Remember Standard Magazine, which launched in September? It’s an online-only shelter mag that features exclusively eco-friendly goods, but it doesn’t mention eco qualities because they shouldn’t be out-of-the-ordinary — they should be standard. (Just in case you needed a refresher!)

Kelly asked me to contribute to the current issue by curating the “On the Boards” department and doing a Q&A. Take a look! Here’s my favorite “A,” which typifies this blog:

Standard: So how can people be more ethical in their buying, for fashion and beyond?

Janette: First and foremost, you know the things in your closet that you love and find yourself wearing constantly? I try to make those are the only items I buy. This means shopping for pieces that are versatile, high-quality and, most importantly, that I really love from the get-go.

Buy those items from independent businesses and designers, or vintage. Have them repaired when they need it. Do a bit of research on the values behind the brands you love, and make sure they align with your own. The same goes for purchases as big as furniture, or as small as groceries.

When you have the issue open, take a look at the Ace Hotel feature on page 18 as well. Gorgeous!

Thank you, Kelly and Lily!

Remember The Uniform Project? To raise money and awareness for the Akanksha Foundation, Sheena Matheiken wore the same little black dress every day for 365 days, styled as creatively as imaginable and photographed daily.

Today, the designer of that little black dress is doing something truly disruptive in the fashion industry: Eliza Starbuck is releasing her new label, Bright Young Things, offering one collection of one dress — a piece that will inspire us to “shop our own closets” to spice it up with our own personal style.

“I’ve seen so many women with closets full of clothes who say, ‘I haven’t got a thing to wear!’ I’m giving them one dress that they can wear forwards, backwards, open, again and again, with anything they like,” Eliza says. You really can wear it with the buttons in front or back, as you can see in the pics here. Her concept is borne of the idea that fashion shouldn’t be obsolete each season.

Describing her decision to put the dress into production, Eliza said, “If by buying my one dress, women would forego buying five cheap and trendy dresses this year, that would be a big feat. Keeping that much junk out of the landfills alone would make production worthwhile to me.”

The dress was previously offered in a limited production of 365 pieces, which sold out immediately. The Bright Young Things website encourages wearers to submit personal style pics of them in the dress, from which the images here have come, and I can’t wait to see how it will grow once the dress is more widely available.

The dress goes on pre-sale TODAY, produced in the U.S. of high-quality cotton, for $185. Support Eliza in changing the paradigm of mass consumer culture and get yours here!

Would you believe that each of these pairs of glasses are only $95?

Yes, with prescription lenses included! Warby Parker is seriously shaking up the world of awesome eyewear with a business model that benefits pretty much everyone. They sell directly to consumers, avoiding the markups and middlemen of a wholesale model, which allows them to offer the most affordable glasses I can even imagine. I’m a contacts wearer and have been wanting a pair of “accessory” glasses to wear when the mood strikes, but I haven’t been able to justify the multi-hundred-dollar purchase that I knew it would be. Now, I’m deciding between these three pairs. The brand lets you borrow several pairs to try at home!

To me, these are a great purchase on account of their durability (made out of a custom cellulose acetate that is stronger than plastic), price point, donation benefit (for each pair bought, a pair is donated through a partner nonprofit) and support of a small and fantastic company that deserves to succeed. Men’s styles also available. Read more here.

Via DailyCandy.

I’ve been on the hunt for a pair of statement heels — something louder than the classic styles I usually go for — but now with Dekkori I can get more bang for my thoughtfully-spent buck!

Admittedly, the brand doesn’t have any obvious eco-cred. But designer Stephanie Kim founded the concept “on principles of quality, functionality and style versatility” — tenets I do my best to consider in every fashion or homewares purchase I make.

The Terra Plana Juniper in grey is on my Christmas list (25% off this week!), and now the Dekkori Disposition Wrap is, too! Two shoes in one for just $56 more. (You can click here for my bad Photoshop rendition of how the two will look together.)

The Dekkori online shop launched this week. Nine styles are available, ranging from $56 to $158.

Via DailyCandy.

Leather Warrior Jacket

Siberian Top

Wide Leaf Belt

Thieves is sold through Thieves Boutique, an online boutique whose vision is to sell not only its house line but also goods from other eco fashion designers — a move I really admire, not only for the curation of a beautiful selection with multiple perspectives and inputs, but also for the support it obviously creates among designers in the niche industry of eco fashion. Bravo.

The Thieves Boutique website does a superb job of educating shoppers on sustainable textiles. For descriptions on everything from soy to wild silk, read here. And one of my favorite educational tidbits on the entire site?

PLEASE NOTE: The biggest environmental impact from clothing is how much washing and drying it needs over its lifetime. Wash in cold water and hang to dry.

But… with price tags at $1,015, $609 and $141, respectively, for the garments shown here, I’m not sure I’ll ever be getting my share.

So how about a FREE album download from the new Kansas City indie band of the same name? Thieves just released their first album Nov. 7, and you can download the entire thing for free at isoldthetruth.com! I saw these guys at Standard Boutique’s annual VIEWS fashion show last month and was super impressed. Enjoy!

