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How to Engage with Ethical Fashion | Clara Vuletich | #TEDxSydney #ethicalfashion #sustainable #fashion

12 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Environment, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fairtrade, Fashion, Fast Fashion, Slow fashion, Sustainable Fashion

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#buyethical, Change, consumerism, eco fashion, eco-friendly, ecological impact, Environment, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethically-made, fair trade, fair wages, fast fashion, Garment lifecycle, Recycled Fashion, social change, Social consumerism, social impact, socially-made, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable fashion, sustainable lifestyle, sustainably-made

What do you know about the clothes in your wardrobe? About the clothes that you’re wearing right now? Clara Vuletich works with some of the biggest brands in the world to help them ask the right questions about where the clothes that we wear come from.

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[Article Round Up] Industry Voices: Can Sustainability Be Sexy? #ethicalfashion #sustainable #environment #fashion

09 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Environment, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Fast Fashion, Slow fashion, Social Ventures

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#buyethical, Change, consumerism, Environment, Environmental issues, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, fair trade, fair wages, Fashion, Fashion industry, responsible consumerism, responsible fashion, social change, Social consumerism, Social Innovation, Social issues, socially responsible, socially-made, sustainability, sustainable, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, sustainable fashion, sustainable fashion movement, sustainably-made

By Edward A. Gribbin for https://www.apparelnews.net

The social and environmental issues within the fashion industry are well documented. The industry knows it needs to act responsibly and work sustainably for the sake of the millions of workers it employs, not to mention the future of the business itself. We tend to think that fashion is all about change, and yet we are one of the most change-resistant industries in the world.

Research shows that looks come first for ethical fashionistas, who tend to buy sustainable fashion. While consumers might have a clearer picture of the not-so-glamorous reality behind fashion production, especially after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh, not much has changed in regard to their shopping habits. This reaction doesn’t really come as a surprise. Fashion and sustainable fashion must meet and mingle. They can no longer be two separate categories and movements. If ethical fashion wants to find a place, it’s going to have to look pretty similar, if not better, than its fast-fashion alternative.

Two key themes emerging in the retail market today are the need for more continual and impactful customer engagement and the increasing impact of sustainability and social-responsibility issues on business decision-making.

To more intimately and continually attract and engage customers, retailers are focusing on getting faster at developing product. Speed-to-market seems to be the No. 1 topic across all segments of the apparel/fashion world. While traditional new-product development cycles stretch out to 18 months—many retailers have already launched development of their collections for Spring 2018—retailers are finding that customers are gravitating toward stores, sites or apps that are always launching new, fresh, “of-the-moment” products.

What we need to do is encourage consumers to seek out sustainable products in the same way they seek out trendy new items. This is a challenge. Consider smokers and how often anti-smoking campaigns fail; when threatened with frightening consequences, we go into denial, continuing with our bad habits. The best way to promote behavior change is to make an alternative behavior seem more appealing; it’s got to be cool! Brands can no longer rely on having two big seasons a year and keeping their customers’ attention. New and frequent capsule collections have been proven to attract and keep consumer attention. Whether it’s the success of fast-fashion brands or the “see-now-buy-now” movement sweeping the luxury segment, traditional retail is threatened and slowly responding. Similarly, we need to respond to our sustainability challenges in ways that appeal to consumers.

A global perspective

As labor prices continue to explode in China, the No. 1 exporter of apparel to the U.S., and more Chinese manufacturers are finding that selling to the rapidly growing number of middle-class Chinese can be more lucrative than exporting, retailers have been forced to search for other sources of cheap labor. This has created a ripple effect of additional issues, from significant negative environmental impacts in countries with fewer rules and infrastructure capabilities than China to slave or child labor and numerous other human-rights issues.

Most major brands and retailers have joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition in recent years, and some of the largest formed the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. Both organizations are having a positive impact, but progress is slow and fraught with challenges. As a result, more and more retailers are deciding to source products closer to home even though the costs are higher. Greater supply-chain transparency is not only critical to a brand’s reputation and top of mind with more industry leadership, it is being demanded by more and more consumers.

