Sounds of Sirens: How to Link Consumerism and Holistic Principles?

For some time I met Lars Schmidt, together with his partner Steffa Roth running their project Art & Ecology Education. Because of the name I guessed there was a connection with Grass Routes, as we work with creativity and sustainability as key values. We have been exchanging ideas and vision a few times, and for me it is interesting to confront our projects with ideas deriving from deep ecology and permaculture. It forces to think more precice about consumption again: can we really consume just better? Is that the whole solution? LOHAS or simple living? Organic cotton from Africa or locally sourced textiles? We will continue this dialogue and plan to make some workshop or event out of it.

Lars is also running a nice blog in English and a bit of German: Sound Of Sirens. The blog deals with topics from the areas of sustainable living and management, Corporate Social Responsibility, De-Branding, the environment and culture: "one of the main questions being if, and if yes: how, modern lifestyle and consumerism can be linked to holistic principles." A few nice interviews such as with the people behind the Sustainable Dance Club.

Grass Routes at the SelfHub in Berlin

The SelfHub is a 'club for people with ideas'. It fuses the best of grounders centre, library, cafe and office lounge. The SelfHub is part of an international network of Hubs around the world and the first one in Germany.

We found this an excellent place to present our vision and create an inspiring evening for everyone in Berlin interested in our projects. Be there! Spread the word! Change the world with style!

Notification: the event is moved to the 15th of May!

Click here for more info

"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

Looking for a Ride from Berlin to the Karmakonsum Green Camp

On May 30 there is a LOHAS marketing Conference in Frankfurt (Germany) accompanied by a Green Camp on the day after. I'm at least going o the Green Camp to meet up with other bloggers and entrepreneurs in the field, I like the Open Source concept of the Event and it's something very energetic in this new movement.

If anyone is going by car from Berlin and has a seat free, please let me know!

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?

Happy birthday to Grass Routes!

We started Grass Routes a year ago with some vague ideas and a three months trip to visit sustainable projects in Europe and Turkey. Meanwhile, Grass Routes became the Grass Routes Foundation, we did some fun projects such as the Fair Fashion Affair, and we are full of new upcoming projects and lots of vision.

Most of our current activities are related to sustainability and fashion. In the future we hope to broaden up again and cover a wider spectrum of projects related to creative sustainability.

We are looking for a new office place with space for creativity and growth. And we are forming a professional collective around us to be able to do all the projects we invent. In about a month we will launch a new website, blog & house style. We will keep you updated!

Happy birthday!

Frans & Cecilia

Green Chic - Saving the Earth in Style

Can we live a gorgeous green lifestyle without giving in on the comfort of our luxury consumption habits? There is a boom of new conscious and green lifestyle magazines and advertisements that promise us that the new green is all about luxurious and quality living. They say LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) do not give in with consuming less, they choose for a lifestyle of conscious hedonism. But how is that possible?

Trendy green lifestyle
After a wave of articles on the issue of trendy green lifestyle, lately more and more guides on green living are being published. I read two books for chic women, women who care about their style but are also concerned about our planet. Both books are stuffed with tips on how to live green in a stylish, enjoyable way.

Green Chic
Green Chic, Saving the Earth in Style is a book by Christie Matheson, who helps her readers changing their lifestyle towards a more energy saving and conscious one, while staying chic. A lot of attention goes to tips that help reduce CO2 emissions.

Green is the New Black
Green is the New Black, how to change the world with style, by Tamsin Blanchard, is focussed on style issues such as being a green fashionista, designing your own clothes, green weddings and holidays.

Showering less
In first instance I fell for the design of Green is the New Black, but even with style handbooks it's not all about the looks! Actually Green Chic is a better practical guide and goes a bit further in green lifestyle tips. While the first hangs a lot on style details and is written for women who can't resist their consumerist addictions, Green Chic dares to get her chic readers into showering less or changing their fashion habits completely. Green Chic contains a lot of open doors, such as "eat more local, organic whole foods" but also some serious background information on the sustainability of different textiles.

