Top: Modern Toss. Bottom: Goodone
*For those reading this today in the Shoreditch area, Goodone are having sample sale til 10pm tonight.
Showing posts with label eco-fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eco-fashion. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Faking it
Ok, I'm going to propose something a little controversial. In this economic and environmental climate we're meant to be focusing on pared-down austerity and the ethos of make-do and mend. Apparently there are currently 8000 people waiting for allotment spaces in order to grown their own and I've talked before about the chic Waitrose Essentials range and Mary Portas' quest to revamp charity shopping. Everywhere you look it seems we're holding back and reining in.
Well, I'm suggesting that it's not exactly everywhere. Alarm bells were set off on my trend-o-meter (yes, I do have one of those) while watching the footage of this year's Glastonbury. In their bright neons, animal prints, glitter and plastic fantastic, the crowd appeared to be rejecting the notion that lean times must necessarily equal lean accessorizing. And it seems that people have not left their "f*** it all, let's have fun while we can" mentality in the fields of Glasto. Since then, Miss Selfridge has teamed up with HedKandi to produce a range of dresses that practically scream hedonistic good times. Equally, a trend towards 'fake', inspired perhaps by the war-time habit of drawing a pencil line up one's leg to imitate tights, seems to be growing. Shoulder pads are turning our shoulders into dangerous weapons, Shu Uemura has a whole window at the front of Selfridges for their fake eyelashes, and Lily Allen was on Twitter this week showing off her gold fake nails. It seems that times may be hard. but we're British and we'll never let it show.
For incredible nails, check out the new Wah Nails in Dalston.
Ok, I'm going to propose something a little controversial. In this economic and environmental climate we're meant to be focusing on pared-down austerity and the ethos of make-do and mend. Apparently there are currently 8000 people waiting for allotment spaces in order to grown their own and I've talked before about the chic Waitrose Essentials range and Mary Portas' quest to revamp charity shopping. Everywhere you look it seems we're holding back and reining in.
Well, I'm suggesting that it's not exactly everywhere. Alarm bells were set off on my trend-o-meter (yes, I do have one of those) while watching the footage of this year's Glastonbury. In their bright neons, animal prints, glitter and plastic fantastic, the crowd appeared to be rejecting the notion that lean times must necessarily equal lean accessorizing. And it seems that people have not left their "f*** it all, let's have fun while we can" mentality in the fields of Glasto. Since then, Miss Selfridge has teamed up with HedKandi to produce a range of dresses that practically scream hedonistic good times. Equally, a trend towards 'fake', inspired perhaps by the war-time habit of drawing a pencil line up one's leg to imitate tights, seems to be growing. Shoulder pads are turning our shoulders into dangerous weapons, Shu Uemura has a whole window at the front of Selfridges for their fake eyelashes, and Lily Allen was on Twitter this week showing off her gold fake nails. It seems that times may be hard. but we're British and we'll never let it show.
For incredible nails, check out the new Wah Nails in Dalston.
Monday, January 05, 2009
I'll give you a tenner for it!
While Mary-Kate Olsen is stomping around New York congratulating herself on the latest bargain from 'Recession', we in Britain are apparently learning how to haggle. Indeed, as my friend assured me over dinner last night, the price on the ticket is now simply seen as jumping off point to start negotiations.
It seems that there really is no part of 'no' that British consumers understand - if we can't afford it we demand our right to a price drop. And, with more and more highstreet retailers heading towards administration over the coming months, the customer is king in a way not seen for years.
But in what stores and on what items, my dinner companion wondered aloud, was it okay to go in for the haggle? She tried her luck on an unsuspecting Body Shop employee and had no joy, while I had copped an incredible deal in Gap. We both agreed that haggling should be kept strictly to sale items - non-sale items seen as bad play. Electrical items and associated memory cards and pouches are definitely fair game. While a little competitive blackmail along the line of 'well, they're 50% off online' was certainly felt to be the best approach.
Suddenly those cheap EasyJet flights to Marrakesh begin to come in useful as a short course in the art of bartering!
While Mary-Kate Olsen is stomping around New York congratulating herself on the latest bargain from 'Recession', we in Britain are apparently learning how to haggle. Indeed, as my friend assured me over dinner last night, the price on the ticket is now simply seen as jumping off point to start negotiations.