This consumer demand may be an area where our industry can make headway with sustainability issues. Consumers are far more empowered today than ever before. The retailer once owned us, the consumer. If you wanted a piece of apparel, you had to go to a store when that store was open, look at the selection of merchandise that some merchant decided you would want to buy and, if you found something you liked, hopefully they had it in your size.

Technology has turned that around. Today, the consumer is the center of everything, and they hold control of the retailer in their hand or in their pocket. Many of our retail business models are broken today and some beyond repair. We take far too long to design and develop product, too long to source it and too long to ship it back in a boat from halfway around the world.

There are “disrupters” today who are finding different and better ways to serve the customer. They are developing product “virtually” in 3-D to cut time to market, they are sourcing locally, and they are personalizing product in ways that most retailers could not imagine. New technologies—ranging from waterless dyeing to 3-D printing and supply-chain mapping tools—have the potential to help fashion make smarter sustainable choices. But technology without people and a plan will get us nowhere fast.

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[Article Round Up] Ethical manufacturing in fashion as India embraces fair trade handloom campaign #ethicalfashion #fairtrade #IWearHandloom

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Environment, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fairtrade, Fashion, Slow fashion, Sustainable Fashion, Uncategorized

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#buyethical, Change, consumerism, eco fashion, eco-friendly, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethically-made, Fairtrade Fashion, Fashion, social change, Social consumerism, social impact, Social Innovation, socially-made, sustainable, sustainable fashion, sustainably-made

From: http://www.independent.ie/business/world/ethical-manufacturing-in-fashion-as-india-embraces-fair-trade-handloom-campaign-34946348.html

When Indian Textiles Minister Smriti Irani tweeted a picture of herself this week in an electric-blue silk saree with the hashtag #IWearHandloom, her tweet was favourited more than 10,000 times.

i_wear_handloom-read-only_2

Handloom is making the leap to high fashion

Hundreds responded to Irani’s request to post pictures of themselves in handloom clothes, including politicians, actors, athletes, models and designers, ahead of National Handloom Day yesterday to celebrate the humble hand-woven fabric.

A symbol of India’s freedom struggle, handloom attire was once regarded as fit only for politicians and villagers.

It is now seeing a revival, with demand growing for sustainable and ethical fashion, even as mass-market clothing still dominates malls and pavement stalls. “There’s a greater desire among the youth and the middle class, who are frustrated with dirty politics for something better,” said Arvind Singhal, chief executive of retail consultancy Technopak Advisors.

“Having a greater ­sensitivity to people and the environment is ‘in’, and people are even ­willing to pay a small premium for what they perceive to be ethical and responsible,” he said.

India is among the biggest manufacturers of textiles and apparel in the world, supplying leading international brands. But the domestic market is large too, and accounts for more than 40pc of the industry’s revenue.

The sector is dominated by small and medium-sized firms under enormous pressure to reduce costs and produce garments quickly. Many use forced labour, while abuses ­including withheld salaries and debt ­bondage are rife, activists say.

Wages in India’s textile and garment industry are about $1.06 an hour, compared with $2.60 in China, according to the World Bank.

The pressure on margins trickles down to cotton farmers. More than 90pc of cotton in India is genetically modified, and as those seeds cannot be replanted, farmers have struggled with rising input costs and lower prices for cotton. Tens of thousands of indebted cotton farmers in the western state of Maharashtra have killed themselves in the past two decades.

It was the plight of these farmers that drove Apurva Kothari, who was working in technology in San Francisco, to return to India and set up apparel brand No Nasties in 2011.

The company sources organic cotton, and audits its supply chain to ensure there is no child labour and that workers receive fair wages, he said.

“I simply googled ‘fair trade cotton’, then met with cotton producers,” said Kothari.

No Nasties and Do U Speak Green are among a handful of Fairtrade-licensed clothing brands in India. They source from producers including Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills, which deals in organic and fair trade cotton and pays fair wages, and Chetna Organic, whose seed conservation project has organic “seedbanks” from which farmers can withdraw seeds.