Green fashionista
I liked Green Chic because it went into changing your lifestyle towards more quality. The best part is the advice on changing your wardrobe. She advices you to "edit" your whole wardrobe until you only have clothes that you really, really love wearing. And to get rid of everything else. An interesting starting point of becoming a green fashionista...

Less is more
To come back to the dilemma weather luxurious green consume is possible, I believe the green chic lifestyle should not just be about endless luxury consumption. Green products often carry a special quality that cheap or conventional products don't have. But above all green living is about enjoying quality above quantity. In supermarkets you are tricked into all kinds of psychological discounts, and in the end you always buy more things than you need. Since I exchanged supermarkets for shopping at local organic stores and the organic week market, I buy much less and enjoy much more of the products I consume. It is a luxurious lifestyle just buying organic food, but it does not costs me more than my former consume habits. Really! So the best way to enjoy a green chic lifestyle is to give in on the quantity and go for the quality. Less is more.

There is also two new books on ethical fashion with alike titles: Eco Chic, The savvy shoppers guide to ethical fashion, by Mathilda Lee; and the almost released Eco-Chic, The fashion paradox, by Sandy Black.

Switching off the light on global scale: join Earth Hour on March 29, 2008

It's night and the sky is... orange....green...or pink. In a large part of the world real darkness is unknown, caused by electric light pollution from cities, street lamps and green houses. Researches shows that unlighted highways are as safe as lighted, and offices and green houses can also function without lamps at night. There is more and more awareness for the topic, and some great initiatives to turn of the light.

During Earth Hour on Saturday, March 29 at 8 pm, cities across the globe will be powering off electric light for one hour. Lights and unnecessary electrical items will be turned off from San Francisco to Bangkok. 24 cities, thousands of businesses and millions of people are expected to participate.

And if we can organize this successful for an hour a year, why not do it a bit more often?

Romantic nights stop global warming
The event takes place from 8 pm-9 pm local time, regardless of the location. There is no reason for not joining. The only thing that could happen to you is paying a bit less on your energy bill. A good opportunity for romantic candle light dinner and a moment where people on global scale will be aware of the energy they use. With all the attention for climate change, this event has a huge potential.

sources: Grist Magazine, Triplepundit, Earthhour.org

Boom of community based ethical consumer sites in Germany

In Germany there is a boom of new, community based ethical consumer websites that are being launched. One of the most successful of these on the moment is Utopia.

Another initiative with some good names behind it is New Ethics, both German and international. But they are still a bit in a starting up stage. Also a good one is Weltretter. Other sites working partly with a community are lohas.de and ivy.de.

It is a shame that some of these 'community based' sites choose a rather commercial strategy, which might weaken the purpose they say to stand for. The question is if conscious consumers want to connect their ideal word with too obvious product placements. But in general it is a good sign that so much of these initiatives are being set up, and that ethical consume is getting on the trendy side here in Germany as well.

Recently I joined the (invitation only) network FairDo, which gave me a good feeling being in a more real online community again. All the communities you join but somehow do not relate to that much, or never visit after registering, mean a lot of wasted time. Hopefully there will be technology in the future where your different communities interact with each other...

LOHAS Conference and Green Camp in Germany

The German eco-lifestyle experts from Karmakonsum organize a LOHAS marketing conference on May 30 and 31. LOHAS stands for Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability and is said to be a large, new upcoming and long lasting lifestyle movement connected to a more sustainable consumption.

Next to the conference there is the Green Camp, organized as an open space for networking and exchanging ideas on several sustainability related topics. I am excited to come there because it could very likely have the right mix of creative activists, bloggers and green entrepreneurs, and have a good inspiring spirit. Joining the green camp is free of charge.

LOHAS marketing conference
On the conference there are several German specialists speaking, including representatives from the Club of Budapest, green fashion agency Good True Beautiful, cosmetics brand Dr. Hauschka, newspaper TAZ, organic supermarket Basic, and the green bank GLS.

