Eco Fashion Network Meeting in Berlin

Last weekend during the Berlin Fashion Week we organized a network meeting with Karmakonsum for the German eko fashion scene. 35 designers, shop owners and bloggers got together in Bio Restaurant Diwan and had an inspiring and fruitful evening. It was fun, next time we'll be probably more again... the scene is growing...

On the pictures: Magdalena Schaffrin, 500Godz, Bransparent, Jovoo, Armedangels, Karmakonsum, Slowmo. More pics of the meeting at Karmakonsum's Flickr

The Premium exhibition was rather disappointing. Less green brands than last time, and less international. The Green Area does not have a policy on which brands are "green", so everyone can buy a green spot. And is a bamboo floor really the right thing? If the Premium wants to keep the green thing going, they have to invest in it big time. Otherwise they might miss the boat.

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

Eco Luxurious Fashion by Fin

Eco luxurious lifestyle? Check out the sleek and original presentation of the Norwegian luxurious eco fashion brand Fin (yeah, a bit confusing name in this case). Don't forget to press 'next'...

Fin shows eco fashion from it's best LOHAS side. Their clothes are made from organic cotton, wild silk, and organic alpaca. Not something to wear while camping or mountain hiking. But half naked chic can be quite eco after all.

Canadian Athletes to Olympics with Eco-Friendly Uniforms

The Canadian athletes going to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will wear sport clothing made from organic cotton, bamboo and Cocona, made from Coconut waste.
Not that all bamboo is always so environmental friendly (it consumes a lot of water and is hard to make only using chemicals), but it's a good step forward and can reach a large audience for eco-wear.

“I’m happy that Hbc took the time to consult with athletes on the design of the team uniforms and has created cool, eco-friendly outfits that will meet our needs in Beijing," said rhythmic gymnast Alexandra Orlando of Toronto, who has already qualified for the Beijing Games. Most of the pieces will be available for sale as replica wear through Hudson‘s Bay Company (Hbc) outlets.

Via: G-Spotting

Pamoyo: New Green Fashion Styled With Heart

We launched the new Pamoyo site and Pamoyo collection during a short trip to The Netherlands, making it a truly nomadic clothing label. And it took a few days before I noticed I did not even announced it here on the blog. Well, here we are. You are warmly invited to spread the word about this new born green fashion label!

Pamoyo was founded by Frans Prins and Cecilia Palmer to design a fashion label with green vision and creative edge. Prins & Palmer are known as the initiators of the Berlin Fair Fashion Affair and the Grass Routes Foundation.

The label works community based, the collections derive from a growing, creative collective of young designers. Pamoyo is the first Open Source Fashion Label under a Creative Commons license. Patterns and designs of Pamoyo clothing are published online for non-commercial use. The Pamoyo blog reports on green fashion and sustainable lifestyle.

One-of-a-kind collection "Styled with heart"
All items of the “STYLED WITH HEART” collection are unique, one-of-a-kind pieces made from high quality organic cotton and vintage elements. Every piece is hand made and unique. Integrated recycled materials and a rough sewing style make them feel authentic and exclusive. The collection is inspired by samples of street style and an ironic re-use of retro images and sub-cultural identities. Actually the most fun is the Pamoyo Webshop, where you can order your own one-of a-kind vintage element with your shirt.

Pamoyo supports sustainable development and creative competences in local communities. From the online sales, two Euro per sold item goes to social-environmental projects.

Find out more on www.pamoyo.com and read the interviews with the designers

"Change the World with Style": Presentation by the Grass Routes Foundation

Dear friends and all interested,

We invite you to a special evening on Thursday the 15th of May in the SelfHub in Berlin, where we will present you the projects and ideas of Grass Routes in a creative way, to inspire you and to provoke you to think and act yourself. Central topic of the evening is “How to Change the World with Style?”

We invite you to a special evening, where we will present you the projects and ideas of Grass Routes in a creative way, to inspire you and to provoke you to think and act yourself. Central topic of the evening is “How to Change the World with Style?”

Grass Routes is a young, international NGO based in Berlin that combines creative thought and social pioneering with sustainable development and lifestyle.

We will present you our vision and projects, and in an active workshop brainstorm and explore with you the potentials of combining creativity and sustainability as core values. For Grass Routes, using art and style is more than a good marketing strategy or working method. Creativity is the soil for creating change from the grassroots.

About a year ago we started Grass Routes with the wish and urge to create new, innovative projects that combine creative vision and sustainability. In January 2008 the Grass Routes Foundation was created and we are preparing to make Grass Routes a spinning centre of projects, ideas and vision.

We will present you upcoming projects such as the upcoming Berlin Fair Fashion Affair, the new, community based Green Fashion Label Pamoyo, a Sustainable Fashion Agency, an online database project and international trainings for young designers.