They are getting a boost from Fairtrade India, which set up office in 2013, and has stamped its distinct circular logo on a small range of products including tea, coffee, rice and sugar.

Working conditions and ­wages in South Asia’s garment industry have come under greater scrutiny since the April 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, in which more than 1,100 workers died. But retailers’ efforts to clean up supply chains will have little impact unless consumers in India demand more ethically produced goods, analysts say.

“Most buyers are oblivious to farmer suicides or unfair wages, and don’t make that connection to the clothes they wear,” said Abhishek Jani, chief executive of Fairtrade India. “But there is clearly a segment that cares, and all things being equal, more people would probably buy an ethical product if the price point isn’t too high.” (Reuters)

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Old-School Recycling: A Lesson and a Warning #sustainable #recycled #ecolifestyle #repurpose #reuse

03 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Environment, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fairtrade, Sustainable Fashion, Uncategorized

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#buyethical, #SocEnt, Change, consumerism, developing countries, eco-friendly, Eco-lifestyle, Environment, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethical products, ethically-made, fair trade, Reclaimed, recycled, Repurpose, reuse, social change, Social consumerism, Social Enterprise, social impact, Social Innovation, socially-made, sustainability, sustainable, sustainably-made

In India, it is not uncommon to see old fabrics repurposed to provide different uses throughout their life. From shirt, to pillowcase, to bag, to rag – one garment can serve many functions. This method of reusing and recycling fabrics is driven by economic need and has organically evolved into a sustainable recycling model. However, this organic model is more institutionalized and organized then we think, particularly when it comes to the Chindi trade.

An age-old tradition in India, led by the Waghris, a nomadic community of India, the Chindi (rag) trade is an intens bute informal second-hand recycling system. This practice has occurred in India for over 150 years and consists of the Waghris travelling through neighbourhoods and markets bartering old clothes for new utensils from households in cities across India. Through this practice, the Waghri’s are able to provide affordable used clothing to India’s poor, while ensuring old clothes don’t end up in landfills.

lrgRUG-DOM-3X5-MCL-4 P1

Chindi rug made by combining scarps of many different types of fabrics, including cotton, silk, and wool.

However, in return, these nomads face a constant struggle when it comes to sustainably operating their practices as their urban markets are never considered when it comes to urban planning and beautification, poor economic returns, discrimination and no recognition for the work they do to support communities and the environment.

Moreover, due to a lack of investable capital, there second-hand trade is completely off-the-map when it comes to the international market. What, in theory, is an innovative method to deal with urban recycling needs and provide affordable second-hand clothes to India’s poor, is reduced to stigmatized and dying profession.

This practice is a lesson in the fact that communities around the world have acknowledge the need to reuse and repurpose items for centuries. However, it is also warning that if we do not cherish and support these practices, they will remain invisible, marginalized and unaccounted for.

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A Quick Overview of Slow Fashion #Ethicalfashion #Fashion #Slowfashion #Eco #Environment

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Environment, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Slow fashion, Sustainable Fashion

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#buyethical, Change, eco fashion, eco-friendly, Environment, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethical products, ethically-made, Slow fashion, social change, Social consumerism, social impact, socially-made, sustainable, sustainable fashion, sustainably-made

In a world of instant messaging, instant delivery and instant shopping, slow fashion is a direct contradiction of our desire for more, faster and cheaper. While, slow fashion has tremendous benefits for our planet and for the lives of the people that produce our garments and accessories, the concept of slow fashion has implications that go far deeper into the world of fashion.
 
scarveIf we look back at the history of fashion, prior to the popularity of mass-produced ready-to-wear pieces, fashion was about the designer and the producer – the artists that painstakingly created products of quality and care. To embrace the slow fashion movement is to proclaim a desire for quality instead of quantity, to focus on colours, textures, and designs and to not only embrace the piece but the story behind the piece, as well. To embrace the slow fashion movement is to recall the days of the couturier, the garment maker, the artist – the individuals that truly formulated what we know as fashion and style today. 
 
