Think About What Kind Of Fashion You Buy

This is a coverage from the German broadcaster ZDF about the working conditions of the people who produce clothes seen on Primark clothing. You can only watch it in German, but those who speak German have a look at it. It's a truth you should think about and it may affect your consume behaviour.

El Milagro

 The last time I have been to Berlin I went with my father to the second Gea store in Berlin near the Savignyplatz (D-10623 Berlin, Charlottenburg, Grolmanstraße 14). That's how El Milagro from Waldviertler found it's way onto my feets and stayed there until now. (Thank you very much, Papa! :))

It's the best quality I could imagine in a shoe and it's also a really comfortable one! Besides isn't it beautiful? :)

And it is made ecologically correct and environmentally friendly. What more could you expect of a pair of shoes?

Braces

 Now that the term is over, I wish I would have more time. But everybody seems to have their birthdays in February. This is really weird!

I am still painting the room, because the wall paint, which was underneath the new paint, still shines through. Hopefully tomorrow I will have finished this project.

 Besides I thought about the blog and I want to use it more for personal stuff. Such as introducing you to green clothes, labels etc. and maybe writing about ecological things and nutrition.

As an example I am kind of eating vegan now. (Actually I don't want to call me that, because I hate that label!)

It is just one step further than before, because I lived milk and dairy free as I am lactose intolerance and I don't like to eat meat. Now I stopped eating eggs, too. But don't think I want to be treated as a good person or such blah blah. If someone made organic bacon and scrumbled eggs for me in the morning, I wouldn't say no. I just don't cook with meat, milk and eggs for myself anymore. But now and then I will eat meat or eggs again, probably also at my parents place, because it's just easier for them.

Most important is to eat concious, which means for me organic food and to be aware of how much you eat and why and where your food comes from (the same applies for clothes). Cutting back on meat probably would be a good option for the regular German.

Adidas Ecological Collection

Adidas is one of my favourite sports labels. Even if I don't own a lot of clothes from them. But that could change in the future, because they engaged themselves to Greanpeace to stop using dangerous chemicals, while fabricating their clothes, till the year 2020. That's why they launched their new eco collection in classical Adidas style. You will be able to buy track suits and t shirts made of 100% organic cotton and recycled polyester via OTTO.

Steffi Graf is the face of the campaign, as you can see in the promotion video (it's in German).

(pictures and information taken from utopia.de)

A Place To Swap: Netcycler

Sometimes, while browsing the net, you come across a website and you'll ask yourself: "How come that I didn't hear about it before?" Netcycler is such a site. 

It's a swap and donating service for used things. Basically you put something that you'll not longer need on the site, so someone can find it. Than you can exchange it in person or via mail with something that has been offered to you before or you just give it to the person for free.

To make this process easier Netcycler will find someone for you. You just have to list your own proposals and wishes. To increase the possibilty for a succesful exchange Netcycler will form exchange rings with three or more persons, to make sure that in the end every one is giving and receiving something. You can also use the dispatch service from Netcycler to ship your stuff.

Sounds like a good alternative to the consumption orientated lifestyle. I think it is both ecological, sustainable and money saving. 

As chance would have it on the 11th of February the first live Netcycler "Tauschmob" will take place in Wuppertal from 2 pm to 5 pm on the Kirchplatz.

You can find more information about the event on their blog and if you want to start exchanging visit the website.

(picture taken from blog.netcycler.de)

Aluc + Mein Hansi = Fashion That Can Be Produced Fair, Social and Local

 

What happens with our clothes, after we got rid of them? 

With increasing consum also the clothpiles are growing. Germans are leading in textile consumption: They buy 28 kilo a head and year. Just under half of the clothes are given to charity after their use. The rest of it will end up as garbage on a disposal site or in an incinator. 

Fortunatley there are some fashion labels, who discovered the value of used clothes. One of them is the Berlin based label aluc. They are cutting up jumper and t-shirts and putting them together to new clothes. Each piece is a unicum and part of the "Mein Hansi" project.

 

 

But that's not enough. In the textile industry huge piles of garbage from new cloth are originated while producing apparel. Those fabrics are new and aluc is using them for their shirts. They drove to the Erz mountains and to Austria and saved good-as-new fabrics from ending up as garbage. 

Besides the shirts have a special twist: The collar is attached with buttons and you can remove it easily or change it to another one.

 

They say about themselves: 

we do...

---

... conceptual projects, rejecting the processes of mass production.
... ecofashion, that goes far beyond.
... clothes that tell a story.

we believe , that fashion can be produced fair, social and local. We don't want to join the fast, inhuman and wasteful fashion industry.
--- that's why we don't work on collections, but projects.
--- that's why we use fabrics that are rather made in Germany or from organic fibres. we always try to get "dead-stock", end-of-roll or swatches and we upcyclefabrics to save landfills from more textile waste.
--- that's why we work together with social services like sheltered workshops, where handycapped people get the chance to work, feel save and be needed.
... inspired by the cradle-to-cradle principle, we try to keep everything in its cycle.

our resources are limited, but our creativity knows no limits.