If you haven’t heard about Nike’s green design movement, I’m not surprised. The company has intentionally not promoted it significantly. As I wrote before, Nike product designer Jane Savage said that Nike wasn’t promoting the Considered message more because “the average sneakerhead isn’t ready for that message yet.”

The fact that the company is taking significant strides toward cradle-to-cradle product design and not even promoting it as a selling point of the shoes is absolutely incredible. Nike will gain credibility for green design where some eco brands will never dream — because Nike is still putting performance first, and when satisfied Nike-wearing athletes eventually do learn about the their shoes’ green-cred, sustainable design as a whole will WIN.

Read more about Nike Considered’s internal design standards here, from my February 2008 article.

If you’re crazy about vintage pieces and one-offs (and you don’t mind waiting for things to ship from the Spain), I have a new site for you. Stella McClure just launched Stellar Boutique, an awesome collection of handpicked vintage items and many unique creations from up-and-coming designers.

Candy Stripe Dress, $92.09
Hand sewn by Italian designer Lia Lee from deconstructed vintage clothing

Stella spent three years doing the same thing at Portobello market in London, but now she’s made all the world her stage with her gorgeous new web store (serving the US Dollar, Pound and the Euro). Her vintage pieces are pricier than some, but when it comes to well-curated selections, I can be forgiving of that.

80s Zipper Jacket, $66.98
Vintage

Home wares and Menswear are coming soon!

Frei Pillow Top Tunic, $255 (formerly $364!), at Pivot Boutique.

Through May 31, all Chicago designers at Pivot Boutique in Chicago are 30% off. Deals on Lara Miller, Elise Bergman, Sunia and Frei Designs are available online, and more in store. All are made right in Chicago! Good stuff.

Via Green Grechen.

]]> http://fashionlovespeople.com/2009/05/27/chicago-designer-sale-at-pivot/feed/ 0 http://fashionlovespeople.com/2009/05/12/10-ways-to-change-the-world-through-social-media/ http://fashionlovespeople.com/2009/05/12/10-ways-to-change-the-world-through-social-media/#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 18:00:22 +0000 Janette http://fashionlovespeople.com/?p=882 CITIZEN JOURNALISM, OPEN GOVERNMENT, STATUS UPDATES, COMMUNITY BUILDING, INFORMATION SHARING, CROWDSOURCING AND THE ELECTION OF A PRESIDENT

In March at SxSW, I got to have a martini with Rob Reed, the person behind the persona of Max Gladwell. In following his work since then — particularly writings on the Max Gladwell blog about the intersection of social media and green living — I’ve become a huge fan of his huge thinking. Take the article below. Written by MG/RR, it is the first collective, open-source guest blog post, and it has just been published simultaneously on about 100 relevant blogs, inspiring 100 simultaneous conversations from various points of view. Please join in!

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They’ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They’ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they’ll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What’s most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list.

Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It’s also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you’d like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Take Social Actions: The nonprofit organization Social Actions aggregates “opportunities to make a difference from over 50 online platforms” through its unique API. It recently held the Change the Web Challenge contest in order to inspire the most innovative applications for that API. The Social Actions Interactive Map won the $5,000 first prize. The result is a virtual tour of the world through the lens of social action. “People are volunteering, donating, signing petitions, making loans and doing other social actions as we speak — all over the world. To capture the context of the where, this project uses sophisticated techniques to extract location information from full text paragraphs.” You can also join the Social Actions Community, which is powered by Ning…which now boasts more than one million individual social networks.

2. Twitter with a Purpose: This list could be exclusive to Twitter. The micro-blogging sensation was featured on our first two lists (a three-tweet), and it’s certain to be a fixture. From Tweetsgiving, the virtual Thanksgiving feast, to the Twestival, which organized 202 off-line events around the world to benefit charity: water, it’s become the de facto tool for organizing and taking action. Tweet Congress won the SXSW activism award, and celebrity Tweeps Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Rose Tweeted their two million followers about ending malaria. Max Gladwell recently initiated the #EcoMonday follow meme as a way to connect and organize the Green Twittersphere.

3. Visit White House 2.0: Inside of its first 100 days, the Obama administration has managed to set the historic benchmark for government transparency and accountability. The President’s virtual town hall meeting used WhiteHouse.gov to crowdsource questions from his 300 million constituents, complete with voting to determine the ones he’d have to answer. All told, 97,937 people submitted 103,978 questions and cast 1,782,650 votes. The White House continues to raise the bar with its official Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter channels. In so doing President Obama is not just setting the standard for state and local government in the U.S. He’s establishing the world standard. The Obama administration is spreading democracy not by force but through example. Because you don’t have to be an American citizen to be a friend or follower of White House 2.0.