All visitors are welcome to participate in the celebration of this new organization.

Looking forward seeing you,

Frans Prins & Cecilia Palmer
Grass Routes Foundation

Thursday 15. May 2008 19.30 hour
Adress: SelfHub, Erkelenzdam 59-61, Berlin Kreuzberg, www.selfhub.de
Price: voluntary donation
Open for: everyone
More info: www.grass-routes.org

Programm:
19.30 Welcome
20.00 Fashion Performance by Pamoyo
20.15 Vision Statement & Presentation of Projects by Grass Routes
21.00 Workshop “How to Change the World with Style”
21.45 Afterparty

Please note that the event has been moved to the 15th of May!

Images by SelfHub and Pamoyo

La Mode Ethique: Guide to Ethical Fashion

La Mode Ethique is an international guide of ethical fashion brands and designers. The website, which is still in development, lists a good choice of labels. Of all the listings so far, this is until now the best one. A shame of all the google ads around, and also the flash thing is a bit unfunctional, but it is a great source and also professionals can still find a lot of new, cool designers here.

I also just wrote about Bransparent, another promising listing of ethical brands, who do a sustainability check up with every brand they ad to their list.

Still all these listings are far from complete. We created a much longer list of labels as any list we found on the internet so far. Maybe we should sell it over e-bay ;)

Sexy Swimwear from Recycled Plastic Bottles by Aaron Chang

Off course most natural and ecological is to swim naked. But for all those occasions where that's not an option (not everyone owns a private swimming pool or beach) it's cool to have some eco options. New on the green fashion horizon is Eco Swimwear.

The new line of swimwear by Aaron Chang, a famous surfer and photographer, is made from 100% recycled plastic soda bottles. Due to the succes he is converting his entire line to this 100% recycled plastic fabric. Additionally all of Aaron Chang's cover-ups (shorts, tops and dress covers) are made from 100% organic cotton.

Via: Feelgood Style

See also: Hautenature
Image: Aaron Chang

Chic, animal friendly footwear from Georgette

Always wanted something else on your feet than snake or cow? Well there is some alternatives around. One of my latest discoveries is Georgette.

The shoes of Georgette look great. And they are not just looking great, but also totally vegan and animal friendly. Georgette has a store in Antwerp and a online boutique.

The funky footwear of Georgette is crafted by small family businesses in Italy and Spain. They promise to use nonleather and eco-friendly materials.

Celebrities Wear Cool Vintage Salvation Army "50|50" Shirts

Run for the latest Salvation Armee shirt before they are sold out! Join the celebrities! Get that unique shirts!

Cool Salvation Army Shirts? Really?

The Dutch Salvation Army just presented it's new shirt collection under it's label 50|50 Shirts with great media attention. Last collections, sold at the large warehouse Bijenkorf, were sold out faster than expected. The new collection was shown on some Dutch celebrities, and is made from remade clothing screen printed with graphics from some popular designers. When celebrities wear Salvation Armee, you better leave your Prada's in the wardrobe ;)

Source: Hetisgroenenhet

Brand New Sustainable Style Blog: Feelgood Style

The amount of blogs on sustainable lifestyle and green fashion are a good sign that the item is still gaining more popularity around the globe. The newest one is Feelgood Style. Just launched yesterday, but already proving to become an interesting source on the topic of sustainable lifestyle and beauty topics.

Feelgood Style is a weblog about beauty with integrity. The site is devoted to the future of sustainable fashion, beauty and health that balances substance with style. The blog is part of the Green Options Media network, based on a community of committed sustainability authors.

Besides, and not all to little important, one of the authors is me! Please read my first entry on the Feelgood Style blog: Are You a Fashion Victim or a Style Activist?

Win the First Ethical Fashion Price in the UK: The Re-Fashion Awards

The Re-Fashion Awards are a new Awards for Ethical Fashion. The categories will cover retail, manufacture and consumer campaigns. Awards will be made on the basis of improving social, environmental and economic standards in the fashion supply chain. According to the Awards organization, winning entries will need to prove their style credentials.

"The public are embracing ethical shopping in terms of what they put in their bodies and what they smear on their skin, but when it comes to fashion the vast majority of retailers and brands need to up the ante. The RE:Fashion Awards are needed to inspire and motivate action." Wayne Hemingway, Fashion Designer

The Re-Fashion Awards are organized by Anti Apathy , the brains behind fashion label Worn Again, The Ethical Fashion Forum and Futtera, who created Swishing; the eco-fabulous clothes swap parties.

Sources: The Ethical Fashion Forum, Drop Dead Green, Re-Fashion Awards

International ethical fashion teaching initiative

Always wanted to get something more out of your fashion or sustainable fashion know how? Well, go teaching on ethical fashion! Still most fashion schools do not have any program on social or environmental aspects of textile and clothing production. Even if they want to, how to gain all the knowledge?