Slow fashion is not just a rejection of fast fashion for the sake of a better planet but an acceptance of the idea that we, like our the fashionista’s before us, can take a few ordinary garments and accessories and turn them into extraordinary outfits that exude quality, beauty and consciousness.

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[Article Round Up] Analysis: Fast fashion comes at a steep price for the environment #ethicalfashion #environment #fastfashion

24 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Environment, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Fast Fashion, Sustainable Fashion

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#buyethical, Change, climate change, eco-friendly, eco-friendly fashion, ecological impact, economic development, Environment, environmental consciousness, environmental impact, Environmental Sustainability, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethically-made, fair trade, fair wages, Fashion, Fashion Ecosystem, fast fashion, Planet-friendly, social change, social impact, socially-made, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable fashion, sustainably-made

Written by Michael Shank, adjunct assistant professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, and Maxine Bédat, CEO and co-founder of Zady for MSNBC

“There are few industries fickler than fashion, changing annually and swapping seasonally. The good news is that fashion can, in theory, change more quickly than the energy or agricultural industries, for example. And when it comes to tackling climate change, agility and the ability to rapidly retool practices will be essential attributes of the most resilient and sustainable industries.

This is how Emma Watson’s recent take on waste — she appeared at a red carpet New York City gala wearing a dress made entirely of trash — could herald a new trend for fashion. Or at least, it should, because we’re rapidly approaching “peak stuff” with bursting consumer closets that are unsustainable by any measure.

Most clothes are worn, on average, only seven times before they’re discarded, forcing an astonishing150 billion new clothing items to be made annually. Thank “fast fashion,” a business model based on the fabrication of hyper trends and clothing that doesn’t last for consumers to accumulate. But given limited natural resources and the urgent need to protect what remains from further apparel-driven pollution, the cutting edge in fashion will soon need to trend and tack towards something more people- and planet-friendly.

Getting clothing cheap enough for the fashion industry’s disposable model has required massive amounts of cheap material and cheap labor — both of which came with devastatingly high and unaccounted-for costs.

First, the push for low prices led to cheap material. Polyester is the worst: It’s a plastic made from fossil fuels and found in 50 percent of all clothing. It’s enormously energy intensive and doesn’t bio-degrade, making for a catastrophic carbon and environmental footprint. In outsourcing production, a process greased by decades of trade deals, we simultaneously outsourced pollution to countries with even dirtier power grids. Now, 10 percent of the world’s total carbon footprint comes from the apparel industry, and apparel is the second largest polluter of fresh water globally. These are devastating stats, and we’re wearing them on our sleeves.

Second, the push for low prices also led to cheap labor. The apparel industry’s race for the cheapest inputs relied on laborers at the very lowest end of the wage spectrum in countries with few protections for workers. While the industry has created jobs and lifted some people out of poverty, the hard truth remains that low wages, forced labor, unhealthy and dangerous working conditions, and child labor are now rampant throughout apparel supply chains. Children are working in appalling conditions that amount to modern day slavery.

The good news is that consumers are reaching their limit with all of this. And there’s a realization in the post-Paris climate world and in the U.N.’s recent adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals that we must put an end to polluting factors and worker abuse. Even the Vatican is connecting the dots between the apparel industry’s modern day slavery and climate change. To ignore any of this is to remain regressively retro.

While we still have a broken apparel industry, we do have a consumer base that is hungry for change, which is why Emma Watson’s trash stunt got so much traction on social and traditional media. People want something better, they want something different and they want it to be sustainable. They don’t want what they wear to worsen the planet or people’s lives. This means that all of us have an opportunity — an opportunity to create a different future.

All across the fashion ecosystem, we’ll need progressive leadership and a willingness by multilateral institutions, from the United Nations to the World Bank, to make the connection between apparel and the environment and economic development. The connections are obvious. Thus, we can no longer ignore the final (fashion) frontier in our efforts to clean up the planet and our dirty practices. The U.N.’s newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals, for example, are all about social inclusion, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability — three pillars that aren’t, at present, at the epicenter of the apparel industry.

That must change. And it’ll require some new patterns by non-apparel types. Journalists exposing the adverse social-environmental impacts of apparel production, guiding readers towards possible solutions and avoiding “greenwashing.” Brands adopting sustainable practices, from design through production, within their own businesses. Influencers, some of today’s best storytellers, showcasing the beauty and benefits of living simply. Educational institutions teaching the next generation the skills needed to identify industry-specific problems in fashion and improve its sustainability.

We can do this. It does mean that we’ll need more Watson-type moments when people break the red carpet mold to speak out for the planet and for people’s livelihood. But Watson is not alone. Nor are we. It’s time to start wearing a different world.”

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Fashion’s faux and sustainable options: How designers are redefining luxury with ethical substitutes #ethicalfashion #sustainable #buyethical

23 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Celebrations, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Holiday Shopping, Uncategorized

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#buyethical, Change, consumerism, eco fashion, eco-friendly, Environment, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethically-made, Fashion, Luxury Fashion, Luxury sustainable fashion movement, social change, Social consumerism, social impact, socially-made, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable fashion, Sustainable Luxury, sustainably-made

Original post: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/fashion-s-faux-and-sustainable-options-how-designers-are-redefining-luxury-with-ethical-substitutes-a6736671.html

fur-free-fur

As fashion victims go, Cruella de Vil is a particularly gruesome example – her rabid pursuit of the perfect pelt led her into some particularly hot water. She’s an extreme example, but by no means unique: old habits die hard and fur is still seen as the last word in luxury in many markets, used liberally, and literally, head to toe (check this season’s favourite fur-lined and trimmed shoes). However, as a buying public at all levels of income becomes increasingly aware of the true cost behind clothing –moral and environmental, as opposed to just fiscal – a market is booming for synthetic fur and leather chosen for ethics rather than economics.

Stella McCartney is the most obvious example – especially since her autumn/winter collection, which introduced gargantuan, shaggy “Fur Free Fur” coats, each prominently labelled with just that slogan. The vegetarian designer has long used synthetic suede and leather in collections she dubs “vegan”, but for a long time she has shied away from faux fur. “I’d done fake fur many, many years ago,” she says – her final autumn/winter 2001 collection for Chloé, for instance, was awash in the stuff – “and I’d really questioned whether it was appropriate to do it and if it was necessary. Because fake fur now looks so real, I was afraid that I was promoting real fur, but I created these fur-free labels that will be on the outside of products so you can actually tell people it’s not [real]. We are a house that thinks that fur is not relevant. It looks old-fashioned.”

'Fur Free Fur' by Stella McCartney

– ‘Fur Free Fur’ by Stella McCartney

Hannah Weiland’s work could never be described thus; her colourful faux-fur clothing under the label Shrimps has won plenty of plaudits since it launched in 2013. “I specifically decided to use faux fur for a number of reasons: my personal taste and views, price, colour and creative flexibility,” Weiland explains. “I was fortunate to come across a mill producing the highest-quality faux fur available. I think it is a misconception that faux fur is not a luxurious product – given how incredible modern technology is, you can now essentially produce faux fur with the same level of softness, quality and warmth as real fur, which makes the argument for real fur much harder.”

Judd Crane, the director of womenswear and accessories at Selfridges, believes there is no argument – the department store has been proudly fur-free for a decade. Crane is cheered by the increased visibility of faux fur as a luxury proposition in its own right: “We’re interested in alternatives that meet every luxury consumer’s needs, and we have this for autumn/winter more than ever. Stella McCartney’s faux fur has fashionable, luxury and ethical credentials and there are great options at Dries Van Noten too. Faux fur is establishing itself as a versatile fashion fabric that works year-round – Shrimps has been one of our biggest success stories in every store.”

fur-shrimps.jpg

 – Eco-fashion alternative from Shrimps

The production of fur, and indeed exotic skins such as crocodile, ostrich and python, is a complicated matter, and there is an argument that faux fur is not exactly a “green” material, due to the vast amounts of chemicals used to manufacture it, alongside its inability to biodegrade. McCartney, though, has worked to avoid this, even using biodegradable soles in her shoe collections.

Rachel Comey is a New York-based designer who has somewhat circumvented the two binary ideas of faux and real by using fur from animals that have died from natural causes, namely baby alpacas reared for their wool. “I work with a tannery in Peru that sources the skins,” she explains. “The leathers come exclusively from the death of baby alpacas – the hard weather in the alpaca-producing zones 12,000 feet above sea level causes the death of 15 per cent of baby alpacas in the first three months of life.” The nature of her sourcing means that Comey works on a small scale, ensuring exclusivity – a key word in the luxury market. But she believes that every manufacturer should abide by the same principles of ethics “both environmentally and humanely”.

fur-feudi.jpg

– Eco-fashion alternative from Edun

In the UK the use of real fur still provokes much emotion and heated debate. A number of British publications – including Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar – will not photograph it editorially, while a poll by the RSPCA in 2011 revealed that 95 per cent of people in the UK would refuse to wear real fur, despite its prevalence on international catwalks. But ethical manufacturing is about more than just whether designers use real or faux fur – the supply chain introduces huge difficulties when it comes to social responsibility, from the treatment of staff to the use of toxic chemicals, water and minerals in the production of the raw materials.

Last year, the luxury group Kering – the parent company of Stella McCartney – made a bold statement of its ethical credentials. At a talk for the London College of Fashion, Kering’s chairman and chief executive, François-Henri Pinault, explained that the Kering group had worked to create a way of tanning leather that did not use harmful pollutants such as heavy metals. This sort of environmental awareness might be expected from McCartney, or the ever-earth-aware Vivienne Westwood, perhaps, but as the majority shareholder in labels famed for their leather handbags and accessories such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga, this was a bold step. Bolder still was the fact that Pinault announced he would share this information with rival companies, signifying a desire to enact real change rather than maintain a competitive edge in order to sell more bags.

“Needless consumption is not our friend,” says Iain Renwick, the chairman of Eco-Age, a brand consultancy that works with retailers and manufacturers of all sizes to improve their sustainability. “There is an opinion that more expensive often means more ethical –this can simply be the case that luxury items are produced in smaller quantities, or use a lot of handcrafting, artisanal techniques. Fundamentally these are not disposable items.” The very nature of the luxury industry means that it can be slow to enact change, no matter how much will there is to do so. But incremental change is better than none at all, believes Renwick, who recognises that brands still have products to push: “We call it the merging of ethics and aesthetics.”

fur-comey.jpg– Eco-fashion alternative from Rachel Comey

One label that has got the blend of ethics and aesthetics right is Edun – though it wasn’t always the case. Now part of the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy stable of luxury brands, Edun was founded by Ali Hewson and her husband, the U2 musician Bono, in 2005 to promote trade in Africa. That’s an admirable aim, yet the brand struggled to be taken seriously without a strong, relevant aesthetic. Danielle Sherman was appointed as creative director in 2013, bringing expertise from The Row and Alexander Wang, and the label is becoming an increasingly serious high-fashion proposition.

Ultimately, the fashion industry doesn’t just sell clothes and shoes and bags, it peddles aspiration – and as Comey says, modern luxury lies in “slowing down, producing less and buying what is special and can last a lifetime”.

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[Article Round Up] How to Buy Better #ethicalfashion #buyethical #shopethical

20 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Celebrations, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Holiday Shopping, Social Entreprise, Sustainable Fashion

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#buyethical, Change, Clever shopper, conscious shopper, Environment, environmentalism, environmentally-friendly, ethical consumerism, ethical fashion, ethically-made, Fashion, High street fashion, social change, Social consumerism, social impact, socially-made, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable fashion, sustainably-made

From the original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/lucy-tammam/how-to-buy-better_b_8451022.html

“The fast fashion high street can F off.

Here is my guide to getting all the clothes you need, with what ever budget you have and not screwing over the planet and people (all be it ones you don’t have to see or think about) in the process.

Save up and buy something you really really want and love, and only if you actually need it

This is the most important thing to remember when buying clothes, if you don’t love it, need it and want it, why buy it?

