slingfings

Sister brand to bird textile, slingfings describe themselves as eco meets retro. And oh my god! How cool! They make groovy clothes out of vintage fabric using solar power to sew. They are also climate neutral. Shopping on their site is so much fun. First you choose the style then you select the fabric from a huge range of vintage fabrics.

Modification

The most environmentally friendly fashion for anyone is the stuff you already have. But sometimes you get a bit tired of those items or they just aren't right, no matter how environmentally preferrable they are, you just aren't going get your groove going in them anymore.

Lately I have taken to modifying some such items that are still lurking around my wardrobe.
Such as this denim skirt I actually purchased back in 2000 in Spain. It used to be longer. I never wore it as it just wasn't quite right. I think it was too long and straight and didn't suit the denim, but I couldn't throw it out as I had got it in Spain. Who can throw out a skirt they got in Spain?

I realised that cut off to above the knee, it was going to work for me. I went for the chop and whipped around the hem with my sewing machine powered by greenpower (of course) and I am now feeling a bit rock'n'roll in it.

If you can't sew yourself or don't have a sewing machine find a tailor near your house and get them to alter clothes for you. While you are there ask them if they use greenpower.

Stella McCartney

I was a bit excited to pop down to the newly opened Target near my house and check out the Stella McCartney range. However, my excitement wore off pretty quickly.

In anticipation of the opening, I had checked out Stella's website to see what would be instore for me. The site is very glamourous triggering my excitement as I daydreamed about how easily accessible such glamour would be. Right around the corner from my little home.

Stella is vegetarian and has a strict no leather and no fur policy. I figure a comment on her is appropriate for my blog as there is some ethical mindedness to her collection. Treehugger have also mentioned her a few times and she has some organic cotton pieces in her collection. Target VM's (visual merchandisers) clearly don't know about her no-leather policy as they chose her section of the store to display some leather boots. I actually thought she was vegan, but I quickly realised I was wrong about that as the first three things I looked at were silk and the next one was wool. Anyway.... I am sure there are vegan blogs I can moan about that on.....

I had imagined I would be transported into some super glamorous world whilst still remaining within the Target store. I was very clearly still in the Target store. The racks were chockers, so full I could barely wrangle a hanger out (it was opening day). Stella's range at Target does have their own special hangers though, a shiny charcoal grey, with Stella McCartney fainted printed on them.
I felt even less glamourous as I nearly tripped over the sashes of some of those silky gowns trailing on the floor because they were on a rack too low.

treehuggers green wardrobe guide

The guys at treehugger are all over the idea of greening your wardrobe and have written a guide on how to do it. It includes a few links to suppliers of green clothes. They seem to be mainly US based clothes companies, but don't worry I am on the look out for some closer to home in Australia.

Wreaking havoc on its way to our wardrobe

I haven’t got the figures (yet), but I’ve been pondering the life of my clothes before they got to me…it is turning into a trail of destruction.

Firstly there are all those raw materials, where did they come from? Land cleared for cotton then all those chemicals used to grow the cotton. What about synthetics what are they made of? How did those chemicals come about?
Once produced those raw materials chew up some fossil fuels making their way to the factory when they are turned into fabric. That takes a bit of energy, water and chemicals before they chew through some more fuel to the cutting room (in some cases sweat shop). I don’t buy many “one-off”s so I am guessing the actual production and manufacture happens in a factory munching up even more into fossil fuel…..

Once produced a huge amount of packaging happens, plastic hangers, plastic wraps, some polystyrene padding and packaging, big plastic wraps over all that. Then it is back on the road or a ship guzzling up more fuel on it’s way to a warehouse for storage before back on the road (guzzle guzzle) to the shop. Once in the shop, off comes all that plastic and off to landfill with it.

Once in the shop I love it, so I buy it. Yay! New clothes! In the old days I would have carried it home in a plastic bag, but now I take my own or they have all those new reusable recycled ones these days. Wearing my new clothes, I’m happy all is good, but one day I’m not into those clothes anymore, or I have fallen in love with a new item, put on weight, lost weight or spilt red wine down the front of it, so I need to re-home my old clothes. Where will they go? A lot of my old clothes go to charity 2nd hand shops, but eventually most unwanted clothes (including the ones that go to 2nd hand shops) will end up in landfill.
When you think about all the crazy weird and bizarre fashions that come and go (thank god some of them go) that is a lot of landfill with a long and polluting journey behind it.