Eco Fashion World

LEJU

PART 1: THE BEACH

If you want to accessorise in eco style this summer, and attract attention, then you can choose really affordable yet wonderfully natural options that come from the floor of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, with companies such as UK based Jungleberry Trading offering handmade treasures of colorful tento, acai and jarina seeds. Seeds are also hot Stateside, where new label The Andean Collection has recently premiered a line of bright and colorful modern pieces. Just Trade, DeMec and French based A Typik offer similar looks thanks to ‘vegetable ivory’. Notably, Leju's collection are complemented with tropical recycled wood, semi-precious stones including lapis lazuli, sodalite and compressed (recycled) agate; lava beads; and sterling silver dipped ceramic beads, and are now stocked in Oxfam’s très chic fashion boutiques. ‘We wanted to take the LeJu label further and experiment with new materials’ says LeJu designer Lenny Trines. ‘We will always stay committed to the use of sustainable vegetable ivory, but wanted to offer our clients something new visually and texturally.’

GLASSWING JEWELRY

Sea glass (also known as beach glass) jewelry is another local alternative to the unfair practices of the gold and diamond mining industries from the likes of Glasswing Jewellery in the US and Seaglass in the UK. With this you are recycling manmade shards of glass that have been reshaped by the sea into beautifully rounded luminous, frosted gems. No one stone is the same either – you can’t control nature – which ensures a unique piece. 

PART 2: THE MUSIC FESTIVAL

If you prefer to take a book to the beach with you, or like to hunt out the music festivals, then look no further than UK designer Jeremy May’s Little Fly collection of lovingly handmade paper rings that he first created out of his wife’s favorite book for their first wedding anniversary. ‘I presented it to her at sunrise on our 1st anniversary on the island of Ithaca overlooking the bay as fishing boats went out to sea.’ Zero waste, these quirky literary jewels are presented beautifully in what’s left of the book.

LITTLE FLY.

Solstus is another fantastic new company that offers spark for summer festival goers, whilst bringing Mexican design to a different level with their handmade, vibrant and funky recycled aluminum, Orbit bracelets, as well as their Play and Pause necklace and earring set created out of discarded CDs and Mexican sterling silver. On similar techno themes, Pure Design offer An Alleweireldt’s range of floral like floppy diskette bracelets that are sewn onto bright red cotton, as well as retro recycled vinyl bangles. It would be rude not to mention Made with their ever-unique fair trade, recycled jewelry designs with a few celeb contributions from Peaches Geldof and Alexa Chung adding their ideas to the Kenyan collection. For some really sturdy stuff, Kazuri create a gorgeous selection of handmade colorful clay beads, also produced in East Africa.

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