It seems that there really is no part of 'no' that British consumers understand - if we can't afford it we demand our right to a price drop. And, with more and more highstreet retailers heading towards administration over the coming months, the customer is king in a way not seen for years.
But in what stores and on what items, my dinner companion wondered aloud, was it okay to go in for the haggle? She tried her luck on an unsuspecting Body Shop employee and had no joy, while I had copped an incredible deal in Gap. We both agreed that haggling should be kept strictly to sale items - non-sale items seen as bad play. Electrical items and associated memory cards and pouches are definitely fair game. While a little competitive blackmail along the line of 'well, they're 50% off online' was certainly felt to be the best approach.
Suddenly those cheap EasyJet flights to Marrakesh begin to come in useful as a short course in the art of bartering!
Friday, December 19, 2008
WIth less than a week to Christmas the countdown has begun. The christmas tree has been decorated to within an inch of its life, I've watched as much Nigella, Jamie, and Gordon as to make my housemates abandon the sitting room altogether, and 4 months dedicated to jam consumption has finally paid off in the form empty jars littering every surface of the kitchen in readiness for my homemade delicacies.
It is certainly a welcome diversion from the usual 'spend, spend, spend' mentality of this time of year, but 'thriftiness' has its own set-backs. Inconspicuous consumption is a bit of a brand in itself, as it's no good proffering a few burnt gingerbread men wrapped in last week's London Paper. We must, as Nigella insists, be Christmas Domestic Goddesses - fusing treacle, star anise and xmas leftovers as if there was no tomorrow. As I leaf through a mountain of cookery books, I can't help but wonder: wouldn't it just be easier to buy them?
Speaking of 'thriftiness', it seems the Christmas card is dead. Long live the e-card. I once read somewhere that, over Xmas, Londoners waste enough paper to make a rather excellent game of pass-the-parcel out of Trafalgar Square. And, while it is certainly a little depressing not to have the usual hoards of cards festooning the top of the piano, I have seen some excellent e-cards doing the rounds instead.
E-cards from top:
www.jacquielawson.com
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/
www.someecards.com
It is certainly a welcome diversion from the usual 'spend, spend, spend' mentality of this time of year, but 'thriftiness' has its own set-backs. Inconspicuous consumption is a bit of a brand in itself, as it's no good proffering a few burnt gingerbread men wrapped in last week's London Paper. We must, as Nigella insists, be Christmas Domestic Goddesses - fusing treacle, star anise and xmas leftovers as if there was no tomorrow. As I leaf through a mountain of cookery books, I can't help but wonder: wouldn't it just be easier to buy them?
Speaking of 'thriftiness', it seems the Christmas card is dead. Long live the e-card. I once read somewhere that, over Xmas, Londoners waste enough paper to make a rather excellent game of pass-the-parcel out of Trafalgar Square. And, while it is certainly a little depressing not to have the usual hoards of cards festooning the top of the piano, I have seen some excellent e-cards doing the rounds instead.
E-cards from top:
www.jacquielawson.com
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/
www.someecards.com
Friday, September 19, 2008
Tune in, turn on and shop out!
The U.S. debut of Topshop in New York, is yet more proof that when it comes to new fashion and retail innovation, the British highstreet is the international King. What often gets overlooked, however, is the cost of a constant desire for fresh fashion – namely the environmental impact of disposing of yesterday’s trends. Last year the clothing and textile industry created 2m tonnes of waste, 3.1m tonnes of CO2 and 70m tonnes of waste water(1).
Like Britney Spears, the British highstreet is finding out the hard way that with celebrity status comes a certain amount of responsibility. If Britain is going to avoid the global warming equivalent of a head shaving, public nervous breakdown, media feeding frenzy, and a restraining order against seeing its kids, it must start to see itself as a role model on the international fashion stage and make a serious commitment to the development of a sustainable and responsible fashion industry.
The TNS World Panel reported that 7.1 million consumers think that ethical clothing is quite/very important but find availability poor or very poor. Nevertheless, if the Feelgood Fashion Conference on Wednesday night proved anything, it was that sustainable fashion is moving actually away from what Mary Portas so aptly terms ‘knitted muesli’. From Gap’s pioneering of Corporate Social Responsibility and mavericks like People Tree (who are the self-titled ‘Trojan horse’ in TopShop), to innovative online boutiques like Aidli and emerging eco-design collectives like ReVamp, a clothing revolution certainly seems to be looming large on the horizon.