The Dutch and Austrian departments of the Clean Clothes Campaign, the British Labour Behind the Label, and the Polish Humanitarian Organization are running an education project directed at students and teachers at fashion schools in these countries. On the websites of the project there are some helpful links and infos; including free teaching materials. Hey teachers, where are you waiting for?

Source: Het is groen en het
Image: Fashioning an ethical industry

eco chique summer dresses by Beau Soleil

There is a whole fashion market called eco-chique, and it's proving the new eco spirit has little to do with old eco spirit. Beau Soleil is a stylish green clothing brand from New York, for the ones who enjoy a chique green lifestyle. The dress on the picture costs $275.

The designer, Anne Salvatore Epstein, started the label after reorganizing her own lifestyle from extra-ordinary luxury into a more conscious and green one. Epstein uses fabric made out of bamboo, a sustainable material, vegetable-dyed organic cottons and vintage, tencel, which is made from eucalyptus trees, as well as recycled leather trims.

Perfect dresses to wear on a sunny Eastern buffet, for the ones lucky enough with sunshine in their garden and their wallet...

Through: Chic by Nature

Go with the green flow: on sustainable skateboards

Going green...over the pavements. Brazilian innovation group Let's EVO and materials developer Fibra Sustainable Design Materials have created a funky, sustainable skateboard. Go with the green flow!

The cover layers of new eco skate board model are from Papunha Veneer, produced from the waste of the sustainable palm-heart industry. The second layer is a composite formed by 70% natural fibers (jute, malva and curaua) and 30% post-production recycled polypropylene. The natural fibers of this material are also produced fair trade. The heart of the board is from 3-ply Organic Bamboo, grown without chemicals and in a sustainable model.

Other sustainable skateboard models: Arbor’s and Sector 9’s.

Sources: Treehugger, Haute Nature

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...

Over 20 Supermodels Support the EJF Organic Cotton Campaign

More than 20 top models, including Irina Lazareanu, Coco Rocha, Catherine McNeil, Caroline Trentini, Siri Tollerød and Behati Prinsloo, have now been photographed in EJF’s ‘Pick Your Cotton Carefully’ campaign t-shirts. Most of the pictures were are taken by fashion photographer Eric Guillemain. The successful campaign by the Environmental Justice Foundation for cleaner cotton production has been gaining attention worldwide.

The organic cotton t-shirts are designed around the theme of “childhood, lost innocence and hope” to represent more than a million children around the world forced to labour in cotton production.

The shirts are for sale and support the EJF cotton campaign www.ejfoundation.org/shop

Eco fashion spotting: Gibbous, recycling fashion from LA

"From the freebox to the couture house"

Gibbous is a small recycling fashion label from LA, very creative one-of-a kind items with Victorian style elements, which they also sell through their own webshop...

through: wearing the future

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 & Recycling Fashion in Nuremberg (Germany): Duenda and the Glore Store

The best things come per coincidence. Yesterday I travelled to Nuremberg to visit the BioFach Messe, the largest professionals fair on organic products in the world (more reports later). I had my trip last minute booked through the German online carpool network Mitfahrgelegenheit and a very guest friendly host through the couchsurfing network Hospitalityclub. Altough I did not meet the guy hosting me, he just left me the key of his appartment and let me stay here in trust. There's still hope for humanity.

Creative decorations and recycling fashion by Duenda
When I arrived in the city I went looking for a cosy cafe with internet. After a unsuccesful detour through the romantic Nuremberg city, I stumbled over a small designer store called Duenda, which turned out to be a small cafe as well. Everything in this shop is made by the owners, a young German-Spanish creative couple full of wonderful ideas. Shoes with two big toes, uneven furniture, tons of fantastic decorative things and above all very worked out designer clothing with uneven cuts and handpainted drawings. A small, artistic universe and a great place for coffee as well. By the way Jordi, thanks for using your internet!

Cool Green Fashion in the Glore Store
From Duente it's over the bridge and you're at the Glore Store, Nurembergs Green Fashion Store. "Look fabulous, do good" is their motto. My first impression of the shop: colourful! Not only the pink store logo on the window, also the clothing was daringly outspoken in colours. I've seen some ethical fashion stores like Nukuhiva in Amsterdam, where black and grey have been dominating. I like green fashion on the creative side. The Glore Store combines classic ethical fashion brands like Howies, Kuyichi, or People Tree, streetwear styles from Nudie, Tudo Bom and the Berlin label Slowmo combined with cool screenprints on American Apparel shirts. Also a good selection of sneakers from Terra Plana, Blackspot, Ethletic and Veja. A good store concept that we will hear more of in Germany, I hope!

see also earlier report on Glore by Karmakonsum