Korrekte Klamotten: Meeting the German Eco-Fashion Scene

Under the name Korekte Klamotten a group of German eco-fashion labels have started a collective blog to share their news about new collections and upcoming events. The blog is started by the shirtlabel Fairliebt and until now Slowmo, B-Green and Gluecksstoff have contributed to the blog.

It shows that currently the ecofashion scene in Germany is developing dynamically. This weekend it's Berlin Fashion Week and this Saturday we organize a Network-meeting for the eco-fashion scene together with Karmakonsum. In a few days all forty chairs were booked, and we realize how much is going on at the moment.

We have Noel and Christoph from Karmakonsum and Sjörn from Konsumguerilla over for a little Konsumcamp and will hit the Fashion Week with a green guerilla all together. Be aware!

Image: new collection by Gluecksstoff

New Report by Clean Clothes Campaign: Sportswear Brands Still Violate Workers Rights

Unlike all new attems of companies like Adidas to become a "responsible" company, a new report by the Clean Clothes Campaign, published today, states that in the sports wear industry the situation is still inhuman.

The CCC report shows that the addressed companies have gained enormous profit growth during the past few years. The profit of Nike and Adidas in 2007: $2,199,900,000 and $1,088,393,584.

The question is always: what can one do? Most companies have created a nice looking CSR and brands like Nike and Adidas come bring some cool "sustainable" products to the market. But with these enormous profits, and the described excesses, it's clear that they have the financial power to change the working circumstances a bit. If they really want it. Well, why not just do it?

Based on interviews with sportswear workers in four countries, the report Clearing the Hurdles shows that violations of worker rights is still the sportswear industry norm, including in workplaces producing for Adidas, sponsor of the Beijing and London Games and numerous national Olympic teams, and other key companies in the sector, such as ASICS, Puma, Nike, and New Balance.

Read the full report here

German social fashion label Armed Angels launches new collection & website

Social fashion - for the label Armed Angels this means more than organic cotton and fair trade production. The label also involves their online community in deciding over the models, print designs, and to which charity the 3,33 Euro per sold
item goes to. Based in Cologne, the label is rapidly growing, being one of the few young green fashion labels in the whole country. Watch their new collection and website, they are promising...

Brave new shirt: wireless chips in our garments

Thousands of garments sold at German warehouse Galeria Kaufhof are equipped with small, almost invisible wireless chips that can be identified and traced through radio frequency. The shop that sold your garment can trace the product day and night, and because you payed with a membership card, they know who you are, and can use all data related to the travel of your nice new shirt. Brave new shirt!

RFID Technology
The chips are part of an innovative pilot project of the Metro Group. It is to be expected that the fast developing RFID technology will be implemented on much larger scale soon. Not only in your clothing, but in products, credit cards, shop gifts, etc.

The possibilities of this new technology are almost endless, for all they are a great tool for companies to know every movement of their sold items and the attached consumers. And what about a chip in the clothes of your child: you always know where they are. No kidding, this is already practice...

sources: International Herald Tribune , Wearing the future , RFID Journal , Wikipedia

upper image is showing the 'medical' usage of RIFD technology; as the image shows, the chip can be swallowed (Technabob)

The sex appeal of ecofabulous lifestyle: green girls, stoere vrouwen, ethical girls and veggies in pumps

Hip, green lifestyle is growing more and more beyond the borders of classical, conscious consumer groups. In several countries there is a rise of groups and initiatives of mainly female consumers that want to shop ethical but sexy.

More and more online media and sustainable lifestyle magazines come to light, but also initiatives driven by consumers, such as the Dutch female collective Stoere Vrouwen, a network of succesful and stylish women promoting ethical consumption with playful actions. There is aslo several cool vegetarian initiatives, in The Netherlands in example Veggie in Pumps. Particularly interesting is that these initiatives do not target towards conscious consumers, or LOHAS, but to lifestyle addicts, fashionistas, people who care more about style than about the world.

The blog of German eco-fashion label Armedangels just attended me on the green lifestyle blog Green Girls Global, luckily also with a male version: Green Guys Global. In Germany the womens magazine publisher Burda started Ivy World, which also targets much more towards lifestyle consumers than towards conscious consumers.

In England there are in example the Ethics Girls, publishing a printed magazine as well. Also recently there are several recently published handbooks for the stylish ethical women, such as Green is the New Black, Green Chique and Eco Chique. I just started reading them and will write a review on these books soon. Also the site of La Mode Ethique gives quite a good, stylish ethical fashion shoppers help, with over hundred ethical fashion brands and designers.

Be ecofabulous and enjoy!

green is sexy and organic underwear is getting hot

Green is sexy - and new cool green fashion is combating the old eco-stereotypes succesfully.
And new organic underwear lines are giving green lifestyle a fresh, kinky sex appeal.

If you consider trying out some eco-clothing, underwear is not the worst to start with, because you don't really want chemical leftovers direct on your intimate body parts, do you? And some new organic underwear lines really give organic a new image. Also conventional lingerie producers start to take up the topic of sustainable production, as this article describes. A marvelous example of sexy green underwear are the collections by ethical lingerie brand Enamore (picture). For more info on organic underwear, see this informative blog post or read this report by green guide Inhabitat, handing you some last minute tips for Valentine...