Buying expensive things not only makes you feel great, it also makes you value it so much more, you’re more likely to mend it if it breaks, wash it properly, and be proud when you have it on. My customers buy made to measure couture from us, but there are lots of other fabulous ethical ready to wear options if you’re not quite at bespoke in the fashion stakes.

Holly Golightly only needed one iconic LBD, so do you.

Accessorise

The key to buying fewer things is making them go further. Take a leaf out of Coco Chanel’s book and accessorise everything. It’s amazing how many looks you can get out of one dress by putting it with different pieces.

Get a stylist (or at least find an honest friend)

I know not everyone can have a team of people to dress them each morning, but advice from a professional who understands your shape, style and personality can be priceless. Even getting a friend with a good eye in to tell you what suits you and what doesn’t can mean the end of pointless purchases, and more considered style choices.

Sample sales (ideally ethical ones)

Okay we all love a good bargain, but there’s a plethora of amazing designers out there and there are always samples and surplus stock they want to move on to help fund the next collection. Help them and yourself by finding a fab secret sample sale and grabbing a bargain.

Charity shop (if you have the time) and get creative

Actually, it’s pretty hard to find something that fits and you love in a charity shop, but if you’re creative or can sew and have a bit of imagination (and time) then do everyone a favour and get down to Oxfam.

Apparently the average clothes spend in the UK is approximately £1200 per year. So you’ve likely bought between 40 and 100 items of apparel. How many of them have you worn once, or not at all, and thought “oh well it was only a fiver” and thrown it out or given it to a charity shop?

Here is my quick no-nonsense calculation of average spend / value / outcome;

High street shopper spends £25 per week, on an average two or three fast fashion garments each shop = £1300 and 130 garments per year. All garments defunct, broken, boring, unworn after 5ish wears. After five years £6500 and 650(!!!!!!)garments in the bin.

Clever shopper saves up and buys three to seven pieces per year they love, look after and wear for years, accessorise to create differing looks and occasionally allow themselves a few less loved, but considered, bargains for when they want to dress down. A really nice, ethical designer dress costs about £150 – £500 (lets average that at £270 – so £270 x 5 = 1350 per year).

After five years £6750 and 25 garments mostly still in their wardrobe, still worn, loved and wearable for the future.

£ spend is about the same – value depends on if you value quality over quantity. Who looks best? Who is happier? Well, with the many studies that have shown consumerism is making us depressed, I’m pretty sure its not the person who has sent 650 garments to landfill, has a wardrobe full of crap that makes them look too fat / thin / lumpy / strange and feels like they have no money.

Want a new shopping mantra?

Quality not quantity, love – want – need, buy better buy less. And repeat….

Now if you’re a fast fashion junkie looking to kick the habit, you don’t have to go cold turkey… Here’s my suggestion. When you are out shopping and have a hand full of stuff you want to buy, before you go to the tills take another look – PUT BACK the one item you like the least and make a note of how much it would have cost (even better put the money into a piggy bank or savings account). After a year have a look at how much you have saved and go buy something really special to wear with that money. One piece you’ll keep in your wardrobe for years. If that makes you feel good, keep going, put back two items… and so on, until you are a conscious shopper extraordinaire!”

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Being Thankful… #ethicalfashion #fashion #socent #Thanksgiving

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Fashion

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With Canadian Thanksgiving passing by us last weekend, we had a chance to sit back, pause and reflect on all the things we are thankful for. It shouldn’t be that only one time a year, we feel the need to be thankful, this feeling should be year round. However, we might as well list them out:

  1. We are thankful for our family, our friends and our team.
  2. We are thankful for having a mission and for being able to support talented artisans around the world.
  3. We are thankful for having a keen sense of style and the desire to share our artistic vision with the world.
  4. We are thankful for great closets and great fashion to come.

So remember all the things you are thankful for and think of those who have less than you, and help them find reasons to be thankful too.

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Quote of the Day

Buy less, choose well, and Make It Last.

