News article: 'Can fashion really be green?'

I wouldn't normally read the business section of The Age, so it is lucky I stumbled across this article about eco fashion in my online wanderings. It tells of Melbourne based designer, Tiffany Treloar, taking a 'fashion miles' approach to eco fashion.
Find our more about Tiffany on her website which also includes some links to more information about eco textiles worth checking out.

Fancy knickers

As you know I have my basic eco knickers sorted, but what about if I want something a little fancier, like a sexy knickers and bra set that is still eco chic. I remembered reading an article earlier this year about Annalise Braakensiek launching an eco lingerie line. It stuck in my mind as not only was it eco friendly, but the range also included sizes for the fuller bust. This pleased me as sometimes it can be hard to get a cute bra in my size. What is actually eco friendly about the pieces in her range isn't all that clear. The label just says as 'eco friendly as we can possibly make it'. A quote from Annalise in the The SMH article elaborates a bit further saying 'It's green. No toxic ink, organic cotton, organic bamboo, sustainable produce, the swing tags are recycled cardboard and even attached with organic twine'.

Available from Bras N Things I did see a white organic cotton set in the store, but I'm unsure as to how the particular set I got was any more eco friendly than the other (non- Annalise) items, except of course for the tags, twine and recycled plastic coat hangers. I wonder what happens to those little bra and undie hangers in lingerie shops?

A quick online search for some eco lingerie turned up a few more possibilities
Eco-Boudoir based in the UK has a shop in Melbourne listed as a stockist. Unfortunately (for me) none of the bras shown on their website look like they would hold up my boobs.

Treehugger featured Peau-Ethique lingerie, and lists a few other lines. These may not be available in Australia?

This slide show from US based The Daily Green lists quite a few eco lingerie lines. Again, not sure how many are available in stores Australia. Some are available on line. I've put a link to some of them under lingerie on the right for your browsing pleasure.

GreenKnickers have some fun stuff available on line.

Admittedly, this was a fairly speedy bit of googling research, which turned up quite a few eco lingerie possibilities around the world, but not too many available easily in Australia. Annalise may be on to something and it's a good start and her range is nice, affordable and a good fit. However, in her next range I'd like to see more info on how eco friendly the items that aren't organic cotton are beyond the tags and hangers.

Lastly, just to let you know, a lot of the eco lingerie labels found and listed include silk, which I'm personally not into as silk worms are boiled alive in the silk making process.

How 'green' are my new knickers?

As I wore my new knickers for the first time last week a few questions on how 'green' they are occured to me.

Firstly, the organic cotton undies from Target proudly displayed a sticker saying 'Australian Made Fabric'. Inside the undies the label says 'Made in China from Australian Fabric'. Potentially there are a lot of fuel miles in my undies. I'd like to contact Target to find out where the organic cotton came from to be made in into fabric in Australia before going to China to be cut and sewn up, but it isn't easy to contact Target via their website. I might have to write an old fashioned letter.

Secondly, should organic cotton have a certification? Like organic food does? The tag telling me they were organic was attached to the hanger which I didn't get to keep, so I'm not sure if it included any info on that. I'll have to go back to the shop to find out.

Thirdly, I was so focussed on the fabric, I didn't think about the dyes used and their potential environmental and health effects. This issue would apply to any clothing item, however, in order of importance you can't get much closer to your skin than your underwear. More research required for this one.

Anyway, all the knickers have held up well for their first wear. I can't get over how how soft the bamboo is. I think they are my favourites.

In search of new knickers

After a long weekend away and days of rain I ran out of clean knickers. With more rain forecast I decided to buy some new knickers. I'd been thinking I needed new ones for a while, so it wasn't just because of the rain I went shopping.
Normally I'd just pop into the local shopping centre and grab a 3 pack of Bonds undies from K-mart. These days they cost between $21 to $26. I know my size, I know I like them, it has always worked for me. This time I wanted to see what kind of eco underwear I could find at the local shopping centre.

Nothing I could see easily in K-mart. Target had a selection of Target brand organic cotton undies and some bamboo ones. The bamboo felt very nice and soft, but was flesh coloured. I just can't buy flesh coloured undies. I know it is good when you don't want the colour of your undies to show through light coloured clothes, but they're just too much like big grandma undies for me. After much searching for my size - whenever I want to try something in Target there never seems to be my size - I finally found some white knickers and a black g-string in my size. At $7.99 each they were a fairly similar per unit price to the Bonds 3 pack, so I purchased them. Turned out they had 20% off. The range in Target was fairly boring, black, white and 'milk choc' which was dangerously close to flesh coloured. No fun coloured stuff, but certainly good basics which we all need.

My next stop was the only lingerie shop in the shopping centre. Eventually I found some Jockey bamboo undies for $16.95 also with 20% off. A bit more exy but irresistably soft, and they had some cute stripey patterned ones. I got one pair.

At the end of my trip I ended up with 3 pairs of new organic cotton or bamboo knickers for $26.34, pretty close to what a 3 pack of bonds could have cost me. Although it did take a bit more time. I'm sure there are more brand of the basic eco knicker, they just weren't available at my local mall. Next time I'm in the city I might try to hunt down some of the ambra range.

Eco knickers

Ambra has a new ecosytle range of underwear made from organic cotton and bamboo. Basic knickers, tanks and singlets in white mocha and black. Check their range out here. They look simple and comfy.
Mitch Dowd also has a 'green' range. Mens, womens and kids underwear made from organic cotton and bamboo. See their website here.

Event in Sydney: Eco-fashion and sustainable style

Curator Margot Riley will be discussing Is green the new black? on Thursday 21 February at the State Library. See here for details. There will be a fashion parade by the Vintage Clothing Shop. I might pop along, anyone else interested?

Summer fun

Browsing in a surf shop while on holidays at the seaside I came across this organic cotton tee made by Billabong. I like the print, and the button detail on the sleeves and I love that it is organic. The tees are part of Billabong's Design for Humanity where they also make board shorts out of recycled plastic bottles. They have organic tees and recycled boardies for guys and girls. Billabong make heaps of stuff, it is a good start, but would be great to see more organic cotton stuff.