Green Fashion Stores by Oxfam

In London, NGO Oxfam has redesigned it's stores to become eco-fashion hotspots. Located in trendy areas, they sell donated designer items, and a mix of fair trade and organic clothing including chic stuff from Chloe, Stella McCartney and Junky Styling. "Re-invented" pieces designed by fashion students ad an extra vintage fashion touch. Cool concept!

Via Treehugger

Upcycling Goes Big with Kraft

Greenwashing or not, Kraft Foods stepped in to a cooperation with Terracycle, a creative upcycling company that takes packages and materials "that are challenging to recycle and turns them into affordable, high quality goods".

As the press release states, Kraft will become the first major corporation to fund the collection of used packaging associated with its products. Well, that's great, but off course they might be able to do more about reducing waste as well...

At least those Terracycle bags are great looking and the effect of such a large scale project shouldn't be underestimated.

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

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

As Fast as Taking your Clothes Off: Drap Art International Recycling Art Festival in Barcelona

Drap Art is an International Recycling Art Festival, this year the 19th, 20th and 21st of December 2008. The festival promotes creative recycling, through the organisation of festivals, exhibitions and workshops. The festival has an OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS to send in their creative materials and inventions before May 17th.

The Festival's intellectual background towards Recycling gives it an interesting perspective on the whole issue of recycling. Some quotes:

"Drap-Art’s aim is to enhance creative recycling as a tool of transformation in the arts, the environment and society. Recycling, reusing and recuperating revaluates things. This, not only helps to induce a more reflexive consumerism, but also contributes to the growth of respect for the environment and for the people living in it, leading towards cultures based in knowledge and respect. Moreover, creative recycling is a global and multicultural phenomenon that occupies a significant position in the popular arts and crafts, in all societies of the world. It was introduced into western art by the avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century, and towards the end recycling has entered the world of design and architecture."

"Now that a desolate future, provoked by an unsustainable global growth presents itself more and more clearly, Drap-Art considers that it is of utmost importance to animate the new generations to use recycling, not only as a tool of criticism, but as a device at the disposal of everybody to transform protest into positive proposals, which are the seeds of a more sustainable world."

Recycling Art Contest
Get your creative recycling objects on the international stage!
Send in your stuff:

MODALITIES:
Interventions in public space
Workshop of live creation
Drap Art group show of recycling artists
Shows (theatre, marionettes, dance, concerts or performances)
Audiovisuals (video, movies, documentaries and video art)
Art, design and crafts Market.

Deadline: the projects must arrive before May 17th, 2008 at La Carboneria, Drap Art Gallery, c/ Groc 1, 08002 Barcelona.
More information: Tel. + 93 268 48 89, info@drapart.org, www.drapart.org

Source: Haute Nature

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

Recycling fashion with Recycle Your Jeans

Recycle your jeans is a business that turns your own old jeans into new, funky sandals. You send them your old pair of jeans, and they make a pair of shoes or sandals out of them. The sandals are made in the UK.

Cradle-to-cradle-fashion
Quite a fun cradle-to-cradle recycling concept. If this kind of projects really reduce carbon footprints, as the company suggests, I doubt, but recycling old jeans into sandals sounds sustainable enough. A new wave of creative recycling attempts is on it's way and there are more and more advanced techniques to recycle old products into new ones. Often it's even invisible for the consumer, in example with some of the clothes of Patagonia.

Here in Germany I hear people being quite skeptical about using recycling in clothing, well these kind of innovative projects will hopefully set foot here as well and change the attitude!

Recycled Juice Pouch Gown: eco-fashion statement by Nature vs Future

Recycling fashion is still on it's way up. Now organic cotton is getting into the mainstream market, trend hungry eco-fashionistas need something different again. Well, this one-of-a-kind dress is quite a statement!

The dress, by designer Nina Valenti of Naturevsfuture is made from thousands of recycled ‘Honest Kids’ juice pouches from Terracycle . Each pouch was cut into different size squares and mounted on to a silk taffeta lining creating different patterns that cover every inch of the dress.

Cradle-to-cradle fashion
After the recent Itialian mafioso trash scam here comes the trash glam! After cradle-to-cradle architecture, a concept where buildings are up to 100 percent sustainable and partly biodegradable, we are approaching cradle-to-cradle fashion. Next season you will eat your dress, baby!

source: Inhabitat

Re-Fashion: how your old Tee becomes a Slow Fashion statement

Do you also wonder what to do with this dear old shirt, and do not dare to throw it away because of all the memories sticking to it? Now here is your chance to actually give your old shirt a new life where it`s story is not washed away, but traveling with it.

Re-shirt.net is an online shop, collecting old shirts and documenting the life journey of every Re-Shirt around the world. Where normally a shirt get's less value while being worn, Re-shirts become more valuable while becoming the centre of a story and being worn by different people. Ever shirt get's an orange tag with an identification code. And the longer a shirt circulates, the more interesting it's history becomes...

Artistic statement
Re-shirt is initiated by the creative entrepreneur network Shapeshifters and more an artistic statement against overconsumption and the bad effects of conventional clothing production than a serious approach to get all the old shirts of the world send to Vienna with their stories and all.

Slow Fashion
Actually, this shirt action turns around the whole perception of old clothing! A piece of clothing is getting more valuable with the story it collects, and so fashion designers have to suggest this stories with advertising, image building, using retro prints, etc. But in reality, the story of your grandmothers dress is more exciting than that new Vutton bag, isn't it. Let's be slow!

With all the Fashion Fairs around, Slow Fashion gives a good contrast: