bemoreeco

Market research group Mintel have recently reported that the ethical clothing market is now worth approximately £175 million, with increasingly stylish designs and a growing awareness of production methods making ethical clothing more popular than ever. But what about shoes?  Finding ethically made shoes is a lot harder – especially on the high street, but there are businesses out there making stylish footwear. Why not say goodbye to mass processed shoes and say hello to ethical shoes that are great for the environment and for your purse?

Not on a strict budget then why not try handmade shoes. There are many personal benefits to buying handmade shoes; the major one being that you are wearing shoes that are made to fit your feet. Handmade shoes will last a lifetime and can be repaired again and again. Sadly, hand making shoes is becoming a thing of the past so it is great to see companies like www.deeasjer.co.uk making bespoke shoes and accessories. 

Charlene Beckett, a graduate of the London School of Fashion runs Deeasjer from the Florinetina Clothing Village in the heart of the East End and uses ethical sourced products for all her designs. She will design shoes to your specification and you can even commission matching accessories. Charlene says that once she gets a customer they never leave her and she boasts quite a cult following.

Inspired by ecological survival, the Terra Plana shoe company believe in a variety of non-generic products and sustainable strategies. Guided by life cycle analysis, Terra Plana aims towards publishing accurate life cycle matrices for every product they produce. Reparability, lightness, anatomic design, and durability are all staples of sustainable shoe making and Terra Plana regularly re-evaluate what they can do to minimise waste and toxin use and maximize product use and love.

You know that if you buy from companies like Deeasjer and Terra Plana that your shoes are not mass produced in the Far East where workers rights and pay is minimal. This, as the Mintel research shows, is becoming an important factor when purchasing shoes and clothing. So go on –  green your footsteps with great ethical footwear!

MoreEco Members can earn 3 MoreEco points for every £ they spend at Terra Plana. Also for every 10 points  earned  MoreEco will offset 1kg fo carbon for free.

 Join today and receive FREE 500 start up points.

How it works

It’s pretty simple to organise a swishing party. Everyone must bring at least one clean, good quality item of clothing. It’s better to donate more because you are allowed to leave with as much booty as you’ve brought. 

I went to my first party, Swap ‘til You Drop in Bethnal Green, east London, one Sunday afternoon to take a peek.

Let the swish begin

Hoping to come away with some hot nearly-new clothes, I arrived early and things were just getting started. All of the donated clothes are hung on display rails and once most people are there the rules of swish were explained. 

You then have an hour or so to browse and try on clothes you like. One of the rules is that you can’t claim items during this time. When the swish begins, you take what you want. The party I went to also had a sewing machine available someone on hand to help, so people could customise and alter clothes if they wished.

I left with two tops, a skirt and a necklace, and came away converted – by recycling some of my old stuff I could have a guilt-free image update! And any unswapped clothes at the end of the party were donated to charity. 

Reduce, reuse

We’re all guilty of buying too much and with scandals in the news about sweatshops disposable fashion becoming less desirable. Clothes swapping is a greener and more ethical way of updating your wardrobe.

Swapping wearable clothes rather than throwing them away reduces waste and saves energy, as all new things use raw materials, thereby reducing carbon emissions. 

Everyone has something in their wardrobe that they just don’t wear; swishing is a fantastic way to recycle those unwanted clothes and accessories. It’s a great reason to throw a party and doesn’t have any of the hassles of Saturday high street shopping.

More swapping fun

• “VISA SWAP” is a collaboration between Visa and TRAID shop – it’s a pop-up shop that opens on London’s Brompton Road. You drop off your clothes in the first two weeks – in return you get a Visa Swap chip card, which is charged with points. Then on the third weekend it’s Party Time and you can spend all your points on other items.
• Try Swap-a-rama – a London-based swishing club night that also turns up at music festivals and events. At the sounds of a klaxon, people swap clothes with their dancefloor neighbour.
• The clothes swapping concept also works well on the web. Specialising in designer clothes, Whatsmineisyours.com is an online fashion exchange website. All you have to do is register for free, upload items from your wardrobe and link with people who have similar tastes.

Sara at Bemoreeco had 5 minutes with Gavin Wynne’s Red Robot.  This is what she found out.

Tell us about your business?

Red Robot is a new organic clothing company – we make cool t-shirts and sweatshirts for Men and Women. The designs and the quality of the finished product are very important to us. We are trying to switch everybody on to the brand, bringing organic / low impact clothes to the masses without coming across as too leftfield for the average man in the street.

What makes the company a great place to work?

With Red Robot being a new and small business there are so many things to be done and so few people to do them – so you just have to roll your sleeves up and get on with things, stretching yourself, often into areas that are not your core skills. You feel you are in the trenches somewhat but it is very satisfying to stick your head out every so often to someone wearing one of our t-shirts, or hearing positive feedback and then the dreaded to do list reappears on the horizon! 

Who do you most admire in the green industry?

We like Howies a lot, Anita Roddick was a groundbreaker in many ways but it is probably the number of “unknown” individuals who making their own small contributions we admire the most. I remember seeing a woman called Jackie, whom I had worked with number of years ago previously in a completely different capacity, having her clothes recycling business showcased on the “Clothes Show” and thinking “Well done”. Little things like that stick in your mind and spur you on.  

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Sticking on my accountants hat – I have to say making sales. For two reasons: one, it’s time for talking to stop -  does the customer really like the product it enough to put his or her hand in their pocket – it is the acid test; and, secondly, for Red Robot, it provides the basic economic fuel to help us to the next level.

If you could change one thing in the green retail industry what would it be? 

This might sound like a “cop out” but we don’t know a lot of the other green retailers as we are ploughing our own furrow to a degree and are new to the party, so without knowing the other businesses and their agendas and priorities it is hard to comment. If we look at Red Robot, we know we have to prioritise and constrain what we feel we can achieve at this level in order to grow to achieve more at the next level. To many that might be the wrong thing to do, but I am sure a number of businesses are facing these same constraints and are trying to run their businesses accordingly and that may not be to all observers’ satisfaction.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the industry today?

It would be a tad rich for us to be offering advice to others on their business idea and model as Red Robot is very much on the first rung of the ladder only and has a very long journey ahead. On a personal level I would say “Don’t live to regret not having had a go” this might only translate into the research and due diligence stage to ensure that the idea is actually a bona fide business. The other bit of advice I would give is to take positive strength from your previous successes to help you tackle all the challenges ahead. 

What is your vision for an ‘eco Britain’?

That “Eco Britain” will be the norm as soon as possible.

What is your number one Eco Christmas Idea?

We have a very traditional view of Christmas which should be enjoyed to the full with family and friends, just ensure you keep doing all the normal positive things you do everyday. 

What is the most important piece of information you have ever been told?

It’s a boy! (twice)

If you were prime minister for the day, what one thing would you do?

Don’t get me started; one day wouldn’t be long enough. I think the place to start would be that governments have to deliver their pre-election manifesto when they take office. If I was only given one day I would declare a national “Eco Day” holiday.

Please could you also tell me your top five gifts for Christmas;

• Fuel Gauge Men’s Organic Cotton White T-Shirt -High quality regular fit, men’s white organic cotton t-shirt made by Red Robot. Limited Edition “Here Today / Gone Tomorrow” message print by Red Robot. £17.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery
• Multi Robot Men’s Organic Cotton Blue T-Shirt - High quality regular fit, men’s skylight blue organic cotton t-shirt made by Red Robot. Limited Edition “Multi Robot Dot” print by Red Robot. £17.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery
• Robot Dogs Men’s Organic Cotton White T-Shirt - High quality regular fit, men’s white organic cotton t-shirt made by Red Robot. Limited Edition Reservoir Dogs Movie inspired print by Red Robot. £17.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery
• Robot Hoodie Men’s Organic Cotton Grey Sweatshirt - High quality medium weight, men’s grey marl organic cotton sweatshirt with full length zip and front pocket. Large embroidered logo on the hood and Red Robot appliqué design on the sleeve. £39.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery
• Fat Cat Women’s Organic Cotton Blue T-Shirt - High quality regular fit organic cotton t-shirt made by Red Robot. Limited Edition “Fat Cat” message print by Red Robot. £17.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery
• Rainbow Turbine Women’s Organic Cotton T-Shirt - High quality regular fit, women’s cream organic cotton t-shirt made by Red Robot. Limited Edition “Rainbow Turbine Landscape” print by Red Robot. £17.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery
• Floral Organic Cotton Grey Hooded Sweatshirt - High quality medium weight, women’s grey marl organic cotton sweatshirt with full length zip and front pockets. Large floral embroidered logo on the lower back just above the waist and floral design on the sleeve. £39.99 Free UK & Ireland Delivery

With green on the mind and kids in the brain, buying all your back to school clothing ranks highly on the agenda at the moment. The back-to-school posts have been coming in thick and fast on the blogosphere, so fast it’s been difficult to keep up. So here is a useful round-up of some of the best green back-to-school posts on the internet.

Eco-Street: Your Green “Back To School” Guide – Eco-Street gets us going with some great ideas of where and how to purchase green uniforms, lunch boxes, bags and stationary. They’ve even added a few PTA fundraising ideas.

Budget-Ecoist: Web Round-Up – Back to School Edition: Budget-Ecoist has a great round-up of some of the best back-to-school posts on the web.

Ethical Pulse: Think Green For Back To School – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – Some good ideas from Ethical Pulse about reusing your existing items, recycling and reducing waste associated with items like food packaging in lunch boxes.

The Guardian: The green route back to school – Matt Gribble wrote this last year, but it applies even more today. Matt explains where you can find recycled stationary, secondhand uniforms and even recycled paper.

Eco-Fabulous: Back to School in College Green – Bamboo fiber sheets, LED Desk Lamps and 100% recycled rubber bulletin boards, Eco-fabulous shares where to buy your college-vanishing child eco-friendly products.

Eco Child’s Play: Low Impact Living: Back to School Green Style! – Cassie Walker tackles the fashion-problem with greener uniforms, how to green school supplies and the green options for getting your kids to school.

Sustainablog: Back to School Shopping Madness: From Kindergarten through College, It’s Time to Curb the Stuff – Robin Shreeves explains how and why you should stop buying your kids so much back-to-school stuff.

Green SAHM: Keeping Back to School Sane – Stephanie talks from her experience of keeping your back-to-school experience on the right side of sane.

Kellibestoliver: Think Green For Back to School – Kelli’s small post packs a hell of a resource-fuelled punch. Plenty of links here to keep you in the green.

UK Energy Saving Blog: How Can Going Back To School Be Green – The UK Energy Saving blog chimes in with some quick advice about saving energy

Moms In A Blog: Back To School – The Green Way – Crystal Unrau explains how to green your school supplies, lunch boxes, wardrobes and even your childrens’ homework.

Planet Green: Back to School Thrift Store Shopping – Take the eco option and buy back to school clothes from thrift stores.

Great Green Goods: Back to School: Recycled Lunch Bags – Will your children like recycled lunch bags? They sure look ok.

Living from More Than: Back-to-school goes green – Charlie Peverett debates some of the top tips about making back-to-school even greener.

My Yoga Online: Earth Friendly Back To School Shopping: Some more American-based back to school advice, how to buy green uniforms for your young tots.

Green & Clean Mom: Win a Green Back to School Kit – Win a green back to school kit.

Can you add any more links? Or do you have some great advice or experience to share?

Budget Ecoist points us to the brilliant clothes-swapping website, What’s Mine is Yours. What’s Mine is Yours connects fashion-minded women with unwanted items to exchange. If you have clothes you don’t want you can list the items on the website with an approximate value and receive an item of equal value in exchange.

What’s Mines is Yours was founded in 2004 by fashion-guru Judy Berger. Judy noticed how many unwanted clothes were going to waste and wanted to do something about it. Judy’s greatest objective was not so much about creating a trading website for fashion clothing, but to create a website where traders can speak to each other. With over 13,000 registered members, it’s safe to say she’s done a brilliant job

The idea makes a lot of sense. If you can find someone of similar size, then there is a great potential for exchanging many items of clothing which might have traditionally gone to waste. The website is entirely free, and involves no payment for anything except postage.

In addition to exchanging clothes, What’s Mine is Yours also promotes and nurtures boutique and upcoming fashion designers.

Kate Carter at the Guardian tackles a question about the environmental credentials of Bamboo. She calls upon numerous sources to investigate whether Bamboo is as sustainable and environmentally friendly as we thought. The answers are interesting, here’s a snippet:

Many of the companies using bamboo fibres say they are producing bamboo organically, using processing that does not involve harmful bleaches. There doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of proof, though. The Soil Association doesn’t currently give certification to any bamboo clothing. A spokeswoman, Sarah Compson, explained: “The production of bamboo would fall under our perennial crop standards so in theory we could certify the crop – but the problem is the processing. The process needed to break down the bamboo to make the fibres is very similar to that used to make viscose and we’ve yet to see a method that would come anywhere close to complying with our production standards. People always say bamboo is great because it grows so quickly – but so does cotton.”

On the plus side of Bamboo, Kate notes the following:

• Bamboo is naturally pest-resistant
• It grows incredibly fast, from seed to crop in just 4 years
• Bamboo has a massive root network for natural growth
• Bamboo can be grown without any fertilisers or chemicals
• Bamboo is far more sustainable than cotton or other fabrics

The problem is that it isn’t always this simple, the negatives of Bamboo according to Kate are:

• Farmers growing it as a mono-crop, reduces biodiversity and increases pests
• Farmers are using chemicals to accelerate growth in China
• There is a massive problem in the production process. It is expensive, and most likely to use chemicals which harm the environment

We can probably conclude for now that whilst Bamboo is a lot better material to use than it’s alternatives, we should still be skeptical of some of the more extreme claims of clothing manufacturers.

Kate Carter, author of the Guardian’s brilliant new Ethical Wardrobe series, has this week written a thoughtful piece about where to buy ethical women’s suits for work.

As asked by a reader, it’s difficult to find ethical clothing that meets career aspirations. The higher up the fashion chain, the smaller the pond of ethical clothing designers. In Kate’s answer she highlights many of the great options available, as well as advice on the materials and where to get tailored. Here are some of the highlights:

Amana are one such company who might provide a first stop on your search. They source fabrics with minimal environmental impact, using organic cottons and even peace silk (as mentioned in last week’s column). Their garments are all made on a fair trade basis by women artisans in a village in the Middle Atlas mountains. More to the point for your search, they also produce suits. Next season’s design is available for pre-order already at the ethical fashion site Fashion-conscience.com.

Arguable the most ethical option, however, is not to go shopping at all but to recycle – you don’t have to buy something new to get a new outfit. Junky Styling, based in London’s Brick Lane, perform minor miracles with cast-off clothing. They completely recut charity shop rejects into edgy new outfits – and helpfully for you, they also run a “wardrobe surgery”. You just take one of your old suits (or any other item of clothing) and they submit it to a uniquely ethical form of cosmetic surgery, creating something new from your old threads.

If you’ve got your sets on the higher rungs of the career ladder, or if you just want a smart suit and a clear conscience, then Kate’s article is definately worth 5 minutes of your time.

Curiosity got the better of me, I had to know a little more of the story behind Noon Solar. Noon Solar, as you might recall from my post last week, is a company that creates fashionable handbags which generate their own electricity through solar panels. It really is an amazing concept, read the post here.

This week I had a chance to send a few questions to Jane, one of the two founders of the company, to ask how the idea came about, where the concept is going and when the bags will be available here in the UK. Here’s what she said:

Thanks for your time Jane, can you begin by telling me a little about the history of the company? It seems like you’ve had quite an adventure.

Jane – We started  this project in 2002, around the time of the start up to the Iraq war.  We were feeling powerless in the decision making process of going to war, and we felt that we were largely invading Iraq for oil.  We, Marianne Fairbanks and I, both have backgrounds in fine arts and fibers/textiles and material studies.  We had been collaborating on art projects for a couple of years by that time, and we had already done another solar power project in Ohio.

Through some conversations about how people gain power, we came up with the idea of making individual power literal. What if people could carry their own renewable power, keep connected with cell phones and other technology, all the while not using any oil, coal, or other non-renewable energy source? We sewed some small solar panels on a thrift store jacket, as well as into a bag that we made. The pieces powered a Gameboy. We showed the pieces at a gallery in Portland, Oregon as a conceptual idea.

But then people started asking where they could buy them.  It took us a few years, but we launched our fist line in 2006.

I’d say our greatest achievements so far are the materials and labor practices we use to make our bags. Since we both have backgrounds in textiles, we enjoy the process of researching the best materials out there. We decided to use only biodegradable materials in our bags so they can skip the landfill, and even be buried in the backyard (once you take out the solar panel and hardware for reuse).  We use a special heavy metal free, naturally tanned and dyed leather.  We also naturally dye our own fabrics in our studio. And all of our bags are made in NYC.

Do you much much competition? How well do you think your solar handbags will sell?

Jane – Since we’ve started, a few other solar bags have come to the market. We feel we are the only ones who incorporate design and style. Solar power can be nerdy, and we know that our bags need to look and feel good for them to be popular. We are also happy to see other solar bags on the market because it means that many people are interested in this idea, and our dependence on non-renewables might actually be able to improve.

How do you expect the credit crunch will affect your business? Isn’t now a bad time to be starting a company, or selling expensive handbags?

Jane – I think that it’s a tough time to be starting a business, but at the same time, many people are ready to invest in products that are responsible to our planet.  And I think that new companies have some advantage over large companies because we can start out with good practices, be a little more radical and raise the bar for what green can mean.

Finally, any advice for our UK readers eager to get their hands on your solar-powered bags?

Jane – UK residents can purchase the bags directly through us, www.noonsolar.com.  Please send us an email if you are unable to use your credit card online. We are still working out some of our shopping cart kinks.

I’m very grateful that Jane took the time to answer my questions, and I can’t wait to see how these bags sell in the UK.

The summer of 2005 was a strange summer. For no reason other than to show support of various charities, millions of brits began wearing coloured wristbands. It was the biggest fashion trend of the year. We seemed to be on the verge of something important, some deep psychological change towards charity and fashion.

There was only one problem. The wristbands looked awful.

Now many brilliant companies are using recycled materials to create fashionable jewelry. Today you can make your eco-statement, and look great.Here are a few pointed out by Great Green Goods over the past week or two:

Seven Products from Amazing Created from Recycled Trash: If you want your jewelry to tell a story, then how about the magazine bracelet? This bracelet is handcrafted in Sao Paulo by the homeless as part of a drug rehabilitation program.

Or if you’re really looking to make your statement, then how about Recycled Floppy Disk Bracelets. This wont be for everyone, but it’s certain to get your eco-convictions noticed. The images will explain all.

A good UK entry is the Beaucoco Recycled Plastic Pleat Jewelry. Here Beaucoco modify recycled plastic bags to create an intricate style.

Finally, this one is my personal favourite. Great Green Goods points out jewelry from recycled car parts. Between £25 – £100, you can wear some of these brilliant items made by Hi-Octane. They’re pricey, but they look amazing. Just look at some of these pictures:

A wedding day should be your perfect day. You want to look beautiful and feel great. In this era of heightened ethical awareness this has become a problem. How great can you feel wearing a wearing dress made by a 3rd world labourer? Or a wedding dress which required thousands of silk worms to be boiled alive?

This is a problem that Kate Carter has tackled in today’s Guardian. Kate explains the usual ethical dilemma with wedding dresses and suggests some great, ethically-made, alternatives.

“Many ethical fashion companies use hemp silk a blend of the two materials which produces a lovely weighted fabric. And this brings me to my top pick for an ethical bridesmaid dress (which would actually be a great wedding dress too) – Ciel’s hemp silk Jasmine dress. It’s even on sale, which puts the £175 price tag in your budget. It also has the advantage of being a classic, incredibly flattering cut that you will be able to wear again and again. Also in the Ciel sale, the mint green Grecian-style halter dress (£125) is another top pick.

If you prefer something in a more striking colour, The Natural Store has a great fushcia pink dress by Ethika, a fair trade co-operative in Pakistan, for £137.99.”

You can read the full article on the Guardian website.