It is how that revolution will unfold, however, that has really got me in a spin. The big retailers are like politicians, thinking only in terms of their short time in power. At the end of the day it’s always going to be about winning points, increasing sales and boosting brand awareness in the short term. To make a change in the long-run you need the passion and dedication of grass-roots organisations – the underdog who taps in to an underlying sentiment and causes an uprising.
If we plan on securing a future for this vulnerable planet by focusing on smart consumption, it has to be the end of fashion as we know it. Trying telling that to the millions of shoppers who visit the value retail giants Tesco, Primark, George at Asda and Matalan (3) every single day – and who contribute to 1.2 million tonnes of landfill in the UK alone (2).
As the average cost of clothes drops year on year, the fight to make sustainability sustainable isn’t going to be a competition, it’s about the best man winning.
(1,2)Defra Sustainable Clothing Roadmap 2007
(3) Mintel Report: ‘UK Clothing Report 2005’.
Sources
‘Fashion and Sustainability: A Snapshot analysis’. Report from The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF.
www.labourbehindthelabel.org
www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org
www.maketradefair.com
www.ethicalfashionforum.com
New Generation Ethical Fashion
www.naturalcollection.com
www.adili.com
www.ecoutlet.co.uk
www.junkstyling.com
www.veja.com
www.luflux.com
www.revampfashion.co.uk
NB Author's note: I am aware that this blog is also known to champion the very retail giants derided above, but how better to highlight the tension between an arising ethical consciousness and a Londoner's insatiable hunger for fashion?
The U.S. debut of Topshop in New York, is yet more proof that when it comes to new fashion and retail innovation, the British highstreet is the international King. What often gets overlooked, however, is the cost of a constant desire for fresh fashion – namely the environmental impact of disposing of yesterday’s trends. Last year the clothing and textile industry created 2m tonnes of waste, 3.1m tonnes of CO2 and 70m tonnes of waste water(1).
Like Britney Spears, the British highstreet is finding out the hard way that with celebrity status comes a certain amount of responsibility. If Britain is going to avoid the global warming equivalent of a head shaving, public nervous breakdown, media feeding frenzy, and a restraining order against seeing its kids, it must start to see itself as a role model on the international fashion stage and make a serious commitment to the development of a sustainable and responsible fashion industry.
The TNS World Panel reported that 7.1 million consumers think that ethical clothing is quite/very important but find availability poor or very poor. Nevertheless, if the Feelgood Fashion Conference on Wednesday night proved anything, it was that sustainable fashion is moving actually away from what Mary Portas so aptly terms ‘knitted muesli’. From Gap’s pioneering of Corporate Social Responsibility and mavericks like People Tree (who are the self-titled ‘Trojan horse’ in TopShop), to innovative online boutiques like Aidli and emerging eco-design collectives like ReVamp, a clothing revolution certainly seems to be looming large on the horizon.
It is how that revolution will unfold, however, that has really got me in a spin. The big retailers are like politicians, thinking only in terms of their short time in power. At the end of the day it’s always going to be about winning points, increasing sales and boosting brand awareness in the short term. To make a change in the long-run you need the passion and dedication of grass-roots organisations – the underdog who taps in to an underlying sentiment and causes an uprising.
If we plan on securing a future for this vulnerable planet by focusing on smart consumption, it has to be the end of fashion as we know it. Trying telling that to the millions of shoppers who visit the value retail giants Tesco, Primark, George at Asda and Matalan (3) every single day – and who contribute to 1.2 million tonnes of landfill in the UK alone (2).
As the average cost of clothes drops year on year, the fight to make sustainability sustainable isn’t going to be a competition, it’s about the best man winning.
(1,2)Defra Sustainable Clothing Roadmap 2007
(3) Mintel Report: ‘UK Clothing Report 2005’.
Sources
‘Fashion and Sustainability: A Snapshot analysis’. Report from The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF.
www.labourbehindthelabel.org
www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org
www.maketradefair.com
www.ethicalfashionforum.com
New Generation Ethical Fashion
www.naturalcollection.com
www.adili.com
www.ecoutlet.co.uk
www.junkstyling.com
www.veja.com
www.luflux.com
www.revampfashion.co.uk
NB Author's note: I am aware that this blog is also known to champion the very retail giants derided above, but how better to highlight the tension between an arising ethical consciousness and a Londoner's insatiable hunger for fashion?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)