Cotton pickin’ nightmare

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) provides a quick introduction to the negative impact the cotton industry has on our planet and the people involved in the trade.

EJF have just set up an Eco Pop-up shop in Carnaby Street where they carry an pretty nice line of ethical t-shirts that have been designed by fashion icons including prints from Luella, Alice Temperley and Betty Jackson for EJF.

Pop Eco can be found at:

1st Floor Kingly Court
Soho London W1B 5PW

They are open until the end of September, Monday through to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and on Sundays, noon – 6:00 p.m.

We’re particularly smitten with this one by Alice Temperley:

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Five minutes with … Orsola de Castro | From Somewhere

We like to feature designers who place ethical and sustainable models of development at the centre of what they do as visionaries, as artists and as business people.

We kick off this month with Orsola de Castro who founded the award-winning sustainable fashion label From Somewhere with Filippo Ricci in 1997.

Orsola and Filippo are also founders and curators of Estethica, the ethical fashion exhibition at London Fashion Week.

VNT: The Ethical Fashion Forum is now in its sixth year. In what ways do you believe the forum has impacted on the fashion sector?

OdC: The EFF has made significant contribution in raising awareness to ethical fashion, especially in the early stages. I feel that their main contribution has been that of putting together young designers with communities in Africa and their role at the backstage of the industry has been in instrumental in creating new connections initiatives such as the fashion competition innovation, introducing new talents in to the mainstream fashion industry and the collaboration with Estethica has certainly been both successful and inspiring for young designers internationally.

VNT: What is your biggest challenge as a designer who places sustainable fashion at the centre of your creativity?

OdC: Limits. All ethically minded brands work within limits, be that the skills available in their chosen communities or the fabrics available in case they are recycling or upcycling. At From Somewhere, we constantly face limitations and design upheavals, but it keeps us fresh. It is a privilge to able to introduce experimentation as part of a new intelligent design approach. However, from limitations come creativity and I feel more brands, now more accepted and understood both by the public and mainstream industry, are beginning to showcase their best, find their signature styles and develop more and more creative designs.

VNT: Can you tell us a bit about what has inspired your upcoming season?

OdC: I am always inspired first by what I find, then by how I see it take shape. This collection is an ode to a trans-generational look that can take you from day to evening; I wanted a look of vintage sportswear, 30′s tennis suits, vintage swimwear.

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This is Freddie and we like his hat


Freddie Opoku-Addaie is a London-based choreographer, I know him through my other job at The Place. I ran into him recently at a non-dancey event, I had to snap him because what I love most about this man’s style is the laid-backness of it all. Sometimes in London, it’s just so INTENSE and that translates in the clothes people wear. Sometimes, people can try a little too hard and they just don’t look very relaxed. This get-up made me think of California.

So back to the hat. I used to live in them and Freddie’s inspired me to find an ethical one. The surest bet is Komodo. Fairtrade and ethical. Nice.

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Trash Fashion at the Science Museum

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Image: Courtesy of The Science Museum.

I’d never pair up science and fashion, and if I did it would be in a post-modern ironic way using 80s film Wierd Science as a reference.

Origami dress made from old Metro newspapers. Yuliya Krypo

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Woman’s jacket made of bacterial-cellulose, hand sewn, possibly indogo dyed. Made by Suzanne Lee

The Science Museum’s Antenna Gallery exhibits Trash Fashion: Designing out Waste. As in the metric tonnes of Primark crap that end up in landfills in the UK (boo hiss disposable fashion). Do yourself a favour and see this exhibit. It will reinforce your suspicion that buying poorly made, sweatshop garments is like eating at McDonald’s at 3 a.m. You love it at the time, you totally regret it later because it’s bad for you, for other people and for the environment.

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People Tree launch Emma Watson’s S/S 11 collection


Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame has her second collection lined up with People Tree for Spring/Summer 2011.

With a strong interest in Fair Trade and organic fashion but frustrated at the
lack of clothing aimed at people her age, Emma decided to work with People Tree, founded by Saifia Minney in 1991, and created her first collection last year.

“I’m so thrilled that People Tree will be showing the collection at A Garden Party to Make a Difference. I think The Prince of Wales’ initiative is such a brilliant idea!” says Emma.

There will be a fashion show revealing the new collection at The Prince of Wales’ 12-day eco-festival, A Garden Party To Make A Difference where he opens up Clarence House to the public so that they may engage with the concepts, ideas and actions for sustainable living.

In this instance, Dame Vivienne Westwood has certainly traded in her street cred for green cred. The brains behind the Sex Pistols’ look back in 1977, is curating the fashion element to the event, we’re very excited as she’s commissioned ethical fashion pioneer Orsolo de Castro to lead the upcycling workshops.

I might get my Commes des Garcons-esque jacket after all!

Tickets, priced £15 for adults and £7.50 for children are on sale now. Full
details are available on the Garden Party website.

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Stylin’ in Bloomsbury

I love this fella’s look. There is something so completely wacky about it, yet he carries it off. I’m thinking patchwork Kimonos. I asked him where the jacket came from, he said Commes des Garcons (who we admire by the way). I wondered how the look of the jacket could be achieved without having to pay full wack and safe in the knowledge you could trace it back to well-paid workers. The answer: upcycling. So all you’d need is a black dinner jacket and some bold textile prints to applique or quilt onto the garment.

Then I remembered a cool Shoreditch company called ‘Junky Styling‘. They reupholster a well-loved garment and with expert tailoring skills, they make it all yours. Check them out.

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Top five Vintage at Goodwood pics


We’ve just about recovered from the festivities at Goodwood. It was the best thing we’ve been to in ages.

These photographers thought so too, click to see our Flickr gallery, where we’ve picked our top five Vintage at Goodwood photos.

Click here to see what we’ve curated for you.

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