to know what they are selling... But hey, a girl can dream, right?

Eco chic - the savvy shopper´s guide to ethical fashion

I found Matilda Lee´s Eco chic - the savvy shopper´s guide to ethical fashion last weekend from my favorite craft bookstore. I don´t read that many books (with no pictures..) but this blew my mind. I devoured this one in two days.

It is a very good cross section in today´s clothing and fashion business (everything from labour, materials, production, recycling...) and how it effects our precious planet and how to make your wardrobe more eco. I loved that it had a lot of actual numbers and figures but in a readable form plus great easy tips on how to shop greener. I think if one should criticise something they should also give an alternative. And this book did just that. Half of Eco Chic was about the problem and the other half about the solution. I also contained a lot of eco-brand names, organizations and other related info´s that I will check up later.

I thought I had a pretty good idea on how fashion should be consumed and how clothing recycling works, but apparently I had just scratched the surface. It raised so many questions and red flags in my mind about my own cosumption habits. Inspired by this book I have decided to take the Jill Danyelle pledge and attempt to make my wardrobe at least 50% sustainable this year.

If you buy one book this year, buy this. I will write some highlight from it later this week to give you a better idea on why I call this my new "shopping bible". You can buy a copy at Amazon.co.uk or win one from a competition hosted by Fuk.co.uk HERE.

Organic vs. Remade clothing

I´ve been wondering a long time which is more ecological way to consume fashion, by customizing and buying remade or buying sustainable and eco-friendly products. My question was answered when I found this from GreenLAgirl.com in their QA column.

From GreenlAgirl.com:
Question: What is more eco-friendly: recycling clothing fabrics to create a new fashion item, or buying something new that’s organic? Maybe I’ve asked you this before. I have an idea for making a particular style of clothes, but I’m not fluently knowledgeable about the fashion world. -Trudy

Answer: Hey Trudy! The quick answer: Reusing / recycling beats out buying new stuff pretty much all the time. The reason: New stuff inevitably takes more energy to produce — water, fuel, etc. — than reused and refashioned stuff. As Umbra at Grist points out: All textiles, as currently manufactured, require large volumes of water throughout the manufacturing process. Spinning, dyeing, weaving, scouring, sizing — all involve flushing the threads or fabric with water at one point or another, and often that water comes away contaminated with chemicals used earlier in the process.

Granted, you’ll be doing away with the chemicals if you stick to organic clothes — but these new clothes will still take tons of energy to produce. Besides, opting out of the excesses of consumer culture’s the new hip thing :P Of course, sometimes new stuff’s necessary! Used undies are generally not a good idea, for ex. But I always suggest that people try to get their clothing items used FIRST, then if that’s not possible, going for organic.

You asked specifically about making new fashion out of old clothes — which makes me think you might be interested in Armour Sans Anguish, a cute girly company that makes sexy new refashioned fashion. Check out their Golden Shirt Dress to the right, avaliable at my friend Summer’s store BTC Elements. Best thing about remade fashions: Your outfit’ll be envied, but no one’ll be able to copy that unique style.

Photos from Armour Sans Anguish

Trashion creativity from Gary Harvey

Wellcome to my blog. I started this up to share fashion links and people that support sustainable style. Recycle + fashion = trashion.

Gary Harvey is Levi´s creative director. I have to say that his trashion/DIY collection for London fashion week was very trashion! Especially that dress made from trench coats and laudry bags.. See also the Editorials and that gorgeous kimono made from denim jackets... Very creative.

See the collection at http://garyharveycreative.com/

Why sustainable fashion?

Many consumers think that not buying polyester clothes is an enviromental deed. After all, polyester is made from oil and it does not desolve after trowing away. Cotton on the other hand is a natural fibre, but it does not make it any better...

About 25% of agricultural pesticides are used on cotton, causing major water pollution, chronic illness in farm workers, and devastating impacts on wildlife. In the United States, cancer rates in states that produce cotton are significantly higher than in neighboring states that do not. The acidic chemicals used to process synthetic fabrics find their way into our rivers and streams, lowering the pH and destroying ecosystems. Materials such as bamboo and hemp are faster growing, more durable, and more renewable than conventional textiles.

Sustainable fashion is within reach and need not limit the range and quality of products that designers can offer, from couture to sportswear to home furnishings. By promoting eco-friendly products such as organic cotton, organic wool, corn fibers, recycled fabrics, biopolymers, natural dyes to industry and consumers, we can prove that style and sustainability can coexist – creating market demand and improving our environment and health.