 

 

(pictures from aluc.eu and meinhansi.com)

Tee For Thursday: Bike Love

 

From nicegreenstuff via avocadostore.de.

A Green Idea: The Avocado Store

About a year ago was searching for green clothes via internet extremly exhausting. That's why the founders of Avocado Store, Philipp Gloeckler and Stephan Uhrenbacher, had the idea to built a platform for all german producers of green products. Besides it should be easy for the costumers to find green products and compare their prizes.

As you can see the idea was a fast-selling item and now they can present you over 100 seller and about 2.000 products on their website. 

I think the site is a great idea not just for the customers. It's good, that especially small seller make a profit from being able to present their products in a professional environment, because they don't have the means to create their own website yet. 

There is also a blog, where you can read about specials, discounts, the labels from the avocado store and a lot more.

Fashion, Ecology, Sustainability: Humanity in Fashion Award

Last year hessnatur put the Humanity in Fashion Award to tender. They want to support up-and-coming designers and to sustain the aliance of fashion design with ecological and humane production conditions.The winner is promised to get a contract about the realisation of a collection for hessnatur and will get a support amount of 25.000 Euros.

During the Berlin Fashion Week they announced the three finalists, who were Janosch Mallwitz, Julia Knüpfer und Anja Umann. They and their collections are presented in the following video in German.

 

The winner was and still is Janosch Mallwitz (26) from Berlin. He just finished university and took part because he likes the idea of sustainability in fashion. While establishing his label "LAST", he wants to produce enhanced under fair production conditions and with ecological fabric.

His collection is called "graduation", it's about youth culture and the point where one chapter is closing and the next starts to open. There are a lot of references to pop culture and american high school, as you can see in the use of the sport numbers or the shoes, which are inspired by Grunge. He says that it ranges between smooth and edgy, but also between optimism and pessimism.

The collection seems to be of good quality and interesting textures. The zipping details are awaking the feeling of transition, which is enhanced by layering.

In my opinion he and his work really deserve to get the price, just next time, he could use more colour.

He doesn't seem to have a website, but you can find all pictures of the collection on runway passport and pictures of an installation, which was part of the competition in the palazzo italiano, on the hessnatur blog. There you can also find the two other installations.

Love What Nature Gives Us

And this is what I would buy:

Annie Greenabelle, Organic Womenswear & Clothing

"Annie Greenabelle is an ethical womens clothing brand. Our garments are made predominantly from organic and Fairtrade certified cotton. We combine this with the use of reclaimed fabrics that adds variety and means there is never many of the same items around."

Besides the clothes are very beautiful!

You can also visit the blog here.

(picture source: anniegreenabelle.com)

adidas shopper = a green idea?

Recently many girls from 11th and 12th class are carrying the adidas shopper around, which are available in six different colours. My favourite one is in pink:

I did some research and found out through a netherlandish blog, that you get them as shopping bags after buying something at adidas. I like this idea, because adidas is avoiding plastic trash by giving their customers free plastic bags and I think the bags are stylish too!

But I still have questions:
Can I have such a bag only, if I buy something at adidas also in Germany?
And relating to the following question: Do I want such a bag? Pink is such a nice colour... =D
Will wearing them be a new trend?
Is giving reusable AND stylish shopping bags the new trend also in Germany? I haven't heard, that many lables are giving their costumers such bags lately. Do you?

So the first question will be unanswered till I have asked someone at my school or have visited an adidas store. Sounds logical, doesn't it?

Referring to the second question, I simply can say, that this pink IS a nice colour. So maybe I would buy one, but I would only use it far away from school, because I don't want to look like a copycat right now. So maybe I will look for one after getting my A-Level.

And relating to the third question: I think at my school and when I look at the boys and girls, while walking down the Ku'Damm, these bags are going to be a new trend. They are showing a green attitude and they are looking stylish. And for me it is a great regard to my country Germany, because if they are produced locally, I support the local economy and save the environment.

The last question makes me think of a post by Susie Bubble from Stylebubble. She has asked her readers if they are using such bags, which she has get from shows, launches, fashion weeks, tradeshows etc... or if they just throw them away.
Most of the readers are keeping the bags. The only difference between Susie and her readers and the pupil at my school is that they don't use them regularly as a substitution for a "real" bag, but rather as an addition to carry supermarket or grocery shopping or books etc... inside.
All in all I think these bags are a great opportunity to avoid plastic bags and the resulting trash, if you reuse them as whatever.

At my family we are using cotton bags since I can think to go shopping or to the library or whatever, so for me it's not a big change, when using them. But I think the idea of using cotton bags instead of plastic bags hasn't arrived in Germany.
For example at McPaper (a papeterie) you suddenly had to buy a plastic bag instead of getting it for free. So you would have thought about taking your cotton bag with you or reusing the plastic bag. But now you get your plastic bag for free again, because the Germans doesn't like the idea of paying for a plastic bag. I think that is very sad!
Another example is that there are not many lables or clothes stores, which would give you a cotton or even a paper bag for your shopping.
So in my opinion the Germans should wake up and do something for there environment!