LOHAS- green lifestyle or marketing concept?
Sometimes I can have my skeptical moments about the whole LOHAS thing, because it often presents sustainable products and lifestyle as luxury. Good strategy from a marketing perspective, but the LOHAS marketeers should be aware that being exclusive is a risk to exclude as well. Off course in the end sustainable lifestyle should be normal and not something for the ones who can afford it. Meanwhile it is better to be positive and promote green lifestyle in whatever way. In the end it is about the way you live your life so let's see if we can make a real green lifestyle movement out of the LOHAS marketing ideas!

Biofach bloggers: interview with Grass Routes by Karmakonsum

Christoph and Noel from Karmakonsum interviewed several sustainability bloggers during the bloggers meeting on the BioFach organics fair. All in German, but giving a good insiders view in the bloggers scene.

Also check out the other BioFach Bloggers:

• Alle Infos zum Bloggertreffen
• Andrea Nienhaus - alles was gerecht ist
• Andy Brandl - Blog-Abfertigung
• Christoph Harrach - Karmakonsum
• Det Müller - Lohasblog
• Frans Prins - grass-routes.org
• Fritz Lietsch - Nachhaltig Wirtschaften
• Gerhard Schoolmann - gastronomie blog
• Gerhard Zirkel - Waldbog
• herwig Danzer - Nachhaltigkeitsblog
• Hohannes Korten - Jazzlog
• Horst Klier - Leben ohne Diät
• Isabel Strohschein - Laufsteg Breite Gasse
• Kirstin Walther - Saftblog
• Klaus-Peter Baumgardt - Fressnet
• Manuel Rosenboom - Vitalgenuss
• Matthias Metze - viva-vino biowein
• Michael Wenzl - Farmblogger
• Milo Tesselar - biorama Magazin
• Noel Klein-Reesink - Karmakonsum
• Peter Parwan - Lohas.de
• Ralf Hense - Kleinsthof
• Reto Stauss - Nachhaltigbeobachtet
• Roland Dunzendorfer - Landscaping Blog
• Sandra Trummer - Erleben, Leben und Sein
• Sjörn Plitzko - Konsumguerilla
• Sophie Scholz - fairdo
• Thomas Geiger - Photopoolblog
• Thomas Hölzl - Stoibär

Reports from the BioFach: in search for organic cotton

Everything organic on the BioFach? Maybe for food it mostly was. But visiting all the textile related stands on the BioFach, I had some remarkable encounters. At a stand where they had a good looking offer of organic cotton materials, I asked if they only did organic cotton. Immediately the lady took a large box from under the desk, and presented me proudly all their non-organic cottons. At another stand I was overwhelmed by the large offer of sportswear and caps, but wondering if they were organic, it turned out that about ninety percent was not at all.

Okay, the BioFach is not supposed to be a leading fair on organic textiles, but there shouldn't be sold just conventional textiles either. Especially because there is still a lot of confusion on what organic textiles are. Luckily these were exceptions and I had a lot of good experiences as well, meeting nice people of small ethical brands, producers, and shop owners, representatives from MadeBy, Solidaridad, Pesticide Action Network, etc.

How to label sustainable clothing?
I visited also the discussion forum "Organic cotton - how to label sustainable clothing?". A rather complex question, with no answers yet. Alexandra Perschau from the PAN Germany described the problem of the labeling towards the consumer: there is hardly any recognition with the existing labels, there are too many different ones and the consumer does not have any clue on them. They have more knowledge of brands than on labels.

The central problem around how to label sustainable clothes was described by Jenns Soth from Helvetas. You can have a certified organic fibre, but what about the end problem? There is a legal gap in labeling organic textiles because you can not yet label non food items as organic in
Europe.