4. Claim your Zumbox: What happens when all mail can be sent and delivered online to any street address in a paperless form? That’s the big question for Zumbox, which has created an online mail system with a digital mailbox for every U.S. street address. And while the answer to that question remains to be seen, it promises to be as liberating as it is disruptive. A key quality for Zumbox is that it’s closed system much like that of Facebook, only instead of true identity it’s true address. This will enable people to better connect with their communities including their neighbors, local businesses and the mayor’s office. The primary agent of change, though, might not be that this uses street addresses but that it enables direct and potentially viral feedback, which is a virtue that email and the USPS do not offer. The first methods are to request exclusive paperless delivery and to block a sender, but others are certain to evolve such as real-time commenting and ways to share mail with friends, family and colleagues. Welcome to Mail 2.0. (Disclosure: Zumbox is a client of Rob Reed, the founder of Max Gladwell.)

5. Host a Social Media Event: This is the year of the social media event. No meaningful gathering of people is complete without an interactive online audience, especially when it’s so easy and cost effective to pull off. Essential tools include a broadband connection, laptop, video camera, projector and screen. Add people and a purpose, such as entrepreneurship. Promote it through social media channels, and you have a social media event. A recent example in the green world is the Evolution of Green, which was hosted by Creative Citizen, a green wiki community. It celebrated the launch of a new Web property, EcoMatters, while also establishing a new Twitter tag. By posing the question, “How can we go from green hype to green habit?” and including the #GreenQ hashtag, it sparked a conversation between attendees and the Twittersphere in real time. Thus was born a new mechanism for getting answers to green questions via Twitter.

6. Travel the World: More than anyone else, Tim O’Reilly knows the potential for social media to change the world. In his opening keynote at this year’s Web 2.0 Expo, he called for a new ethic in which we do more with less and create more value than we capture. This provided the context for SalaamGarage founder Amanda Koster, whose presentation followed O’Reilly’s. The idea is that social media has enabled each of us to have an audience. Whether through Twitter, Flickr, YouTube or a personal blog, each of us can have influence and reach. What’s more, it can be used for good. SalaamGarage coordinates trips for citizen journalists (that means you) to places like India and Vietnam in conjunction with non-government organizations like Seattle-based Peace Trees. The destination is the story, as these humanitarian journalists report on the people they meet and discoveries they make. Their words, images, and video are posted to the social web to gain exposure and because these stories just need to be told.

7. Build It on Drupal: You may not have noticed, but the open-source Drupal content management system (CMS) has quickly become the dominant player on the social web. While we still prefer WordPress as a strict blogging application, Drupal has emerged as the go-to platform for building scalable, community-driven websites. It powers Recovery.gov, a key part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency and accountability. PopRule uses it as a social news platform for politics. And Drupal will soon become the platform for Causecast, a site where “media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.” This is especially significant because Causecast CEO Ryan Scott is transitioning the site off of Ruby on Rails because Drupal has proved more efficient, user friendly and cost effective. (Disclosure: Max Gladwell founder Rob Reed is co-founder of PopRule.)

8. Green Your iPhone: Looking for an organic diner within biking distance that has a three-star green rating? There’s a app for that. It’s called 3rd Whale, and you can download it for free. (Except that the star rating is actually a whale rating.) Complete with Facebook Connect, this iPhone app locates green products and businesses in 30 major North American cities. It uses the iPhone’s dial function to select a category (food), sub-category (restaurants), and distance (walking, biking, or driving). In Santa Monica, this might give you Swingers diner for its selection of veggie and vegan fare. You could then get directions from your current location using the iPhone’s built-in Google map, rate your experience on the three-whale scale, and write up a quick review. 3rd Whale recently released a new feature that integrates green-living tips, which can show how much energy or waste you’ll save by taking a given action.

9. Unite the World Through Video: Matt’s dancing around the world video inspired many to tears. Today, more than 20 million people have viewed his YouTube masterpiece, where he performs a kooky dance with the citizens of planet earth. The most recent example of this approach is Playing for Change, which connects the world through song. The project started in Santa Monica with a street performance of the classic Stand By Me and expanded to New Orleans, New Mexico, France, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela, South Africa, Spain, and The Netherlands. The project was superbly executed via social media, complete with a YouTube channel, MySpace, Facebook and blog. It’s received tremendous mainstream media exposure and also benefits a foundation of the same name.

10. Rate a Company: The conversation about corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes place across the social web on blogs, Twitter and YouTube, but a central hub for this information and opinion is still to be determined. SocialYell seeks to address this by building an online community around the CSR conversation, where users can submit reviews of companies together with nonprofit organizations and even public figures like Michelle Obama. The major topics are the Environment, Health, Social Equity, Consumer Advocacy and Charity. The reviews are voted and commented on by the community in a Reddit-like fashion with both up (Yell) and down (shhh) voting. The site is relatively new and still gaining traction, but there’s no question that a resource like this is needed to shine a bright light on CSR and and other related issues.

11. Publish a collective, simultaneous blog post on a universal topic: As Nigel Tufnel might say, this list goes to eleven. Let the #10Ways conversation begin…

Final note: This is Max Gladwell’s third list of “10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media.” The first was posted a year ago today on Sustainablog.org, and the sequel followed five months later. If a single headline can capture the Max Gladwell raison d’etre, this is it.

Now go: Market Publique Shop or Blog. This bomber jacket is only available for nine more days…