Two major eco-textile and ethical fashion events will join forces in London this October when the Ethical Fashion Source Expo runs alongside the fourth international RITE Group conference on sustainable textiles. Leading speakers include Baroness Lola Young OBE, Forum for the Future, Marks & Spencer, DuPont, Huntsman, surf brand Finisterre, plus five breakout sessions on textile recycling, GOTS and dyeing, textile fibres and GM, ethical sourcing, Sustainable Clothing Action Plan.

EMESHA

4 – 5 September
The Art of Fashion
Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival - The Global Green Area

The Global Green is the place at the Electric Picnic to slow down, recharge and reflect on a better world. Nestled between Green Crafts and Body and Soul, this year the Global Green explores the themes of togetherness and community using the picnic theme ‘Together we are Electric’ as the inspiration.

Re-dress has been asked to co-ordinate a sustainable fashion project in the global green area and have teamed up with art collective FOR THE LOVE OF (FTLO) to inspire festival goers with a live FASHION / ART design challenge.

The live design project will run on the Saturday with illustrators/artists chosen by FTLO designing fabric themed around "together we are electric." Designers chosen by Re-dress will be asked to create pieces inspired by this theme and in collaboration with the illustrators/artists. It will finish with a styled shoot on Saturday evening.

Eco entrepreneur Sarah Van Aken has launched www.savafashion.com to bring the same socially conscious retail choices from her successful flagship boutique SA VA, located at 1700 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, to the rest of the nation. As in the SA VA store, the interactive web site allows women to shop for fashion-forward garments by selecting seven different sustainable categories including: Local Made; Fair Trade; Hand Made; Organic; All Natural; Made in the U.S.A.; and Recycled.

TransFair USA, a not-for-profit organization, is one of twenty members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), and the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. Transfair USA thoroughly examines transactions between US companies offering Fair Trade Certified™ products and the international suppliers from whom they source, in order to guarantee that the farmers and farm workers behind Fair Trade Certified goods were paid a fair, above-market price. In addition, annual inspections conducted by FLO ensure that strict socioeconomic development criteria are being met using increased Fair Trade revenues.

I first stumbled across ‘Let them eat cake’ whilst embarking on a whimsical google episode; Children’s Tailcoats - a wild goose chase sure to waste hours on a grizzly afternoon, but unlikely to turn up any trumps. I was more than surprised to find that there was in fact a children’s clothing brand making tiny tail coats. Sweet little tailcoats for sweet little girls no less. Imagine my delight when I deduced that this cream and navy striped gem could be purchased guilt free; made, as it was, in the UK from reclaimed vintage textiles. Frankly, I would wear it myself if a size 8 could take the strain of my post eating-for-two charms*.

With a résumé that includes model, television host, best-selling author, environmental activist, and social entrepreneur, Summer Rayne Oakes, the woman dubbed the first eco model, took a ‘time out’ amidst her demanding calendar of events to sit down and tell me about her present day ventures, aspirations for the future and some of the fashion items she is currently coveting.

Last month we enthusiastically announced our collaboration with Eco Fashion Week Vancouver and promised to keep you up to date with all the latest news surrounding the festivities which will take place September 27 – 30.

Can we call REUSE Jeans the fountain of youth for denim? Using 80% recycled denim to create their products; REUSE Jeans is uniting the importance of the ecosystem with the importance of finding a great pair of jeans.

New York Fashion Week’s The GreenShows are less than a month away, and sustainable fashion designers on all shores are working diligently to wrap up their latest collections for Spring/Summer 2011 previews. Despite our belief that the chicest eco fashion is seasonally versatile and boldly trend defying, it is exciting to keep a watch out for bright young stars on the schedule for fashion week’s September line up. Auralís Herrero-Lugo is a designer who has the potential of becoming a force on the ethical fashion scene with her classic, silhouetted jumpers and slinky summer dresses. Her collections to date have celebrated urban versatility and cool sustainable style, but behind the scenes she has been stirring up collaborative ways to help preserve and promote the craft traditions of local Puerto Rican artisans as well as Brooklyn-based eco-friendly textile printing.

Jamie Lim was going about her life, studied economics in undergrad, and was working full time at an investment management company when she stopped and thought to herself, “I don’t think anything about the way we currently live makes sense any more.” She went over this topic in her mind and mulled over aspects of the food we eat, the cars we drive, the amount of things that are thrown away and the daunting statistics related to poverty and hunger.

Misericordia: Manos, Espíritu y Corazón, was created by Aurelyen and Mathieu Reumaux in 2002. In Spanish, Misericordia means “heart of mercy” and Manos, Espíritu y Corazón translates to “hands, spirit and heart” – representative of the ingredients that make this company extraordinary.

As the green revolution continues, we search for an established standard to look to, a rule of thumb to measure against, a blue print for green standards. GreenBlue, a nonprofit institute founded in 2002 by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, is currently working to establish those standards, armed with industry specific research and information. The organization is staffed by scientists, engineers, design professionals and business strategists who ask: How can we design, prototype and realize better products and systems?

BODY POLITIC

At the helm of the sustainable shopping in Vancouver, body politic boutique will bring together the elite of the eco movement the night of August 25th from 6:30-9:00 at 208 E 12 Ave. to celebrate the inaugural Eco Fashion Week in Canada, re-launch of Granville Online (heir to Granville Magazine), and the new Aveda Institute of Vancouver. Ten percent of proceeds for the night of shopping will help support the David Suzuki Foundation .

Charlie Boots is one of the latest names in ethical fashion after a new label was recently launched in Bristol.

The label “Charlie Boots” is the brainchild of Charlie Harrison, a local fashion designer who creates original, stylish women’s wear from ethically sourced materials which are then fabricated according to a very high standard by a small team of talented seamstresses in the Bristol area.