One quote from Helvetas sticked to my ears. They claim that in the organic cotton sector the partnerships are stronger than in the conventional, resulting in a higher loyalty and responsibility from the farmers. Logical, because there is more time and energy spent on training the farmers, and often worked with social programs, support of forming collectives, etc. But my conclusion is, that this could mean that actually the organic cotton production model in the end could be a more reliable business model.

Helvetas announced on the forum, they are working on Emission Certificates for textiles. What sounds like a good initiative of reducing carbon acid, also came with a lot of questions: does it reduce the miles a textile is transported? Is it right to give an emission certificate not for the whole chain but only for the production process?

Track & Trace your clothes origin with Made-By
The most interesting in the quest for a good labeling of sustainable textiles was the presentation of the Made-By initiative, who are expanding this year towards the UK, France, Germany and Sweden. According to research, for most companies reputation is most important when it comes to CSR. But for companies investing in CSR it is crucial to understand that CSR should be their business principle, and not only a strategy to produce a better image.

MadeBy offers clothing companies a way to clean up their production process, they give practicle support and monitor the results. Also the brands get a blue botton stating that the piece of clothing is produced under the MadeBy criteria. A very up to date part of the project is a Track & Trace tool, where consumers can check where exactly their clothing are being made, under which circumstances, and even see the people who made their piece of clothing. Just by entering a unique code from your jeans you get all this information, including the locations your jeans have been on google maps.

Hopefully there will come a more clear labeling for organic textiles soon, what will help the consumer a lot in choosing the right product. But meanwhile there are a lot of interesting initiatives, and it stayes, labeling or not, very important is that brands work on their whole chain transparency.

Actually the best experience was to meet our organic cotton deliverers from BoWeevil. They made it possible for us to visit several places along their production chain in Turkey and Uganda, and I find the way they work very sympathetic.

Photo impressions from the BioFach organics fair

A lot of different visitors on the BioFach organics fair: between all the neat suits and organic products one could spot quite some styles and cultures...

Reports from the Biofach organic fair: bloggers regarded as press

The Biofach is the largest business to business fair on organic products worldwide. While the leading fair is in Germany, other BioFach fairs are hold in USA, China, Japan and Brazil. The BioFach in Germany welcomes about 45.000 professionals in the field of organic products, for all in the food but also in the noon food sector. Among the visitors are about 700 journalists.

This year the BioFach has a new novelty: Bloggers on the topic of sustainability are treated as press, even with an own bloggers press center. A very innovative concept, and in a time where web2.0 and blogs are still in rising importance, an initiative worth for other events and fairs to consider to do as well. In example also in fashion blogs have gotten a great position in inspiring designers by offering ideas from the streets, niches, subcultures and avant garde.

Bloggers meeting at the BioFach
On Friday evening there was a special sustainability bloggers meeting on the BioFach. As bloggers you often know each others blogs and maybe have some contact, and than it`s great fun meeting the faces behind them. The evening went all too fast, but it is a nice community with great diversity, all between activist looks and casual suits.

At the meeting we discussed the possibilities of a common shared online network project, without all too concrete results, but with a good exchange of ideas. Most important is that we as bloggers had the opportunity to get in touch. I met some really nice people and found it all together an inspiring event. Thanks to Geoffrey Glaser from the Nuremberg Messe, Herwig and Christoph , and off course the bloggers. Hope to see you soon again!



More reports on BioFach expected...

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...

new home for ID22, institute for creative sustainability

As a symbolic new start, Berlin's institute for creative sustainability celebrated it's new home in Prenzlauer Berg on Chinese New Year, introducing the year of the rat. Moving from it's former base in the cultural community UfaFabrik, the institute now found it's place within an innovative living community (WG) in Prenzlauerberg. It looked like an inspiring place to continue, and I hope the institute will keep the network of alternative communities in Berlin alive from their new home.

