Imagine the concept of Craigslist, with a dose of Half.com, featuring only Mid-Century Modern furniture for buying and selling (and placing want ads). Imagine Lushpad! Eames chairs for a quarter of full price — it’s like Christmas everyday. Enjoy!
Via Daily Candy. (Buying vintage = saving money and global resources!)
It’s called “Afrika,” comes in red+black and white+black as a tube dress, high-waisted leggings, a headband or a tube bra, and none of the above is over $34. A beautiful new addition.
Quoting The New York Times via Daring Fireball:
“Switching to wine in a box for the 97 percent of wines that are made to be consumed within a year would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about two million tons, or the equivalent of retiring 400,000 cars.”
I’m convinced… and it didn’t take me long to find box wine recommendations for Boho and Black Box. Because the bladders in the boxes have no air in them, they even keep longer than their bottled couterparts — up to four weeks! One wine maker in a message board commented, “When 10% of your product is ruined by tainted cork, and 2-Buck Chuck outsells good quality $10-20/bottle wine by a 100-1 margin, you can bet there is a drive to offer the good stuff at a better value.”
Cheers.
Ohhhh Chicago, we love you! The architecture, the neighborhoods, the parks, the youthfulness, the mob lore… and Pivot. My first visit to Chicago’s only eco boutique was just in time for the craziest eco sale ever.
Just-so-you-know, the selection and deals in store are even better than the deals online (sometimes way better), so shopping in person is WELL worth your time. I snagged ridiculously good deals on…
g=9.8 undies
Bras have been my socially responsible purchasing weakness — finding good everyday bras outside of the usual suspects (Gap Body has been my fave) was beyond me. Until g=9.8. The French brand (named after the constant for gravity) supports its local economy by manufacturing in its small hometown of Angers, France; their lingerie is made from Lenpur, a biodegradable fabric made from white pine pulp; their packaging is made of recycled and/or fair trade materials, and everything they sell is certified under the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, which limits the amount of chemicals used in textiles. The cross-back one I got fits wonderfully (and true to size)! Background info here via ecolect.net.
Manimal leather scrap earrings
Oh Manimal — gotta love it. Handmade in Massachusetts “in a small third floor apartment where the eaves fall into the windows,” designer Kristen Lombardi is known best for her moccasins but also makes beautiful organic jeans and these earrings, which make the most of her signature ribcage shape. They look awesome with my hair pulled back, and I’ve already worn them many times!
Camilla Norrback: Hi, waist
Camilla Norrback makes “Swedish women’s fashion that is good for both environment and conscience.” And booty. This skirt fits beautifully (especially with the help of a little belt), accentuating the waist and flaring out *just right* at the bottom. The label puts everything through this filter: “A garment of the highest quality that is justly manufactured as well has an entirely new dimension — the wearer can feel both beautiful and proud. This is the modern luxury, what we at camilla norrback call ecoluxury!” The detailing of the pintucks and side buttons are just the right flair for a basic black skirt.
Other amazing picks from Pivot (that I didn’t buy… but maybe you should):
Noon solar bags
Taking multi-tasking to a new level — charge a battery pack anytime you’re out! As the Pivot blog by Jessa says, “yes, green and gorgeous do in fact go together.”
Beautiful, lightweight and multi-functional. (Wish I’d noticed it in the store!)
A Chicago-designed and -produced line, Lara Miller is a Pivot darling. No wonder!
Thanks to Pivot’s wonderful Jessa Brinkmeyer for my oh-so-hospitable visit. I’ve been excited to read more about her involvement in staking Chicago as a green fashion hub, and there’s no doubt much more to come — like the exhibit “Museum of Sustainable Style” she’s curating for this fall’s Fashion Focus, a week of highlights on the chic side of Chicago.
Yesterday, I heard two exciting reports about manufacturing that is bucking the globalization trend. You could call it the silver lining to high energy costs and the weak dollar.
From NPR’s report on Superior Products Inc., which produces gas fittings in Cleveland:
“When we go overseas now, a dollar-denominated price is something much more competitive — if you are competing against companies that are selling in euros, for instance,” (VP Greg) Gens says. “So there is an advantage as we set up and try to get product into Europe or Southeast Asia.”
… As oil prices climb, shipping cheaply made products from China becomes more expensive. Add to this slowly increasing labor costs in Asia, and many buyers are rethinking the savings they are achieving by purchasing overseas.
An Alex Steffen Worldchanging piece cited a report from The New York Times, followed by his own surmisings, most of which echo the above. I was excited to read:
*Some of the economic advantages of globalization have come from companies gaining the ability to skirt labor and environmental laws by doing business in countries with high levels of political corruption (corruption they have often helped create). But now, transparency activism has blown the cover of secrecy off these practices; now it is easier than ever to cause enormous brand damage simply by revealing an unsavory backstory.
When it’s no longer worth it for corporations to spend their time seeking the lowest possible manufacturing prices in the most remote areas, we all win! Better worker pay, plus a much lower transportation footprint.
