Archive 2009

Is Ethical Fashion or Eco Fashion or even Designer fashion still relevant during the Credit Crunch?

YES! Because it's Cheaper to Buy Designer Clothes:

Here’s some maths;

You buy 8 to 9 pieces of cheap clothing per month- a handful of items that are on special from mid priced stores reduced from $150 to $80 and a bunch of t-shirts and other cheap cotton items based on price for between $5 and $15. Okay lets say you spend $350 per month for 12 months.

TOTAL= $4200 per year on clothing.

All of it is made in China, synthetic and made for a short life. In two years you will have nothing to show for this spend of $4200 except some rags to clean your car.

Lets take that $4200 and spend half on medium priced natural fabrics. These organic or bamboo t-shirts or linen lifestyle will be around $50-$100 each and lets buy 12 across the year. Lets spend $300 on designer organic or vintage jeans, paying special attention to the cut. You have enough left for a 2 x Colette Dinnigan dresses ($600) and two pairs of Manolo Blahniks ($800 x 2), with change of about $200.

In two years you’ll have 24 organic tee or bamboo basics, two pairs of classic jeans that are getting better with age, four designer dresses and four pairs of Manolo Blahniks. In ten years time you will have a collectable wardrobe , items you could sell at near or even more than what you paid, whilst the cheap wardrobe will be toxic waste.

January 2009 JK

Leather or Leather-look?

You have a few choices at the moment- all far from ideal.

Synthetics:

Polyurethane (PU) is supposedly gentler than PVC. Find out more about the hazard of PVC at this link:

Leather

Fast Tanning verses Slow Tanning

Most leather tanning uses Chrome III to cross strings of protein to hold them together and preserve them. Chrome III is safe except at high temperatures when it rusts into Chromes IV, which is carcinogenic (not only to workers but traces can remain in the leather). Therefore, cheap leather of unknown sources may be made under sweatshop conditions by tired workers, non-government or other monitoring and with tight deadlines; this is when the danger would occur.

Vegetable tanned leather accounts for only a tiny percentage of the world’s leather. Traditionally it’s stiff and used for saddles, harnesses and work boots. Rumour has it that current generations are improving and getting more supple and soft.

Then there is the complex issue of animal-cruelty.... Even for non-vegans there is issues farmed verses hunted, endangered species.... Is it okay to use the leather from animals that would be eaten anyway?

Other Choices

Salvatore Ferragamo invented platforms by experimenting with wine bottle corks during the 1930s material shortage. Why not more innovation with materials?

Silk has been used on the feet of Hollywood starlets and for brides. Canvas makes a great beach or sailer inspired shoe. Recently some brands have flirted with Hemp as a winter boot.

If you buy leather, make sure the leather and entire shoe is made in a country with environmental standards and consider it a long-term investment.