ID22, institute for creative sustainability, is in Berlin for all know for it's project Experimentcity, a model project for Berlin's local Agenda 21. They are supporting and developing alternative build and living concepts, thereby balancing between a network of subcultural, creative and often anarchist communities, housing companies and politics. Goal is to support participative and sustainable use of Berlins many empty spaces and buildings. Experimentcity offers innovative housing- and cultural projects a platform for exchange and cooperation.

Until recently the ID22 was based in the UfaFabrik, a cooperative residential community of about 30 to manage a large range of cultural, social and ecological projects: international culture center, children’s circus, cogeneration systems & renewable energy production, including one of Berlin's largest solar energy systems, local re-use of rainwater, greening of buildings, a natural foods store & organic bakery, guest house, alternative school, children's farm, one of Berlin's most successful internet communications initiatives, and a neighborhood & self-help center. It must be quite a change to leave such a place to go living on yourself...

Image: experimentdays 07

Berlin Fashion Week reports: Federal Office for Garment

The streets of Berlin are crowded from German and international fashionistas, as the Berlin Fashion Week is hitting the city. Some small reports from your Grass Routes agents...

Bundesamt für Bekleidung
At the Premium fair visitors were invited to analyze their clothing in the laboratory of the Federal Office for Garment, a Swiss institution. With a newly developed laboratorial computer system the "beamter" (officers) could analyze all the steps in the production chain of a garment: where it was made, the age of the producer, the environmental impact of the materials, etc.

After such an analyze, this brilliant invention "greening machine" would take care of all eventual negative social environmental scores. 2 seconds of "greening" was enough for the organic t-shirt I had tested, but also tougher cases could be handled with this machine, neutralizing any damage being caused in the production process.

Green washing
Frans tested his Italian jacket, with the outcome: made from wool & poliester, origin of materials: Thailand and Pakistan, 312 travel hours, 4 sewers, the dyes causing a small risk of cancer, and all kinds of technical details I did not understand. Anyway this jacket had to be green washed for almost a minute.

Because of their innovative approach, the Bundesamt für Bekleidung is travelling all around the world with their laboratory. They might visit your town as well to give you the chance to test the production process of your wardrobe...

Green caravan dreams, or how Berlin lost its mobile homes

Berlin lost a bit of it’s rebellious soul again. Since the 1st of January, most remarkable vehicles are considered illegal because of their high emissions. Until recently, the streets of Berlin were filled with old caravans, self-made buses, hippie vans, mobile homes, and gipsy style movable houses. But new, green policies declared war to the unfiltered diesel-motors. And the streets of Berlin are… cleaner.

What is presented as greening in one way, might be greenwashing in another. Strict emulsion and pollution policies in cities are a good initiative, in my opinion. But the rules only target to older models, while the new cars are not stimulated to become more greener than they are. On the contrary, the ‘green’ sticker on your car gives you the illusion, that your car is green.

As the owners of an old Volkswagen 'Bully', we are lucky to have a gasoline van with catalysator. Our bus got a ‘green’ sticker, the greenest level one can get (there is green, yellow, orange, red, and no sticker for the too dirty outcasts). But what is green about a van driving on gasoline and drinking one-on-ten?

It would be more honest to make emission restrictions for new cars ass well. While the old cars are bullied away and will find a new life in Eastern Europe or Africa, a pressure on new cars could mean something on a global level. If they would have the courage, the Berlin municipality could start to forbid or eco-tax extreme jeeps and other new, polluting car models.

We are meanwhile dreaming of new alternatives for our ‘green’ but polluting travel friend. Recently we found out about the Verdier Solar Power, a Westfalia based, high tech caravan on hybrid and hydraulic power. A wet dream for green travelers, Wesfalia hobbyists, LOHAS, and design fetishists. The red dot award winning design is still only a design, but let’s hope it will be released rather soon!

(images (c) copyright Verdier)

Think Green, Live Green Challenge

Bring green to your screen! JuntoVenture, a video activist collective and non-profit environmental organization, is hosting a multi-media challenge entitled “The Think Green, Live Green Challenge.”