Don’t get too excited, we’re not seeing these trends in fashion — yet. But we’ll keep working!
I got an eblast today from the ONE Camapaign with the subject line of “Platforms Against Poverty,” and I hate (or love?) to admit that my first reaction was to wonder about how SHOES were going to help the global crisis.
My apologies for even admitting this, but it’s worth mentioning because the email invited us to sign a petition to urge both presidential candidates to add an anti-poverty agenda to their platforms. We can get behind that.
Now: Try imagining McCain in these pick-of-the-day Kristen Lee organic cotton heels (okay, maybe not exactly platforms) from the fabulous shop Kaight…
Sign up to receive your own ONE emails on the one.org Take Action page.
You’ve felt it coming on for a while now — it’s a DIY day! A trip to your local craft store, and voila, you’re so in. Shop for any combination of:
+ Leather cord
+ Suede strips
+ Feathers (for the wing clusters, this may take a trip to an antique mall)
+ Seed beads / Metal beads / Wood beads
+ Chinese coins (also in the bead section)
+ Stretch lace
Happy headbanding!
Top three handmade feathered headbands, Windy Freda, $85-$150. Thick gold headband with dangles, styled for the Mon Petit Oiseau collection beauty shots. Black leather braided headbands with studs, Rachel Leigh via Shop Bop, $66. Red headband/belt, Nightcap Clothing via Shop Bop, $154.
Yours, about $15 and two hours.
You’ve probably heard the news by Nau: It’s back! (Sorry, couldn’t resist… and that one actually worked. Grin.)
I have had the privilege of covering Nau’s comeback for Worldchanging.com, and with that has come the treat of meeting Mark Galbraith, Nau VP of Design, and Gordon Seabury, president of Nau’s new sister company, Horny Toad. HT purchased (saved!) Nau about six weeks after its close.
Nau’s fall/winter line had already been designed before the company’s close in May, and Mark was generous enough to share an exclusive preview with me. More behind-the-interviews info at the end of this post, but for now, I proudly present: Nau Fall/Winter 2008!
And Horny Toad has a fall line, too!
The major details of the Nau+Horny Toad partnership are covered in the Worldchanging article, including the evolved approach to webfronting and Community Partners, and where Nau will be sold in the future. My inquisitions about how much Nau would change were all answered with confident assurances that it will remain just as transparent and innovative a company as it’s always been — and, more importantly, that both companies will end up stronger together than they were apart.
Like Nau’s new use of Planet Access Company for its distribution. Ah, PAC… it has my heart. A first-rate distribution center employing developmentally disabled adults in Chicago, Gordon worked on the side to found this company a year after founding Horny Toad in the mid-1990s. When we talked, his passion for this cause was clear and sent us both on a little digression. He told me about how the idea for PAC came about.
“We’ve always wanted to be the best environmental citizen we could be,” he says. “Where we can be leaders is in the social space, and now more and more of our peer organizations are thinking about this. It gives Nau a whole other social responsibility venture.” (Amen!) “When our relationship with Nau started, I was most excited for PAC,” he said. “This will really put their organization on the map.”
What Horny Toad offers to Nau in this new distribution partner, Nau offers to Horny Toad in paving the way for it to join the webfront model, the Community Partners program and incorporating more sustainable materials. “We’re at about 70 percent sustainable with our products now,” Gordon said about the HT line. ‘We’re trying to close the gap to 100 percent.”
Mark recapped a wonderful list for me of how Nau will still lead the sustainable fashion sector:
On the outside, the two companies will continue to operate separately. On the inside, they will combine their strengths into not one, but TWO brands that will innovate and change the way we shop.
Which tells me that this time, Nau is here to stay. With its new partner close by its side.
Still want more? Treehugger broke the Nau 2.0 story with a wonderful overview, including more about the impassioned consumer response that was the impetus for re-birth (just read these comments!). Nau’s blog, The Thought Kitchen, is chronicling the transition from the inside.
The new Nau website and fall/winter line will launch August 1.
Clothing with a second life. Entering a resale shop knowing exactly what size you wear. Thrift prices for your favorite brand. Um, what’s not to love about this concept?
Swedish brand Filippa K has recently opened its own secondhand store, selling exclusively lightly used clothes and accessories of its own brand. Founder Filippa Knuttson says the concept emphasizes her brand’s high quality and timeless design. “We are incredibly proud to be able to work with sustainability in this way,” she says. Check out a full article at Springwise.com — which also points out how scalable this concept could be, such as for books, housewares, electronics and more.
Well, it’s about TIME I wrote a little something about June’s West Eighteenth Street Fashion Show — particularly because a) I was in it, b) it’s been more than a month (!) and c) I’ve been a bit surprised at how little coverage it received. Call me old fashion fashioned (I’ll be here all week, folks), but doesn’t the premiering of 20 designers’ newest lines warrant some WWD-style reviews?
I won’t go quite that far myself (maybe next year — for hire? Call me!), but I’m excited to share some of my faves…