—Vivienne Westwood

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[Article Round Up] How Do You Define Sustainable Fashion? #ethicalfashion #fashion #sustainablefashion

28 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by Bay and Harbour in Blog, Ethical Fashion, Ethical Lifestyle, Fashion, Sustainable Fashion

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From The Blog (Huffington Post), by Livia Firth, Creative Director Eco-Age and Founder of The Green Carpet Challenge:

“How do you define sustainable fashion? The truth is, you can’t. Or at least not in a few sentences. Words such as ethical, sustainable or ecological fashion have been so over used that they create more confusion than certainties.

The truth is we are in a situation today perfectly described by Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement when he asked a very simple question: “How did we end up in an era when we have to define and certify things that should be normal?”

To unpick that, we need to define unsustainable (and fast) fashion.

Fast fashion is a relatively new phenomenon. One that’s caught us all, as consumers, in an absurd circle of micro trends. Think about it. Around two mini seasons a week in store. Disposable clothes that stay in a woman’s closet for an average of just five weeks, before being thrown out – all in the name of the democratization of fashion.

In reality, this is exploiting not just us, the “consumers”, but also the planet’s resources and the people who produce them. The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in April 2013 showed the world the true human cost of production at these volumes and prices. And don’t even mention the environmental impact. It’s enough to say that between 11,000 and 20,000 litres of water are needed to produce just ONE pair of jeans.

Each year across the world, 1.5billion garments are sewn by an estimated 40million people, working in 250,000 factories. These are predominantly made in countries described by the UN as the world’s least developed. All in all, the garment and textile industry is estimated to be worth some $3trillion. And the bulk of that goes into the pockets of the owners of those fast fashion brands. Two of them are at the top of Forbes rich list.

Fast fashion corporations have outsourced production to poor countries. In the process, they enslave them by addicting them to the idea of enrichment and start driving production costs down with volumes.

Like any good pusher, they offer their potential clients a great deal, only to get them addicted. Once they’ve succeeded, they’re in the driving seat. In the case of poor economies, they addict them to the idea of lifting their people out of poverty. In fact, they’re like the big bad wolf, lying in wait for the dependency to start.

At the same time, they operate as distributors and addict us, “consumers”, to the idea of always faster, ever cheaper fashion, despite the human and environmental cost. It’s the old problem. Out of sight, out of mind. It happens far away and so we don’t see it. I think the whole system has been beautifully described by Andrew Morgan in his stunning documentary The True Cost, which I urge everyone to watch if they haven’t already.

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the US (1889-1893) once beautifully said “I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman producing it starves in the process”. More than a century later, this happens to a scale which is completely out of proportion.

So the problem is much more complicated than simply finding a definition for sustainable fashion. Once you understand the mess we’re in, the solution is very simple. Buy less and get more ‘fashion mileage’ out of each piece. Buy heritage pieces that will last. Become an active citizen through your wardrobe.

This is why I love fashion. It truly empowers you. But only when it allows you to carry beautiful stories woven into stunning clothes.

There is no legal or agreed definition of sustainable style or ethical fashion and there needn’t be. Instead we need to buy pieces that are made with design ingenuity and innovation that prioritize social and environmental justice, along with the aesthetic – all three on an equal footing.

There are plenty of fashion brands today which are doing this and addressing complicated issues in their supply chain – but fast fashion will never be able to truly solve anything until it accepts to change its core business model – eg until it decides to produce less. We have a huge power as consumers – not only as we vote every time we buy something – but also because the change can and must start from us – from starting to buy clothes that we love.

Clothes that will sustain our wardrobe for years to come.”

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The Bay & Harbour Blog

Bay & Harbour is the brainchild of a Toronto-based mother/daughter team with an eye for trend-setting, unique and high-quality fashion & lifestyle products.

The pair is inspired by different cultures, handicraft techniques, discrete designs, and fashion trends from their travels around the world. Bay & Harbour as their outlet to share that love of design with others.

The Bay & Harbour collections feature a variety of accessories & lifestyle products for both men & women.

The co-founders are passionate about fashion with a cause. Many of the Bay & Harbour collections also include pieces that are sustainable and / or ethically made.

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