JuntoVenture created the interactive challenge to build a community of dialog about the challenges of eco-friendly living. Participants are encouraged to submit their responses using a digital homemade video to win 'green' prizes. The video submission deadline is February 28, 2007.

The challenge is geared towards building a community-based discussion about “going green.” JuntoVenture seam to be cool crew of young creative activists based in California. They are using digital media to inspire, educate, and empower people to live a more sustainable lifestyle. www.juntoventure.org

Hiphonest: ethical fashion in Amsterdam

A cross in a circle, passing by on a bag, a jacked or a pair of jeans. Ethical fashion brand Kuyichi made it quite far in The Netherlands! In Berlin we had to suffer to find more than one kind of Kuyichi male jeans, here Kuyichi is rather mainstream. Even in the village where my parents live there is a shop with a better collection than any shop in Berlin can offer, meanwhile also selling Misericordia and Inti without even marketing their shop as ethical.

Is ethical fashion more hot in the Netherlands than in Germany? Hard to say. Germany has been a pioneer with organic cotton clothing, and still has a strong position in the "eco 0.1". But what about "eco 0.2", the new, young and trendy eco-fashion movement?

Something especially developed is the amount of projects, campaigns and organizations that commit themselves to hyping ethical clothing. In Germany I have the feeling this is not happening too much. That's a big difference. In example dutch organization Solidaridad, inventor of the Max Havelaar - Fair Trade label, the Utz-certification for coffee (a sort of Fair Trade Light for the mainstream coffee market), brains behind several ethical clothing brands including Kuyichi, and the Made-By initiative.

Also other initiatives have been a lot in the picture, in example the actions of the young, creative collective YOI, with a guerilla store and fashion shows, who introduced and hyped the term Hiphonest for the new eco-fashion generation. Now 'Hiphonest' might be the most used term in the Netherlands for trendy ethical clothing.

The reason for my Amsterdam visit this time was a meeting with Goede Waar & Co, a dutch consumer organization specialized in ethical consumption and sustainable production. One of their focuses is clothing. One of their activities is a "clothing checker", a tool to give information to consumers about social and environmental aspects of their clothing. They ask ethical and mainstream brands to fill in their questionnaire, visit the companies when possible, and give scores for the categories: social, environment, economy (people, planet, profit).
Goede Waar & Co do also a lot in campaigning, in example organizing swapper parties, and swapping your clothes on parties is getting hot if you did not know it yet.

After my visit to Goede Waar & Co I walked back through the Jordaan to the station. On my way through the Haarlemmerstraat I passed two stores for "Natural clothes", and off course the ethical fashion store Nukuhiva, with a rather strong choice of ethical classics. Not a daring choice, most of the collection was black (if green is the new black, it still looks quite black!).
About half of the Nukuhiva clothing collection is Kuyichi, a heaven for 'style conscious' Kuyichi lovers! Furthermore brands like Edun, Misericordia, Loomstate, and Intoxica. They had also a small but cool choice of shoes from Veja (organic, vegan shoes) and Worn Again. And the fantastic jewelery from designer Natalie Dissel, who I lately met during the Africa Inspires workshop in Kenya.

This part of town is loved for its small houses and picturesque atmosphere, and what once was a poor area is now a yuppies paradise. Still I am amazed that with the extreme house prices this area is still lively and dynamic, with a good blend of students, expats, LOHAS, artists, weirdos, dealers and grandmothers. For the ethical consumer there is a lot of offer, with a bio-supermarket, and the booming 'honest' coffee and bagels concept. The largest ecological market I have seen so far. And not to forget, bikers are the number one in traffic! At least they believe so.

*** article by Frans C. Prins


More interesting dutch initiatives on ethical clothing:
- Sustainable Fashion Community: Het is groen en het...
- Cotton Clash, hiphonest parties, ethical fashion shows: Move Your World
- Fair Wear Foundation
- Finding ethical products in The Netherlands on: Alles Duurzaam
- Clean clothes